Chapter 433: Difficult Negotiations

"Water army promoters," "malicious hype," "internet PR," "online thugs"...

These byproducts of the internet were gradually becoming common, exploitable tools in the eyes of professionals and corporations. To everyday users, however, they remained relatively unfamiliar concepts.

While many astute internet users had already sensed the existence of paid online shills, the vast majority of people were still easily swayed by positive or negative online rhetoric.

When it came to movies, Norman Hiller was a staunch Dukeist. Having missed yesterday's advance screenings and the early-morning midnight screenings, he woke up early to check the online reactions before driving to the theater where he had booked his ticket.

After entering the theater and picking up his ticket, Hiller sat in the lounge area, tossing popcorn into his mouth. His brow remained tightly furrowed. He couldn't figure it out: he had merely gone to sleep, yet upon waking, both IMDB and Duke's personal website had been flooded with negative reviews for The Two Towers.

'Was the movie really that bad?'

'It shouldn't be. Although this is a trilogy, strictly speaking, The Two Towers isn't even a sequel. All three films were shot and produced simultaneously. There's no reason for The Fellowship of the Ring to be so incredible, only for The Two Towers to turn out as trash.'

'Then again, ever since Duke officially became a director, he hasn't made a single bad film.'

"Haven't you seen the reviews online?"

An argument broke out near the ticket booth not far away. A boy of about twenty said to his companion, "This movie is getting a ton of negative feedback. I think we should pick something else. Besides, we haven't even seen the first one."

"There are a lot of negative reviews, but there are plenty of good ones too..." his companion disagreed. "Besides, if we don't watch The Two Towers, there aren't any other blockbusters to choose from."

Under Norman Hiller's watchful gaze, the two argued a bit longer before finally buying tickets for The Two Towers.

Sitting there for over twenty minutes, Hiller saw more than one group hesitating and arguing. He gathered from their conversations that most of them hadn't seen The Fellowship of the Ring. Meanwhile, those discussing how incredible The Fellowship of the Ring was bought tickets for The Two Towers without the slightest hesitation.

Though not a professional film analyst, Norman Hiller formed a vague conclusion: the negative rhetoric online had little effect on the established fans of The Fellowship of the Ring, but it made some new viewers hesitate or give up on the movie entirely.

'Duke couldn't possibly have made a bad movie, right?'

Harboring that tiny sliver of doubt, Norman Hiller walked into the auditorium. It only took ten minutes for that thought to be thrown entirely out the window; the opening battle between Gandalf and the Balrog was enough to ignite the emotions of everyone in the room.

This was, without a doubt, a masterpiece!

When the film reached the battle of Helm's Deep—especially the moment Aragorn and King Theoden led humanity in a death-defying charge—the entire auditorium erupted. Norman Hiller swore that a battle scene of such epic scale had never appeared in the history of Hollywood, or even world cinema. Had it merely been a massive spectacle, that would have been one thing. But humanity forging bravely ahead to the sound of the horn right at the brink of extinction—how could anyone not be moved? How could it not make their blood boil with excitement? How could anyone not give it a stellar review?

"This is an absolute classic. How is this the trash movie they're talking about online?"

As the battle sequence ended and the atmosphere in the theater gradually settled, Norman Hiller caught the sound of those words. He couldn't help but turn his head—it was the exact same pair he had seen arguing at the ticket booth.

The boy who originally hadn't wanted to buy a ticket spoke up indignantly. "What is wrong with those people on the internet? How can they post such irresponsible garbage? When I get back, I'm definitely leaving a comment to curse out those @#@..."

A string of profanity drew sideways glances from several people nearby. The two quickly shut their mouths to avoid disturbing the rest of the audience.

However, those words resonated deeply with Hiller. The online rhetoric really was far too irresponsible. He was definitely going to go back and flame them!

Upon returning home, Norman Hiller immediately turned on his computer. The moment he logged onto IMDB, he found that there was already a massive wave of replies and threads fighting back against the detractors.

"You've got to be kidding me. A garbage movie like The Two Towers is temporarily ranked number one on IMDB?"

Hiller frowned. He really wanted to ask why such a spectacular film shouldn't be ranked number one on IMDB.

There were more comments along the same lines below it, and they were particularly scathing.

"IMDB ratings have been getting more and more problematic lately. With more young people and people who haven't seen many movies getting on IMDB, it's steering things in the wrong direction. This leads to artificially inflated scores for so-called spectacle movies like The Two Towers. Nowadays, as long as it's a Duke Rosenberg movie, the IMDB rating is never low."

"I have no idea what The Two Towers' score is even based on. Just because it's directed by Duke Rosenberg, it gets such a high rating? I've noticed that not a single one of Duke's films has a low score. They all get high ratings on IMDB! It's absolutely unimaginable, it's infuriating!"

"The Two Towers is indeed an okay movie, but it's more than ten streets behind The Shawshank Redemption. Yet it still manages a score over nine? Lord of the Rings nostalgia? Duke Rosenberg? The director's name? Star power? Just what exactly earned it such a high rating?

"In my opinion, The Two Towers belongs in the same rating bracket as Braveheart at best, or perhaps even a little lower. Regarding this film's artificially inflated score, all I can say is that regardless of genre or age, brain-dead fanboys are everywhere..."

Seeing this, Hiller suddenly felt a surge of rage. Curses leapt straight to the tip of his tongue. Fortunately, he noticed countless people fighting back below it, and unlike these mindless, malicious insults, their rebuttals were well-reasoned, making him swallow his words.

"Viewed in isolation, The Two Towers is an indisputable nine-point film. Its perfect narrative structure, plot development, acting, cinematic tone, themes, and so on make it a classic that could compete for the top three in any given year. It's only slightly inferior to Director Duke's Saving Private Ryan.

"Furthermore, even if we assume for a moment that IMDB is full of paid online shills, brain-dead fanboys, and young people who don't understand cinema, could the original poster please explain how up to 40,000 people on IMDB giving it a score of nine or higher doesn't prove something? Are you saying that all the young moviegoers in America are inferior to you, a single keyboard warrior? Are young moviegoers across the globe all brain-dead Duke Rosenberg fanboys?"

"If film fans all over the world are brain-dead Duke fanboys, doesn't that just prove how badass Duke is?"

These words practically spoke straight to Norman Hiller's heart. He nodded subconsciously. When he refreshed the page, he found that comments fiercely defending The Two Towers were multiplying by the second.

"Commercial and genre films desperately need role models like The Two Towers. While immensely entertaining us, it also imparts a certain depth to the film. As the connective bridge of the trilogy, The Two Towers is absolutely fantastic. It's receiving rave reviews both inside and outside theaters; IMDB isn't the only place with high scores."

This person even posted the latest data to back it up.

"The Two Towers has a 96 percent positive audience rating in theaters, an A+ on emaScore, and a 94 percent popcorn audience approval rating. MetaCritic calculated scores from 77 entertainment journalists for an average of 88 points. Does all of this still not prove anything?"

Hiller gave a gentle nod. He had already seen The Two Towers, and a reception like this was exactly what it deserved.

Reaching this point, he couldn't hold back any longer. He clicked open the reply box, his fingers flying rapidly across the keyboard, and quickly drafted a targeted response.

"Throughout its nearly three-hour runtime, Duke delivers surprises that surpass The Fellowship of the Ring. The Two Towers boasts brilliant story details and masterful pacing. The action scenes are tightly interwoven with the plot progression, balancing tension and release flawlessly. There is absolutely no filler in the entire film. Every single minute firmly grips the audience, leaving them holding their breath until the final shot fades, and even then, the impact lingers."

"Although there's no shortage of dark undertones in the two films released so far, Duke remains a director willing to tell audiences a beautiful story. Even though this film isn't the conclusion to the series, he still upheld the most crucial rule: every touching character deserves a good ending."

"As the leading figure of Hollywood's new generation of directors, Duke has proven once again through these two films that he is a director worth driving film fans worldwide crazy. On a creative level, he differs from the previous generation of Hollywood directors. He is no longer obsessed with a film's so-called artistry or ideological depth. Instead, he strives to present diverse cinematic techniques, bringing audiences across the globe the ultimate viewing pleasure through an incredible story and breathtaking visual spectacles!"

"How could we not love a director like this, or the works he creates? How could we not give them high scores?"

After hitting publish, Norman Hiller unhesitatingly slapped a ten-out-of-ten rating onto The Two Towers. Without even a thought for lunch, he scoured various websites, including Duke's personal homepage. Wherever there was an attack against The Two Towers, his rebuttals would follow, and his fighting spirit would be seen!

Over the course of the entire afternoon, subtly guided by certain online comments, Norman Hiller had transformed into something he didn't even know the name of—an "organic fan."

But one thing was crystal clear to Norman Hiller: he was willing to stand up and speak out for such a spectacular film. All of this was entirely voluntary.

In truth, shortly after noon, Norman Hiller noticed that the number of people supporting The Two Towers online was steadily growing, and their voices were growing louder. Many fans were spontaneously suppressing the hate everywhere they could and spamming positive reviews for the movie they loved. By the time midnight approached, the negative comments on the internet had been almost completely buried.