2021 saw some of the most awesome movies from every major studio come out after a certain amount of delay due to the pandemic. The movies were released in a mix of both streaming and releases in cinema halls. While the streaming release did have an impact on the box office numbers of the movies, people still responded to the movies. Some of these movies really put a difference between the audience reception and the critical response. Oftentimes some of the projects were critically panned and yet the audience enjoyed these projects and gave a very positive response. Let’s take a look at 10 massively hyped movies that divided the Audience and Critics big time.
Eternals 
The Marvel Cinematic Universe experienced a whole new low with Eternals as the movie became the poorest rated movie of the massive franchise. There was a lot of talk about the movie before its release and it was being considered for being nominated for Best Picture at the Oscars. But all this turned into a huge letdown for the critics who gave it a Rotten Tomatoes score of 47%. But surprisingly the audience had a completely different thing to say about it as the audience score for the movie reached 80%.
F9 
Over the years, the Fast & Furious movies have changed a lot and evolved from their usual narrative, which has caused them to get a fine balance with the critics and the fans. Compared to the past movies of the franchise, the fifth, sixth, seventh, and eighth movies were able to earn the certified fresh rating at Rotten Tomatoes. But it seems that same cannot be said for the ninth and latest venture, F9. The movie was only able to get a critics score of 59%, while the audience who generally go for the crazy action of the film gave it an 89% audience score.
Mortal Kombat
The primary target of Mortal Kombat was the fans of the games and this required them to use the level of gore that would remind them of the moments from the games. It did include some strange choices but the movie managed to catch the attention of the fans with the very first opening sequence. But the poor narrative for the rest of the film really failed to make an impact and it only received a 54% rotten critics score. This was really poor in comparison to an audience score of 86%.
Halloween Kills
There were high expectations for the Halloween sequels that would come after Halloween 2018 because of a completely fresh look at the franchise. The movie didn’t consider anything after the original 1978 thriller as part of the narrative and this allowed for a fresh look at the characters. With the success of the 2018 film, two more movies were announced as follow-ups right away. Halloween Kills failed to make the same mark as the previous one and it tried to be different in its approach but got stuck with the same formula that caused it to earn a Rotten Tomatoes critics score of 41%. On the other hand, the fans seem to have felt completely differently about the movie as they got the movie a 66% audience score.
Red Notice
Netflix put a lot of effort into getting a star cast of Dwayne Johnson, Gal Gadot, and Ryan Reynolds together to make a movie like Red Notice. It broke records on the day of its release on the streaming platform as everyone tuned in to give it a watch. But the movie is an absolutely poorer rendition of the Fast and Furious movies with an absolutely childish narrative along with some absolutely out of nowhere action pieces. It is surprising that the movie earned a critic score of 35% rotten considering it didn’t have anything going for it for such an interesting score. But the audience seems to have enjoyed the movie and gave it a score of 92% with the movie being watched a total of more than 70 million times.
Space Jam: A New Legacy
No one even imagined that we will get to see a sequel to the 1996 Michael Jordan Space Jam movie considering the very idea was absolutely bizarre and it only felt fitting back then. Warner Bros. wanted to invest in the massive fan following the movie consists of and they did so by giving the movie a sequel with Basketball star LeBron James heading the venture this time. Not only that, but Warner Bros. also saw this as an ideal moment to get some of the biggest cameos in the movie from characters that are part of the studio. Who would have imagined seeing A Clockwork Orange being referenced in a sequel to a Basketball Looney Tunes movie? This might have been enjoyed by the audience who gave it a 79% audience score but the same cannot be said for the critics who gave it a mere 25% rotten score.
Spiral: The Book of Saw
It is not a surprise that the new Saw franchise movie didn’t earn a strong critical response considering none of the movies in the franchise have been rated fresh. But, it is interesting to see that movie still felt better than the past films of the franchise. It is even rated higher than the past films of the franchise considering the movie has earned a critics score of 35% rotten. The creators of the movie wanted to make something different out of the formula for the Saw films and they seem to have managed to do that with this venture even though the plot seemed rather silly at times. It managed to earn an audience score of 75%, which indicates that it still managed to impress the fans of the franchise.
The Green Knight
Generally, the movies tend to be bad and the audience disagrees with it but that seems to have gone the other way in terms of The Green Knight. The David Lowery directed feature had fans excited from the very first time a trailer for it was released and fans wanted to explore the dark world that it had created. A compelling narrative along with some of the most beautiful visuals managed to get the movie Rotten Tomatoes critic score of 79% Fresh. But the same cannot be said for the audience who gave it a 50% score only with views like the pacing was slow and that it relied too much on the cinematography.
The Tomorrow War
The streaming giants didn’t look anywhere else when they saw the opportunity to get some big stars to work for them and at the same time allow for some of the best directors to put their work forward. Daniel Craig became the highest-paid star when he was paid a lump sum by Netflix for the Rian Johnson helmed Knives Out sequels. Amazon also tried to make a mark by getting Chris Pratt in a high-concept sci-fi monster movie, The Tomorrow War. The movie tried to work on a narrative that sounds familiar and even looks familiar at times and led to a rather forgettable plot and it only managed to earn a critic score of 52% rotten. But the same cannot be said for the audience who seem to have enjoyed the star power and the action and gave it a 77% audience score.
Venom: Let There Be Carnage
The sequel to 2018’s Venom did not seem to even attempt at impressing the critics considering the movie felt as if it was aware that it can depend upon the audience for successful box office numbers. But the movie actually ended up doing better than the first film with a Rotten Tomatoes critic score of 59%, which is more than the latest MCU release Eternals. But fans had more reasons to enjoy the film with the CGI-heavy actions sequences and a finale that involved a rather interesting twist between Marvel and Sony. The movie has an audience score of 84% and this is just an example of how much fun the audience had at viewing it.
So these were all the movies that divided the Audience and Critics in a big way.
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