More than two years since its December 2017 release, Star Wars: The Last Jedi is still controversial. In some it inspires passion, in others loathing. Even now, merely mentioning the movie can guarantee some angry responses below-the-line. Of course, The Rise of Skywalker recently stoked the fires of its controversy when it apparently went out of its way to retcon many of The Last Jedi’s revelations, a tactic which resulted in the worst-reviewed Star Wars movie to date.
A new study from RaveReviews.org has now released a list of The Most Divisive Movies of All Time though and the top five in ascending order are: Star Wars: The Last Jedi, American Outlaws, Hale County This Morning, This Evening, Hannah Gadsby: Nanette and, at number one, Knock Down the House. Their rationale for this ranking is the difference between the Rotten Tomatoes critic and audience score, with Knock Down the House featuring a 100% critic score and a lowly 18% audience score.
I think using Rotten Tomatoes as a measure of general divisiveness is a terrible way to put together a list of this kind. I mean, you don’t have to put too much thought into what a documentary about Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, a feminist stand-up comedy act and a look at racism in Alabama have in common with each other. Effectively, this “study” has produced a list of movies that have been review-bombed by alt-right keyboard warriors. The only reason Captain Marvel isn’t on this list is because Rotten Tomatoes anticipated this happening and put the kibosh on it.
The Last Jedi has is now a political football, though it should be remembered that while the angry people loudly and inexhaustibly express their disgust, there really aren’t that many of them in the grand scheme of things. After all, the movie received an ‘A’ CinemaScore from audiences, made $1.3 billion at the box office and went on to be a hit on home release. Most of the audience for Star Wars: The Last Jedi are neither fans nor hate it, they saw it two years ago, were entertained, got on with their lives and don’t really think about it anymore. Simple as that.