Whenever a new comic book movie is released, fan’s always wait with baited breath to find out if the latest entry to their favorite franchise is hit like The Dark Knight or another flop on the scale of Fan4stic. This has certainly been the case of D.C’s latest film, Suicide Squad, which coming off the back of Batman vs Superman: Dawn of Justice’s lackluster response, means that film has a lot riding on it. Now with the reviews starting to emerge, we get a good idea as to what to expect this Friday.
Since the film’s premiere last night in New York, reviews for the film have slowly been emerging throughout the day, and the response….less than positive.
Peter DeBruge of Variety:
“For reasons beyond Ayer’s control, he’s beholden to the corporate vision of other recent DC adaptations, most notably Zack Snyder’s sleek-surfaced and oppressively self-serious riffs on the Superman legend. While it would have been amazing to see the director (fresh off WWII-set suicide-mission movie “Fury”) push his own nothing-to-lose anarchic boundaries, he’s ultimately forced to conform to Snyder’s style, to the extent that Suicide Squad ends up feeling more like the exec producer’s gonzo effects-saturated Sucker Punch.”
Todd McCarthy of The Hollywood Reporter:
‘The action of the film’s middle and latter stages is largely set in a gloomy murk that recalls far too many previous dour sci-fi/fantasy films, and by that point, vestiges of the opening stretch’s humor and snap long have fallen by the wayside. Suicide Squad may not quite commit harakiri, but it certainly feels like it’s taken far too many sleeping pills.’
Joshua Yehl of IGN:
“Suicide Squad is a decidedly different flavor than Batman v Superman. It goes for subversive, funny and stylish, and it succeeds wildly during the first act. But then the movie turns into something predictable and unexciting. It plods on, checking off boxes on a list of cliched moments and meaningless plot points, making you wonder where all the razzle-dazzle went.” 5.9/10
Richard Lawson of Vanity Fair:
“Suicide Squad is bad. Not fun bad. Not redeemable bad. Not the kind of bad that is the unfortunate result of artists honorably striving for something ambitious and falling short. Suicide Squad is just bad. It’s ugly and boring, a toxic combination that means the film’s highly fetishized violence doesn’t even have the exciting tingle of the wicked or the taboo. (Oh, how the movie wants to be both of those things.) It’s simply a dull chore steeped in flaccid machismo, a shapeless, poorly edited trudge that adds some mildly appalling sexism and even a soupçon of racism to its abundant, hideously timed gun worship. But, perhaps worst of all, Suicide Squad is ultimately too shoddy and forgettable to even register as revolting. At least revolting would have been something.”
Germain Lussier of io9:
‘The movie [is] a motley amalgamation—a strange blend of different tones, stories ,and pacing all mashed into something that has cool individual elements, but never really comes together… Some of the action is fun, some of the characters are great, and it does reach some nice emotional peaks. But it never feels like a true, cohesive movie. It feels a B-movie—an action-packed one, but a B-movie nonethelesses—that just happens to be set in the DC Universe.’
Michael Phillips of The Chicago Tribune:
“Meanwhile we have this thing, this garish, overstaffed, overstuffed, blithely sadistic corporate directive disguised as a PG-13 summer movie for all ages… Folks, this is a lousy script, blobby like the endlessly beheaded minions of the squad’s chief adversary. It’s not satisfying storytelling; the flashbacks roll in and out, explaining either too much or too little, and the action may be violent but it’s not interesting.”
Chris Evangalista of CutPrintFilm:
‘Suicide Squad is weird. And it’s an interesting kind of weird: awash in black magic, gooey eyeball monsters, and Escape From New York-like explosive neck devices. It has great potential to be a silly, pop-art infused action film in the vein of Guardians of the Galaxy. Or perhaps it could’ve been something darker — a character drama about people who do bad things suddenly learning to do good. Or, as it turns out, it could just be an excuse to have a bunch of costumed actors wander around, shoot guns and crack flat jokes. Ayer has constructed a monumental mess here — a film so haphazardly put together that you get the impression that it was edited using a blender on the “ice crush” setting.’
However it hasn’t all been negative, there are some reviews which have found positives.
Bilge Ebriri of the Village Voice:
‘David Ayer’s film may not always work, but when it does, it’s a perverse delight… The actors help. We know the film would never dare to make Will Smith a true villain, but he adeptly handles the hard edge of his ultimately valiant character, convincing us of his ruthlessness… Robbie is clearly having the time of her life as the gyrating, acrobatic, utterly nutzoid Harley Quinn, who balances batshit cruelty with a kind of mundane bubbliness.’
Kristy Puchko of ComicBookResources:
‘Though wonky in structure, it makes a certain sense that this antihero tale wouldn’t play by the rules. Packed with attitude, Suicide Squad is ferocious fun, boasting a bounty of action, mirthful mayhem, and a cavalcade of curious characters. It’s just the kick in the pants Warner Bros. and DC Entertainment need to correct course ahead of next year’s Justice League.’
Brian Truitt of USA Today:
‘Like The Dirty Dozen for the Hot Topic generation, the team gets in-your-face introductions and things just grow more mental from there. But compared to its ilk, Suicide Squad is an excellently quirky, proudly raised middle finger to the staid superhero-movie establishment.’
Chris Nashawaty of Entertainment Weekly:
‘Writer-director David Ayer (End of Watch) skillfully sets up the film, introducing each of the crazies with caffeinated comic-book energy. But their mission… is a bit of a bust. For DC, which blew it with Batman v Superman last spring, Suicide Squad is a small step forward. But it could have been a giant leap.’
Drew McWeeny of HitFix:
‘When Suicide Squad gets it right, I like it a lot, and it gets it right often enough that I like a lot of it. It won’t deliver the decisive knockout blow that ends the DC/Marvel rivalry that the most impassioned fans seem to want, but nothing will. What it does is make a case for how much fun this universe can be when the characters are embraced fully and when a filmmaker seems excited by the opportunities afforded by those characters. Lots of superhero films struggle to make us like their heroes even half as much as we end up liking the villains here, and that alone is a pretty canny trick, one that I suspect audiences will enjoy quite a bit.’
Dan Jolin of Empire:
‘Filling its entire super-team with previously unseen antagonists, Suicide Squad represents a Flash-speed sprint of a catch-up for the rapidly forming DC Cinematic Universe. And, on that front at least, it’s a real hoot… False starts, oddly placed flashbacks, clunky cameos… and a muddled chronology detract from the grungy, kooky DayGlo-splashed fun.” 4/5′
It certainly sounds as though the film may suffer the same fate as Batman vs Superman: Dawn of Justice did earlier in the year. The film is currently sitting on a 37% Rotten Tomatoes score, but of course that could all change when the film is released this Friday. It was the most talked about film last weekend on Social Media so it sounds as though it may not have to big of impact on the box office, especially as it’s tracking at a $140 Million opening weekend. But of course, time will tell. Be sure to check back later in the week for our review.
What do you think? Are you surprised by this response? Will you be checking out the film this weekend? Let us know below!
Source: RottenTomatoes