Oh my god I'm not allowed to watch terrible movies then tear them apart? That's one of my favourite hobbies! But real talk, I'm finding this really bizarre -- why the fuck am I not allowed to criticize something I invested time into consuming??????? ???????
Polar was disliked by 88% of critics that watched it and has a measly 2.6 on letterboxd, the fact of the matter is that the majority didn't like it, and that tells you something! Rotten Tomatoes is a consensus. If you're in the minority that's fine, but most of the time people don't dislike a movie for no reason or just to be “haters”. (and before someone mentions imdb, don’t, the ratings are trash, the rating manipulation there is mind-boggling)
(idk about the "it's a satire" argument because the two halves (Mads+Vanessa // hit squad+Blut) of the movie completely undermine each other in terms of tone and/or intent, and what would it be satirizing exactly? the hitman genre it does nothing to subvert? "it's based on a comic" doesn't make sense to me either because it looks nothing like the source material, and if the source material is that ugly I'd rather they change things, not to mention the comic looks like a moody atmospheric affair with zero dialogue)
I also have a real problem with this widespread notion that "the quality of movies is completely subjective", I'm firmly in the camp that liking a film doesn't mean it's good. Even if you like Polar don't tell me that it has good CG, editing, narrative structure or dialogue, it fucking doesn't. Those can be judged pretty objectively. Generally, if CG looks fake, it’s bad. If the narrative doesn’t have a logical momentum, it’s bad. I need more than “an actor is nekkid and badass” to convince me a movie is “good”. As a creative, it's really demoralizing that some people think art is impossible to judge, therefore you can't say PT Anderson films are “better” than Uwe Boll films! Why should I or any other artist strive to improve, art is completely subjective!
Disregarding all the above, "it’s subjective to call it a bad movie”? why..... can’t I be subjective and call it a bad movie?????
And maybe some people don't want to waste money or time and would like informed opinions on movies before committing, don’t shame them for that?? Usually critics have watched tons and tons of films and are more knowledgeable than the average person (i.e. it's their fucking job), it makes sense to use them as reference? What's with this anti-intellectual, anti-criticism mentality that's so prevalent these days? On the flip side, if film criticism is so worthless why do you care what others think? Just go enjoy whatever you'd like, you do you!
Yes, I'm a bit of a movie elitist. Trust me, if you've put nearly 2,500 hours into a hobby you'll likely become a bit of a snob too. I've seen a lot, and don't have much patience for inept films unless they strike a chord with me. Even then I'm not gonna tell you something's good solely because "I found it fun and I liked it".
Honestly I didn’t care much about this film in one way or another, I review movies negatively all the time, I wasn’t going to give Polar special treatment just because Mads is in it -- but some of the reactions I’ve seen against the criticism of it has gotten me passionate, as you can see.
