Free Pass

Should we ever give someone a free pass on something just because of who they are?

I’ve seen some scathing attacks on the movie Transformers 3. The most common response to these negative reviews is,

“It’s Michael Bay, what did you expect? It isn’t going to win an Oscar. It’s not Citizen Kane for crying out loud!!!”

Should Michael Bay be given a free pass to make a lousy movie just because he can’t make a better movie? If Spielberg or Scorsese made a bad movie, people would be up in arms. We shouldn’t expect something great, but we should at least expect a decent story with decent characters that focus on the title characters. Movies like Die Hard, The Dark Knight, Terminator 2: Judgment Day, were all good action movies. It wasn’t just about shit blowing up; there was an actual plot with characters.

Yes, we shouldn’t expect Citizen Kane, no one ever did. But should we lower the bar?

While I’m on the topic of defending bad movies, The Hangover: Part 2, is another movie in which fans and critics disagree. Fans say, “What did you expect? It’s The Hangover! It was as funny as the first one!” (Apparently, fans think all critics expect movies to be really good and compared to the classics) Critics point out that IT WAS A CARBON COPY OF THE FIRST MOVIE. What should critics and fans expect? Something a little different; not a blatant attempt to milk more money out of the first movie. Of course the jokes were funny; they were the same ones from the first, which means they shouldn’t be as funny. As Eric Melin said,

The reason [the first one] worked so well was because of the unique concept and the mystery structure. Now the concept is familiar and the mystery isn't engaging. [This is] the very definition of a lazy, pointless sequel.

The first movie relied on the element of surprise. Seeing how this is the first movie, there are no surprises.

If we stop watching bad movies, they will stop making bad movies.