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'Star Wars: The Last Jedi' positive vibes slipping online

Commentary: An analysis of more than 5 million online mentions shows the latest Star Wars film is polarizing.

Chris Matyszczyk
2 min read

Technically Incorrect offers a slightly twisted take on the tech that's taken over our lives.


I received good news this morning. Good news for Star Wars fans, that is. 

Over the last week, the social-listening experts at Synthesio told me, 70 percent of mentions about "Star Wars: The Last Jedi" on social media and websites had been positive.

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Just how much griping really is there?

David James

Synthesio scanned more than 5 million messages in 80 languages, so I pulled out my trumpet, ready to herald the news. 

Then my dry side woke up. 

I asked Synthesio to break down the last four days, since the movie premiered to the American people.

After all, last weekend it seemed both Rotten Tomatoes and Metacritic audience reviewers offered somewhat lukewarm reactions to the film. This was very much in contrast to the critics, who, generally speaking, adored it with an unseemly passion. 

Well, here's the day-by-day Synthesio progression. Or, rather, regression. 

On Thursday, the social sentiment was 66 percent positive, 34 percent negative. On Friday, the positives had dipped to 61 percent, the negatives were now 39 percent. 

By Saturday, there was a small reassessment -- the positives winning by 63 to 47. However on Sunday, it all went a little dark, with a mere 53-47 victory for the light side. 

It seems, then, that this movie is dividing the world, as so much else appears to these days. Disney didn't immediately respond to a request for comment.

Watch this: 'Star Wars: The Last Jedi' review (no spoilers)

On Monday, the Rotten Tomatoes score remained unchanged, with a mere 56 percent of positive audience reviews. On CNET sister site Metacritic, however, things got a tiny bit worse. Saturday's 5.0 average audience score is now 4.9, out of a 10.

My colleagues at CNET rather approved of the movie, with some caveats. Personally, I thought it was a pleasant enough way to spend an evening, but not exactly riveting (but I'm not a Star Wars obsessive). 

A spokesman for Synthesio, who admitted he loved the movie, told me the company is fascinated to see how the week will progress. Will there be a backlash against the backlash? Or will the griping continue?

He added that the social scraping his company performs -- which consists of its proprietary crawler and partnerships with many social media platforms -- doesn't indicate which comments come from people who have actually seen the movie and which might be from those trolling along with the debate.

Oh, does this really matter? "The Last Jedi" enjoyed the second-biggest opening weekend in North America of all time. 

Should I mention that "The Force Awakens" had the biggest, or would that annoy you? 

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