The reviews for Suicide Squad came out last week, and they were overwhelming terrible. When I wrote about the reviews last week, Rotten Tomatoes had the critics’ score hovering around 32-33%. Hilariously, as more people/critics saw the film, the score got even lower. As of Sunday, RT had the film rated at 26%, which is pretty sh—ty. But much like Batman vs. Superman: Dawn of Justice, the bad reviews didn’t hurt the box office. It seems like fan-boys will literally spend their money on anything… anything involving capes, 2 Fast 2 Batfleck, gun violence, misogyny and Margot Robbie.
Bad reviews can’t kill Suicide Squad. The critically maligned supervillain team-up scored the biggest August debut ever with $135.1 million at the weekend box office, according to tracking firm comScore. Its No. 1 opening smashes a record set by Guardians of the Galaxy in 2014 when that Disney/Marvel movie blasted off with $94.3 million on its way to $333.2 million. It also narrowly outpaced February’s opening of another dark superhero comedy, Deadpool, which started with $132.4 million and much stronger reviews (84% positive on RottenTomatoes.com, compared with Suicide’s 26% approval rating).
The $135 million figure was on target with the domestic pre-estimate figures I saw. The really optimistic box-office watchers thought Suicide Squad might be able to hit $145 million, but on the lower, more conservative end, people thought it would definitely hit $125 million. So it met expectations, if not exceeded expectations. Suicide Squad is a massive hit overseas too: in its first five days at the international box office, it scored $132 million.
Reportedly, Suicide Squad cost $175 million to make, although it wouldn’t surprise me if that too is a conservative number. Warner Bros really went all out to promote the film, waging a massive, months-long campaign and financing reshoots when the first cut was (apparently) a disaster with test audiences. That brings me to one of my pet projects: being the resident bitchy Cassandra, repeatedly saying that this business model cannot stand. Hollywood cannot continue to spend $250-million-plus on superhero films. Eventually, the bottom will drop out, because the bottom always drops out. Especially if the product was shoddy to begin with, which seems to be the case with the DC Comics Universe these days.
Incidentally, Jared Leto has been complaining about all of the stuff that was cut from the film, saying: “Were there any [scenes] that didn’t get cut? I’m asking you, were there any that didn’t get cut? There were so many scenes that got cut from the movie, I couldn’t even start. I think that the Joker… we did a lot of experimentation on the set, we explored a lot. There’s so much that we shot that’s not in the film.” It wouldn’t surprise me at all if that was the point of the reshoots: less Jared Leto, more Margot Robbie.
Photos courtesy of WENN, Warner Bros.
I saw it this weekend. It was better than Batman vs. Superman, so that’s not saying much because that movie was awful. I’d give it a C+. Margot Robbie’s Harley Quinn was the best thing in the movie. Cara whats-her-face was hideous and should stick to modeling and thank goodness they edited out Leto’s Joker because he suc*ed!
I’m going to see it this week. I don’t listen to critics.
But I liked BvS. I thought it was good and I understood everything that was happening, esp the dream sequences which a lot of people didn’t get .
Then you are smarter than Ben Affleck 😉
I saw it last night with my hubby. We thought it was bearable but not great. Harley Quinn was definitely the best part and I hated Leto’s Joker. Hated it!
An interesting plot, take the worst of the worst criminals and turn them into Heroes. But man did they ruin a good thing. Story was just not good.
Can’t say if it was better or worse than Batman vs Superman because I fell asleep during that movie!
I’m a Superman girl so I was disappointed he didn’t have more of a role in B vs. S. I think everyone agrees Leto’s performance was underwhelming and dumb.
ITA, the story sucked a$$ but it’s a great eye candy type movie. Loved watching Smith and my fav line is …. are you the devil?
I took my 14 year old son to see it with one of his friends. It wasn’t as bad as I thought it would be (which may be why I was able to enjoy it a bit). For me, Will Smith was the best thing. Margot Robbie was very good as well. Leto was the weakest link for me. Let’s just say he is no Heath Ledger in the Joker department.
Robbie’s Harley Quinn was terrible and there is no way that Suicide Squad was better than Batman V Superman.
I didn’t think she was terriblle, but not amazing either. Mediocre. Her accent was all over the place. Cara was the worst. Viola Davis the best.
Agree 100% w/ Locke. Viola was the ONLY good part. This movie looks like it’s been edited a 20 times by 100 people. And Robbie’s accent – ugh. My husband was trying to defend it saying, that was her different personalities talking. I think that’s his penis’ opinion. She is hot as hell.
My boyfriend really liked the Joker and said he was one of the best parts of the movie. Me: “Et tu, Brute.”
THANK YOU to everyone who said they hated Leto’s Joker! I LOATHED his take on the character!!! Which is disappointing, because I was really looking forward to seeing it.
It was like he tried to combine Nicholson’s Joker with Heath Ledger’s, and failed across the board.
LOVED me some Harley, Deadshot, and Viola Davis though!
I didn’t think Leto sucked, but his part was very disjointed, so it was hard to get into him. Cara/Enchantress was friggin’ awful. She was so bad it was jarring and took you out of the movie. I thought Will, Margot, and Jay Hernandez/El Diablo were the standouts. Viola Davis was also very good.
I hope she gets a proper spinoff
Sigh. The more money horrible movies make the more horrible movies we get.
I really enjoyed the movie..
I love Forbes’ review and their takedown of the critics about this movie. It’s a great read.
http://www.forbes.com/sites/toddkenreck/2016/08/05/suicide-squad-is-a-blast-but-the-reviews-are-a-dumpster-fire-of-hyperbole/#29f12e2bbb4b
I enjoyed it as well. I thought Enchantress was a weak villain (and Cara a terrible actress) and there were some problems throughout the film, but it was nowhere near as bad as critics would have you believe.
That’s the issue with Enchantress and this movie though. She’s not a weak character, she’s very powerful. But unlike the vast majority of the Suicide Squad, she is actually a meta-human/magic being. They essentially had to downplay her powers so a team of mostly humans could beat her.
I liked the actual suicide squad, but the joker bits were cringey and the main villain/overall plot were underwhelming. It felt like it could’ve been a much better movie if they’d just spent a bit longer with the script.
Well, that’s just going to encourage more violations from the producers/distributors of this debacle, now isn’t it?
Congrats, I guess, to all those who benefit.
I enjoyed Viola Will and Margot but there were so many issues with this film.
Once again DC produced a movie where the script was clearly all over the place. They need better writers. They did a weird job with HQ writing wise as well. Leto was an ass for no reason since well they cut a lot of him out.
Cara needs to stick to modeling. She has yet to be convincing in anything. Why they gave her such a large part is beyond me.
And 135 is okay but not great considering the massive marketing. And you can bet the execs weren’t happy just like BvS made a ton of money and they weren’t happy. They want to be on par with Marvel…bad reviews won’t cut it.
I’m loving the fact that Jared Leto’s Joker never ‘happened’. I believe Jared thought he would receive the praise Heath Ledger got. He was acting as though the movie was all about him and that we would all be talking about him. The only thing people are saying about him is what a disappointment his Joker was compared to Heath’s. He was behaving like he was Daniel Day Lewis.
+1000
Heath will always be The Joker to me. Leto falls way down the line. Even Caesar Romero from old 1960’s Batman was better as the Clown.
I mean, Mark Hamill is THE Joker, but if we’re talking live action then Heath’s is the best.
I liked Jared Leto as Joker. It was a different interpretation and comparing it to Jack or Heath is just silly. Totally different vibe there.
I’m glad the movie wasn’t about the Joker. I feel like any more focus on the character and the Squad would have been pushed to the side. I prefer the way he was used–to help explain Harley’s backstory and demonstrate how abusive/dysfunctional their relationship is.
As for Jared– I think method acting is dumb, but I also think he is well within his rights to feel disappointed. He seems to have expected one thing based on the number/type of scenes he shot and been delivered another.
I liked Leto’s joker a lot, but I read the comics too. He was the younger joker where as Ledger’s was a bit older, aged. To compare the two is like bringing Nicklson’s joker into the mix, everyone has their favorite, and to hell with the others. This movie mainly set up the Justice League and the next batman, where Batfleck will take on Leto’s Joker and Harley Quinn.
Cara whats-her-name was awful and boring. That was disappointing
I liked Leto’s Joker. I feel like he fit the mold of this story universe. That doesn’t have to take away from Heath or Nicholson’s it is just different. I can tell there was some disjointed stuff going on with his characterization bu that’s not his fault. I dug what he was trying to do and I felt like his character was a modern spin on the Joker. Like if the Joker was realism and ran a street gang this is how he would behave.
Yes! I agree! He has been getting so much stick about playing the part, but I think, during the film he left me wanting more (I loved the cartoons and comics!).
So I am looking forward to the new films. Despite what everyone is saying I liked the chemistry between Harley and the Joker, I enjoyed seeing they’re messed up relationship play out on screen. I just hope when they do get more screen time together, the plot & script is better, darker and has more substance!
I don’t want to judge Leto’s performance here. The Joker bits were so shoehorned into the movie, that I don’t think there’s any option for his performance to seem out of place.
Heath ledger set the bar for superhero villains. Jared Leto isn’t the acting genius he thinks he is. He’s just weird.
If I remember correctly, Heath was also fairly method but his Costars still liked him. It doesn’t sound like anyone enjoyed being on set with Jared. Viola Davis told a less than flattering story of running into him after the film and he didn’t even pretend to know who she was.
I don’ t think Ledger was method, he just tried to understand the character he was playing, which is what actors should do, not trying to become that character outside of the set or between takes. Ledger didn’ t pull stunts like Leto’ s and I strongly suspect that the rumour that he killed himself because he went too deep into the Joker is just a stupid urban legend created for publicity or out of sorrow for his loss.
Leto’ s problem is that his personality is not interesting or likeable enough for people and colleagues to give a crap about him, so he has to pretend to be someone more interesting and/or likeable (the characters he plays) to gain attention. Except everyone else finds it justifingly irritating. The sad part is that he just doesn’ t realize how pathetic he is with this charade.
As for the movie, Batman versus Superman got a s**tload of money in the first week and it barely broke even in the end, so Suicide Squad being a success now doesn’ t mean it’ s not going to be a flop in a month.
@JWQ – I don’t if you’ve seen The Imaginarium of Doctor Parnassus, which Heath filmed after TDK, but Heath looked terrible, like his body and soul were worn out. And I’ve never heard that Heath killed himself, just that he made a stupid mistake.
Actually I think Heath was method. He was always in character as the Joker on set. To the point where it started the downward spiral that led to his death. He couldn’t turn it off. Difference is he wasn’t an ass to other people while in character and didn’t pull juvenile stunts under the guise of “method acting”
I’ m sorry, I phrased it badly. I don’ t think he killed himself on purpose, and I’ ve never heard it either, what I meant was that it’ s a pretty common theory that he got hooked up with the Joker so much that the craziness of the character caught up with him and he basically overdosed because he couldn’ t distinguish reality from fiction anymore. It was just something that came up after he died to paint the character as so dangerous that it even kills people in real life. I read Jack Nicholson said something like: “I told him it was dangerous.”. Which I think is bulls**t.
Personally, I think he had problems, whether they were physical or mental I obviously don’ t know, but not because he was so method that he couldn’ t separate from the (insane) character he was playing. I’ ve never heard of him staying in character on the set, I remember reading something about him constantly talking about his daughter while he was doing the movie, which is really not Joker-y at all. He was either addicted to whatever it was that killed him, and took it one time too many, or he was clean and made a genuine mistake.
Ledger died because of the drugs he was doing. It’s turned into this lore that he was SO into his role as the Joker, but his issues with drugs went far beyond TDK.
So Jared Leto is butt hurt that everybody found his Joker so underwhleming it ended up on the cutting room floor. I’m glad SS is doing great. Black lead, middle aged dark skinned villainess, let me never hear again how only non descript white boys can sell at the box office.
That’s a really good point.
Yes!!! Everybody’s talking about the villain being weak, but Enchantress is not the main villain. Amanda Walker is, and the fact that not only have critics not recognized it, but some are praising “the badass” character simply because it’s played by Viola Davis (who rocks). But she’s the main villain, people! And she is nasty, and terrifying. Get you s*it together!
Yes!!! The critics really missed the point, and Davis is a great villain. My only question for the critics is what exactly were they expecting, Oscar worthy performances and writing. Granted they did have some wonderful acting especially Smith and Davis, but still it is a comic book movie. Yes the Dark Knight may have had some amazing performances with Ledger, but it’s not the norm. For a comic book version it was pretty good. Honestly, I saw the Jason Bourne movie the weekend before and then Suicide Squad, and I generally love Bourne movies, but I would say Suicide Squad was better and Bourne a bit of a snooze. Bourne had a 10-15 min car chase that just had me going is this ever going to end yet? I enjoyed Suicide Squad for what it was, and if you aren’t expecting the world you might like it.
@Naya and DahliaDee:
I think you are confusing “antagonist” and “villain”. Amanda Waller is the antagonist of the film; Enchantress is the villain.
I think I’m not. Amanda Walker kills FBI agents and civilians to hide her involvement in the mess. Her only concern in the post credits scene is the possibility of being found out (regarding said involvement). That makes her more of a monster than Enchantress imo.
@Dahliadee
Spoiler alert???
This movie just opened for Christ’s sake!
I never quite understood why people who are afraid of spoilers visit gossip sites or imdb pages of said movie, what do you expect? Seriously. You can’t control what people say on the Internet. Just expect the worst and wait until you’ve seen the movie before you go on these websites.
@Trixie – agreed. Amanda Waller is the antagonist, but not the villain. She is the same way in the comics. She is a government agent with very little care about who gets hurt in order to accomplish her mission. In the real world that makes her a villain, in Comic World, that makes her just like any other high level agent. Doing the wrong things for the right reason.
She’s essentially DC’s Nick Fury.
@NN
Most people are quite capable of discussing a movie without spoiling specific plot points to others. This is not imdb, celebitches are usually very considered to other posters. I’m sorry if this is difficult for you to understand.
It was clear as early as Halloween last year that Harley Quinn was *the story*…The Joker has become kind of an afterthought.
Too bad she sucked. Harley quinn is my fav
Bet Jared just regrets having to cut his hair.
…yes but the premier roadshows seemed to have stopped…Cruise often does weeks of openings for the MI framchise…
Actually it has one of the worst day-to-day drop offs. This misogynistic, racist shit doesn’t deserve better.
Fri-to-Sat drop % for recent comic book movies:
SS: 41%
Apocalypse: 22%
BVS: 37.9%
Deadpool: 10%
Civil War: 18.9%
Fant4stic: 24%
Ant-Man: 14%
AOU 33%
GOTG: 18%
Winter Soldier: 6.1%
yep. this movie doing well on the opening weekend is expected but bad word of mouth + bad reviewes will hurt it. bahaha. good to see Deadpool’s drop rates were that low.
It’s probably going to have a huge dropoff from this weekend to next weekend.
If they cut so much of Leto’s work, it was foolish to feature him so much in the advertising. And Cara is a horrid actress.
Eek! That’s bad. I wonder if T-Mobile giving away free tickets for Friday contributed to those numbers. Maybe giving those tickets away inflated Friday’s numbers so high that they crashed back to normal on Saturday.
Yes! None of the sites (Deadline, The Wrap, Box Office Prophets) are talking about the free ticket promotion. T-Mobile has over 100 million subscribers, so I’d like to know how many of those subscribers got tickets, and if the value is being added to Friday’s total. I had other plans for Friday or I would have gotten a ticket for myself.
Then add to their promotional screenings and other giveaways. I know I saw the movie twice without having to pay
I highly doubt those sites would report on it. Those sites have all kinds of insider excess. They would have to explain that T-mobile giveaway. That T-mobile gave their subscribers a code to redeem on Fandango. And that Fandango is partially owned by WB. I pretty sure WB doesn’t want that getting out.
The fact that Jared Leto says he experimented a lot and, implicitly, was allowed to do so on the set of a mega-budget movie, says it all. I understand a bit of improve, but experimenting a lot is a different story, when the investment is this big, you gotta know your plan.
They probably let him experiment because they didn’t know what to do with the movie to begin with.
I am not a big fan of David O’Russell, but he encourages the actors to experiment a lot and he gets great performances out of them. The difference is that he starts with a great script and then, if the actors are up to it, he gets them to improvise in character. For me the big problem with his films is that he is then indulgent in the editing process and some improvising looks more like overacting, but with more subtle actors it can be really good.
David Ayer directed Suicide Squad, not the O’Russell guy. Ayer also wrote the script. He did amazing things with Training Day, but the SS script needed a lot of help.
H, I know David Ayer directed Suicide squad, I was making the point that DOR uses improvisation successfully, but starts from a position of strength.
The Russo Brothers (Captain America: The Winter Soldier, Captain America: Civil War) have said they let the actors experiment from take to take, saying that once they’ve got the take there is no need to repeat it (if the performance is the same). They encourage the actors to try different things from take to take.
I don’t know, you guys, maybe in these cases they experimented within a solid vision, like there was already a pre-established idea of what they wanted out of the characters and they tried until they got it. I don’t think the Russos’ movies with CA are results of experiments. I am not saying they are tyrants on set but those guys strike me as knowing what they want from their actors. That does not exclude giving the actors the freedom to bring some input.
The director or someone in Suicide Squad said they did not know Leto until the end of the movie – that is how method he was. But if he stays in character all the time, how can he process directions? It seems that with SS they experimented in order to find the right scenario, not the other way around.
With O’Russell, he does not make huge – budget, superhero movies, so he can do whatever he wants and he did.
DOR can do what he wants. He writes and directs his films, has good support financially, has a relatively low budget and keeps to it, brings the film in on time, usually makes a healthy profit and wins lots of awards. The guy may be a j**k, but he knows what he is doing.
I have heard that the Russos are very clear on the big picture, but gives the actors flexibility within that, particularly when it comes to humor. There are a lot of good actors in that film, many of whom can improvise well and they seen to have been given some opportunity to do that, if they want to.
I watched this garbage for free and still felt ripped off. Margot was decent but I hope she doesn’t do any sequels. She deserves better!
I also read an article about how one of the producers is a huge Trump donater. Ugh he will probably be using some of his profit points to bankroll ginger baby hitler’s awful campaign. Everything about or surrounding this film is f-ing terrible.
Blech. It had some moments but you could really see the reshoots. Also…”Reportedly, Suicide Squad cost $175 million to make,” BHAHAHAHAHAHA!!!! Yeah…no. It was a LOT higher than that. It will make some money but again, this reaction is not what WB wanted.
Jared Leto? Well he manages to be the fourth best movie Joker I’ve ever seen! 😉
I’ve seen worse movies this year, parts were ok, plot is very much lacking though – Will, Marot and Viola were fine. Jared Leto is terrible – his look is like a green haired Macauley Culkin I kinda wished it was a green haired Macauley Culkin, and his acting is all over the place. DC really needs better writers, directors, a new Superman and a better Joker
Oddly enough, I heard from 3 different people who don’t know each other, and they all liked it. So who knows.
I liked it and I was expecting to hate it after the reviews came in. I enjoyed the ride and so many issues that others had I honestly, did not see it that way.
Saw it. Didn’t think it was good, or really understand the plot. There was no middle. Just character introductions to hey we are killing zombie-blobs. Wait, no were not. Wait, yes we are.
Harley was good, and she was one of the best parts but that’s a low bar to cross, and I kept wondering why 20 minutes in she changed her accent to a fakey Jersey accent. Viola was the scariest person in the movie and I think the only actor who committed to not just playing a character as a hollow sketch.
Margot Robbie’s Harley Quinn was THE WORST! That’s not Harley.
I waited in vain for a Michelle Pfiffer as Catwoman movie, so I have low hopes for a Scarlet Johansen Black Widow or Margot Robbie Harley Quinn movie. I liked the trailers for Wonder Woman and I hope that film is good enough to sound the call for quality films with female superheros and super villains kicking a$$. Ugh, I just can’t take anymore Bruce Wayne backstories!
Why is that guy in the green coat holding his weenie?
Shouldn’t you watch the movie before calling it misogynistic?
It’s a comic book movie. Is it a cinematic masterpiece? Of course not. Neither was Deadpool. But like Deadpool, it was a whole lot of fun.
Furthermore, those who call the film misogynistic because of Harley’s character should really read the comics, because she uses her attractiveness as a weapon – it’s her thing. Like in her relationship with the Joker, she has full agency. The Joker is just as in love with her as she is with him, and will do equally dangerous things to be with her – they just have a really, really f***ed up relationship, and its existence is not condoned by the narrative. It just is. As we are continually reminded throughout the film, THESE ARE BAD GUYS.
People need to stop expecting all comic book movies to be The Dark Knight, because they’re not. Comic books are a blast to read, but then you throw them away afterwards. Why aren’t the movies allowed to be the same?
Harley had agency in Batman: The Animated Series, but they stripped her of that when they changed her origin in the comics and in this movie. She no longer decides to become Harley Quinn, she is forced into it by the Joker.
She started out in the animated series, not comics. Which was also one of the only places where she was a well written character.
Her abuse is condoned frequently by fans as “Joker is the only one who can understand her crazy” even though he is a abusive a**. That is happening in this movie as well. I am not cool with it, personally.
But in general, if you have to go “YOU DONT UNDERSTAND BECAUSE YOU HAVENT READ THE COMICS,” it’s a dud.
Yes, Harley started out in The Animated Series and had a great origin story and agency. The relationship between Harley and Joker is terrible, but Harley actually had a pretty interesting arc in the first season. I hate that people lionize the Harley/Joker relationship. Their relationship is one of abuse, but (in The Animated Series) Harley chose it and kept choosing it, but the reasons behind her choices are fascinating and sad. Harley is a fascinating character in The Animated Series.
In this movie, though, she just kind of sucks.
I think the joker attempting to pimp out Harley and then killing the guy for not sleeping with her was where the misogyny comments can start. I know her character is supposed to be broken, but I didn’t remember her sleeping with men on joker’s orders from source material (but correct me if I’m wrong)
Thank you for the spoilers.
You’re welcome.
Sincerely
The internet
Expect is it misogynistic when she’s down with it. Like the point of that scene was to show that she felt it was disrespectful that someone turned her down, that is what Amanda Waller was narrating. I think Harley is sexually free but not in a normal way we (society) find accepting. I mean she’s insane. The Joker then killed someone to defend her honor. So in other words, they are crazy pair devoid of logic.
Oddly, I took that scene completely different than everyone else. I thought Joker was playing with the guy when he offered Harley to him. I thought he killed him for the comments about how hot she was, etc….and the offer was just a game before he killed him.
I don’t know. I’ll be seeing it again in Sept when my husband gets home, assuming it is still in the theater, so I will pay better attention.
Ohh, good point Abby_J maybe the offense was even noticing her and talking about how hot she was. I mean as soon as Common sits down he immediately tries to kiss up by discussing what a hot piece she was, and Harley probably played it up because she knew he was toast. Like how she laughed at the guard when he slipped her the phone and said put in a good word for me. The movie will probably be on VOD by September 🙁
@nn I haven’t read spoilers anywhere except here. However thank you for your input.
And promptly dropped 40% just one day later. They’re going to need a huge overseas audience to save this one.
I saw it opening day. It wasn’t quite as good as I’d hoped, BUT, it also was not nearly as bad as the critics made it out to be.
This film is garish and annoying.
Captain Boomerang was hot.
Yes he was.
Yes, he was! So was Flag.
I am torn about warching it or not…
I don’t want to waste my time and money to see a bad movie. Vut I would like to aupport a movie that has a diverse cast.
It baffles me how much money gets spend on bad movies. Funny enough, I saw Ghostbusters the other day and you can clearly see that it was a small budget movie (compared to SS) and I had fun watching it.
Ghostbusters was so good! I’ve been recommending it to everyone instead of the other films that have come out recently.
A friend of mine went with her son and they loved so much that they recommended it. I went to see it and was surprised how much I enjoyed it. I had a minor “complain” which it’s the fact I could tell the scenes that were shot in Boston or NYC. But this doesn’t affect anything at all. It was a fun movie!
I saw it this weekend, and it wasn’t nearly as awful as the critics lead me to believe. That being said, it really, really suffers from DC jumping into the team-up movies without putting the leg work in on solo ventures. more than half the movie was backstory on the characters, which left little time to develop a compelling plot. If these villains had shown up in solo movies before, this would have been much more exciting, and you would have had built in affection for the characters. Also, the editing was terrible, and they crammed far too many songs into it. Within the first 10 minutes, I think there like 6 different classic rock songs, one after another.
DC sure has an issue with editing and character development. For instance, take the Batman movies. They take ages telling Batman ‘s childhood over and over again instead of relying in quick flashbacks, and cram what it matters half way through…
Thought it was gonna be a big mess but I thoroughly enjoyed it. A lot of fun to watch. I loved Jared Leto’s Joker and Viola Davis is badass. What an actress.
When did this all even become a thing? When did reviews by biased critics and rewards by biased voters mean more than the simple enjoyment one gets from watching a story come to life on a screen? I can understand, okay it maybe could have been better, but what exactly did anyone expect from this, or any other DC movie, or any Marvel movie even? They’re not Citizen Kane. They’re based off of a form of source material that is by all rights cheesy, silly, out of the box, fantastical. If they stick to the spirit of the source material, they could be even MORE cheeseball and colorful. I’m seeing it next Sunday and I’m excited. Harley Quinn – in all her extremely problematic, insane, stockholm syndrome glory – has always been my favorite Batman character, and I think it’s going to be fun.
I wanted to go see it because of Will Smith, Margot Robbie and Viola but when I realised that Cara the crap model/actress had quite a large role it was an instant NO. The girl irritates me, she has such a bad, entitled attitude. Her sister is just the same, there’s a video of Poppy throwing a wobbly at the BAFTA’s (i think) after party when she was refused entry – she was screaming those immortal words ‘Don’t you know who i am?’ and threatening to have him fired. Classy!
Actually, Cara’s role isn’t that big when you see it. I mean she spends most of the time as June just staring and sobbing and as Enchantress, well, she does a lot more staring and a bit of fighting. 🙂
They could have picked a MUCH better actress for that, though.
I saw it with a group of friends over the weekend, and none of us hated it as much as some of us expected to. I don’t put much stock in critics, and I think it wasn’t near as bad as some of them said. It was easily better than BvS.
Margot wasn’t my Harley, but I liked her. I wish they would have played up how smart she actually is/was, though.
Will Smith was playing one of my favorite DC characters, and he did a great job. Enchantress was eh…..Cara whats-her-name should stick to modeling, but she really didn’t have a lot to do in this movie but sob, stare and get CGI’d.
Amanda Waller was perfect. I want a movie with her and Nick Fury trying to save the world. It would be beautiful. Avengers/Justice League? Better yet, Avengers/Suicide Squad. DC and Marvel, make this happen.
I didn’t hate Joker as much as I expected to, but that was because he wasn’t a huge part of the movie. If I had to watch him in every scene, I would have hated him a LOT.
Rick Flagg was great. I’m gonna have to go see what else that guy has been in now.
Batfleck still sucks.
Oh! One of the people in our group included my 14-year-old niece. We were all walking out after the movie and we heard two girls a little older than her talking about Harley and Joker. One said that she wanted a boyfriend who loved her as much as Joker loved Harley (which is actually a popular opinion on line, it seems), and my niece was shocked.
She turned to me and my Brother-in-Law (hr father) and rolled her eyes because it was creepy that anyone would want a relationship like Joker and Harley Quinn. That’s one smart girl, but good grief, I feel sorry for kids who saw the movie and thought it was a good thing.
I actually think the movie did a decent job of romanticizing the relationship while also showing how bad and unhealthy it was, but maybe I was just reading what I wanted to see into it. How did others who saw it take it?
I agree. I have been a fan of their sicko perverted relationship since the Batman Animated cartoons original run in the 90s. BUT I always perceived their relationship as sick and twisted. I think the movie did a good job of showing that for these two twisted people, who are co-dependent on one another and with one being deeply psychotic, this was love. I mean Joker loved her in his own way. He could have turned away from her and let her drown but he didn’t. He asked her to die and live for him and she had the guts to do it. He is equally yoked to her as she is to him. He tries to play cool, but I agree with Amanda Waller’s assessment that he is a Joker but she is the Queen and they are a pair. Like he couldn’t be complete without his queen and she made him a king. In reality, that places her higher than him.
It was an unmemorable film but it really wasnt that bad. The script was all over the place and Cara was absolutely awful – which wouldnt have been such a problem if her character wasnt so important.
Will was the best part by far. Diablo and Viola were great too. Margot was alright, though I still think she was wrong for the character.
quality isnt a requirement for a film’s financial success.
just like qualifications arent a requirement to be a nominee for president of the united states (trump).
im american and can confidently say most of my country is full of idiots. the box office reflects this time and time again.
I’ll give them credit because I am sure most professional reviews were done by guys in their fifties that compare a movie like this to a classic or popular film of their day. The audience is not intended for the people who are contrasting and comparing movies with other movies I think it was meant to be watched by teen and early twenty somethings who don’t give a damn about stuffy reviews by people who look like Statler and Waldorf or the “Two Old Men Eating” Goya painting.
I think this is the definition of a summer block buster movie. The audience does not care what others have to say about the movie, they want to see it themselves and determine if it is a good or bad movie.
I’m a fan of Suicide Squad who almost skipped seeing it due to reviews. Went anyways – and LOVED it. I think people who didn’t enjoy the movie weren’t fans in the first place.
Leto did an excellent job as a gangster Joker. Harley was perfect. All round exactly what a suicide squad film should be.
Super hero movie this is not, nor was it meant to be. Great adaptation of a much loved comic series.
Yeah, and in other news, water is also wet!
I’m not surprised. A lot of people (myself included) don’t care about reviews; we like to judge it for ourselves. It’s a movie with iconic villains and there’s explosions, it could have a -240% rating and people would still be buying tickets in advance.
I think the issue is what they have done to the characters. HQ shouldn’t have been portrayed as she was. Upsetting the actual fanbase will get bad reviews but people will watch it to see margo’s pretty bum and a load of stars in a big budget film