Where do you stand on these?
Film critics don’t know everything but there’s no denying that their opinion can shape the initial perception about a movie that’s just released. Positive reviews, buzz and excitement can all translate into decent box-office takings, but there are some films that just seem to divide opinion.
No two people are going to appreciate the same film in exactly the same way, but certain films just divide opinion like no other.
The release of Mother! has really split audiences and critics alike, but on a day that the equally divisive The Assassination of Jesse James by the Coward Robert Ford celebrates its 10th birthday, we’ve decided to look at some other films that really divided opinions.
Prometheus
Rotten Tomatoes rating: 72%
Plot:Â Following clues to the origin of mankind, a team finds a structure on a distant moon, but they soon realize they are not alone.
Case for: It expanded the Alien mythology and trusted its audience to be smart enough to understand the ideas that it was proposing.
Case against: It’s all over the place and took away from the mystique, horror and single-minded genius of the Xenomorph.
Mad Max: Fury Road
Rotten Tomatoes rating: 97%
Plot: In the furthest reaches of our planet, in a stark desert landscape where humanity is broken, and everyone is fighting for the necessities of life, there are two rebels who just might be able to restore order—Max (Tom Hardy), a man of action and few words, who seeks peace of mind following the loss of his wife and child in the aftermath of the chaos, and Furiosa (Charlize Theron), a woman of action who believes her path to survival may be achieved if she can make it across the desert back to her childhood homeland
Case for: It has more ideas and originality than any other summer blockbuster. Tom Hardy and Charlize Theron are their usual brilliant selves and it’s lots of fun.
Case against: It’s just one long chase.
Avatar
Rotten tomatoes rating: 84%
Plot:Â A paraplegic marine dispatched to the moon Pandora on a unique mission becomes torn between following his orders and protecting the world he feels is his home.
Case for: The use of 3-D was groundbreaking and it was a very clever way to tell an important message, the environment needs to be protected.
Case against: Take away the visual effects and all you’re left with is The Smurfs mixed with The Last of the Mohicans.
Calvary
Rotten Tomatoes rating: 89%
Plot: Father James (Brendan Gleeson) is a good priest who is faced with sinister and troubling circumstances brought about by a mysterious member of his parish. Although he continues to comfort his own fragile daughter (Kelly Reilly) and reach out to help members of his church with their various scurrilous moral – and often comic – problems, he feels sinister and troubling forces closing in, and begins to wonder if he will have the courage to face his own personal Calvary.
Case for: Gleeson revels in this character that views humanity in the way that it should always be seen, with black humour.
Case against: It’s cliched and dull.
Napoleon Dynamite
Rotten Tomatoes rating: 71%
Plot:Â A listless and alienated teenager decides to help his new friend win the class presidency in their small western high school, while he must deal with his bizarre family life back home.
Case for: It has some priceless one-liners, truly distinctive characters and a wonderfully simple plot.
Case against: Everything about Napoleon is annoying and nothing actually happens in the film.
Lost in Translation
Rotten Tomatoes rating: 95%
Plot:Â A faded movie star and a neglected young woman form an unlikely bond after crossing paths in Tokyo.
Case for: It looks beautiful, the soundtrack kicks ass and it captures just how spontaneous, fleeting and important certain relationships can be.
Case against: It’s far too cool for school.
The Blair Witch Project
Rotten Tomatoes rating: 86%
Plot:Â Three film students vanish after traveling into a Maryland forest to film a documentary on the local Blair Witch legend, leaving only their footage behind.
Case for: It reinvigorated the horror genre and inspired a generation of future filmmakers.
Case against: The cinematography will give you a headache and it’s massively anticlimactic.
The Tree of Life
Rotten Tomatoes rating: 84%
Plot:Â Someone dies, Everyone is bereft. A baby is born.
Case for: It’s a poetic lamentation on the meaning of life and one of its key questions, nature vs nurture.
Case against: It’s so far up its own arse that it can smell Brylcreem.
Drive
Rotten Tomatoes rating: 93%
Plot:Â A mysterious Hollywood stuntman and mechanic moonlights as a getaway driver and finds himself in trouble when he helps out his neighbor.
Case for: It’s beautifully shot and the relationship between Gosling and Mulligan is very believable. A nice mix of brains and brawn.
Case against: The hipsters guide to action films.
The Cabin in the Woods
Rotten Tomatoes rating: 92%
Plot:Â Â Five friends go for a break at a remote cabin, where they get more than they bargained for, discovering the truth behind the cabin in the woods.
Case for: An extremely clever breakdown of the horror genre.
Case against: Far too clever and ‘out there’ to be accepted.
The Witch
Rotten Tomatoes rating: 91%
Plot:Â A family in 1630s New England is torn apart by the forces of witchcraft, black magic and possession.
Case for: There’s an unsettling dread and tension that stays with you.
Case against: Too much mood and not enough scares.
If there are any other examples of massively divisive films that were left off this list, please let us know in the comments.
