The 'Suicide Squad' Cast Responds to Negative Reviews
Jay Hernandez as Diablo, Jai Courtney as Boomerang, Adewale Akinnuoye-Agbaje as Killer Croc, Margot Robbie as Harley Quinn, Will Smith as Deadshot, Joel Kinnaman as Rick Flag, and Karen Fukuhara as Katana in ‘Suicide Squad’ (Photo: Clay Enos/Warner Bros. Pictures via AP)
Suicide Squad begins its villainous assault on box-office records on Friday, but it’s already taking heavy fire from critics, whose negative reactions to director David Ayer’s DC Comics film have led to a dismal 29 percent Rotten Tomatoes score. While that aggregator has now become a target of disgruntled fanboys – who briefly initiated a Change.org petition to shut down the site, proving that not everyone understands the basic concept behind a review aggregator – the film’s cast has now also spoken out about the early notices in predictably formulaic fashion.
Related: ‘Who’s Who in ‘Suicide Squad’: Get Up to Speed on the Worst Heroes Ever
As reported by Reuters, while attending the London premiere of Suicide Squad, its stars and director addressed the unkind reviews, which include Variety’s Peter Debruge stating that “On paper, this could have been the antidote to an increasingly codified strain of comic-book movies, but in the end, it’s just another high-attitude version of the same,” and Rolling Stone’s Peter Travers writing “This botch job makes Fantastic Four look good.“ And in coming to the movie’s defense, they trotted out the usual bromides about critics’ relationship to superhero blockbusters.
Will Smith: “I think people had expectations that may have been different, but I’m excited for the fans to get to vote.”
Cara Delevingne: "The critics have been absolutely horrific, they’re really, really horrible. You know, I just don’t think they like superhero movies.”
David Ayer: “I made the movie for real people who live in the real world. I made the movie for people who actually love movies and go and see movies.”
These comments all seek to dismiss critics as less than “real people;” instead, they’re individuals who — despite dedicating their entire lives to watching and writing about films — actually “hate” movies (and superhero movies in particular), and who are thus somehow out of touch with average moviegoers. It’s a tried-and-true damage-control plan — for recent proof, one need only look back at the identical sentiments expressed earlier this year with regards to Batman v Superman: Dawn of Justice.
Related: The Evolution of Harley Quinn, From Sketch to Screen Queen
Of course, negating this entire line of thinking are two big facts: First, when “real fans” actually see these movies (e.g., Zack Snyder’s BvS), they’re generally as disappointed as critics; and second, critics and fans alike have consistently given high scores to Marvel’s superhero efforts, as well as Christopher Nolan’s Batman hits (and even the scrappy Deadpool).
Fans will finally have their chance to see if the critics were spot-on about Suicide Squad beginning Friday, when the film opens nationwide.
Watch Jared Leto talk about the Joker’s relationship with Harley Quinn:
