Reviews of any form of media: television, film, music, books, video games, etc. are rarely a consensus. Look at Rotten Tomatoes’ best of 2007. Only 3 movies out of 100s received a 100% consensus that they were overall good movies, and even those 3 did not receive all “4-star,” “A+” or “10/10″ reviews, but a smattering of 8/10, B+ and 3-stars to combine for an overall positive experience for all reviewers. They all came to a consensus that these movies were overall good, but not 100% perfect.
So why then, is there so much arguing, debating and complaining every time a reviewer gives a piece of media a perfect score? Destructiod.com takes on the masses in arguing that a perfect score does not necessarily mean that a movie or video game is perfect:
[No Country For Old Men, Blade Runner, and The Godfather.] They’re the best examples of cinematic achivement I’ve yet witnessed, but all of them have numerous and readily-identifiable flaws. Does that make them any less wonderful? Does that mean The Godfather doesn’t deserve a 10/10 score? Of course not.
Everything is flawed. Nothing is perfect. If The Godfather isn’t a 10/10, what is?
It’s a valid question. If reviewers (and readers of reviews) are waiting for a perfect movie to give a perfect score, then how do we know when it’s here? No movie, no video game, no piece of music will ever be perfect. Additionally, each of these (and the other) forms of media are reviewed subjectively. What’s the perfect movie to you, is probably not the perfect movie to me.
Is the perfect movie a technical masterpiece, brilliantly shot? What about an independent film that is written superbly, and is the most captivated story we’ve ever seen, but is shot on low-quality format such as Mini-DV, or 35mm? Does that make it any less perfect to us as viewers if it doesn’t detract from our enjoyment during the viewing?
Destructoid writes primarily about video games, and in their conclusion, I think they hit the nail on the head in answer the question, when should a perfect score be given:
A 10 should still stand for a game which is, as the [Destuctoid] official guide says, “Incredible. As close to perfection as we’ve yet seen in in the genre or gaming on the whole. A polished, unparalleled experience.”
It’s something that should be given out relatively rarely, and only to those games which are truly deserving. It shouldn’t be given out everytime the developer throws money at us, or just because it’s part of a franchise that has previous garnered high scores. Yet it should also not be tucked away like some sort of emergency score, only to be used in case of the videogame equivalent of the Second Coming
I couldn’t have said it better myself.
Filed under: Movies, Video Games, Websites | Tagged: Audience, Destructoid, Fans, Godfather, Movie Critics, Movies, Perfect Score, Reviewer, Reviewers, Reviews, Video Games
