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Spoilers Suicide Squad - Grading & Discussion

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Or they'll think that they didn't interfere enough and double down on Wonder Woman.
 
^That was my thought too. Sadly I doubt the WB executives would be able to accept that they were the problem.
How much did Geoff Johns have to do with SS? I'm hoping since WW will be the movie first movie to spend a lot of it's production in charge that hopefully he'll be able to bring out a good movie. Most of the stuff he's been involved with that I've read and watched I've enjoyed, so I'm pretty hopeful that he'll be able to help the DCEU.
It will be interesting to see what happens with the rest of the movies if Suicide Squad ends up with a similar fan reaction to BvS.
 
^Good point -- most of SS's production would've been before Johns's promotion, I think. So maybe that will make a difference.
 
I've seen this type of critique before and when connected to superhero films and families aimed for the mainstream tends not to be very convincing.
Why do I care about what mainstream audiences think?

If you missed it, what I said was that in cases like this, the critics clearly don't have the same view as someone like me will have. They're inability to understand what they're watching is utterly irrelevant to whether I'll enjoy it or not. Rather than accepting the movie for what it is, they clearly expected something entirely different, and it shows in most of their reviews.

I also said -- and I'm fairly sure you'll edit out this bit if you reply again, too -- that I may end up agreeing with them after I see the movie. But as it stands, based solely on their reviews, those reviews are largely meaningless to me because it is, in fact, clear that they didn't understand what kind of movie this is. It may still suck, but if it does, I doubt it'll be because of most of the reasons they've cited in their reviews.

I mean, I disliked Batman v Superman tremendously, but only for a handful of the reasons they cited in those reviews, too.
 
So, Fandango sent me an email urging me to see this movie.

The subject line of the email was:

Worst. Heroes. Ever.

There's your review.
 
Or they'll think that they didn't interfere enough and double down on Wonder Woman.

Wow! Have you already passed judgment on "WONDER WOMAN" as well . . . without having seen it?


Oh my God! Many of you have already decided that "SUICIDE SQUAD" is a bust without seeing the movie. You're just taking the movie critics at their word . . . without any evidence. What the hell? Even worse, you're accepting this ridiculous idea that moviegoers should choose MCU films over the recent DC Comics movies . . . as if that is a must.

God, I pity human beings today. I had no idea, until recently, how malleable and susceptible a species we truly are. Or that many of are incapable of judging something on our own, instead of making the effort to find out. This is just so damn sad. Pathetic.


The big break happens when Reed abandons the team, but how many times does Sue's hair change before that?

I don't know. Like I said, the real problem I had with "FANTASTIC FOUR" was the last 20 minutes or so.
 
I decided to check tumblr, twitter and instagram for impressions and I'm seeing a lot of people saying the movie is a fun ride, and that the critics got it all wrong. Maybe this is another film where the audience will love it but critics won't.
 
Frankly, DCU - in both movies and television - has been impressing me a lot more in the past few years than Marvel . . . whose qualities in films and television have been somewhat inconsistent - at least to me.
Totally understandable. Everyone has different tastes. I'm glad there are people who are digging the DCU so far. I truly wish I was one of them. I enjoy The Flash at least, so that's something.

But apparently, a lot of people have decided to allow the film critics to dictate whether they're going to see the movie or not. How sad.
You wound me, sir.

...Seriously, why do you care? I don't see anyone giving you grief for paying to go see it, so why kick at the people who have decided not to? (Also, there is no dictating going on. This is a personal decison made based on available evidence, just as your choice is.)

This is just so damn sad. Pathetic.
Jeez, enough already.
 
I'll go and see it because I usually get some enjoyment from most superhero movies. I only skip them if the reviews are FF/Ghost Rider 2 bad. I enjoyed BvS more than most critics but at the same time, I thought a lot of its criticism was justified and I could see the flaws.

And like others have said, it's a question of time and priorities in terms of being guided by critics. There are some reviewers whose opinions I know to ignore and others whose views are largely similar to mine. I don't have time to see every movie so when Warcraft and Independence Day Resurgence, 2 films I was at best ambivalent about, I decided to skip them. I'll also go see this because I've friends who also want to see it and it's an opportunity for us to socialise. But I've lowered my expectations.
 
But apparently, a lot of people have decided to allow the film critics to dictate whether they're going to see the movie or not. How sad.

I completely agree here! For me, right now, what's holding me back is that I just watched BvS Ultimate Edition. I liked it well enough, but it was massivly flawed. And it's making me a bit nervous about Suicide Squad. I might skip it in theaters, and watch it when it's released on bluray. Depends mostly on how much time I have.
 
Frankly, DCU - in both movies and television - has been impressing me a lot more in the past few years than Marvel . . . whose qualities in films and television have been somewhat inconsistent - at least to me.

I feel the same way. Most of Marvels offering are forgettable popcorn fare that I have little interest in seeing again. Then again outside of spiderman and the hulk I never got into Marvel.


But apparently, a lot of people have decided to allow the film critics to dictate whether they're going to see the movie or not. How sad.

Opinions are like @ssholes. Everyone has them. I like watching reviews of a few critics because I like seeing different viewpoints on movies but I never let them decide whether or not to watch a movie. Most movies that are highly favorable with critics and that win academy awards are boring garbage that I would never pay money to see.

PS: I love Sams Reviews and Oliver Harper on youtube. I don't always agree with them but they are very entertaining and thorough.
 
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The trailer made the movie look somewhat interesting and I was planning to see it. Having said that I have zero interest in seeing a Will Smith movie and apparently his role is way bigger than Margot Robbie's. Plus I don't have much confidence in the movie makers to not turn Robbie into mostly a sex object ("Joker's Property", eh?).
The mediocre to terrible reviews and the fact that DC's recent movies all sucked huge donkey balls makes me think I should probably wait for it to pop up on Netflix.

The idea that "the mainstream just doesn't get it" is old and tired. Like comic movies are some arcane science that's oh-so-super sophisticated and people need to be experts to "get them"? I mean... who are we kidding here?
If you're just dying to see every comic brought to the big screen, go see it and maybe you'll enjoy it. I guess I'll wait after all.
 
I think some people here are misunderstanding the role of a movie critic. You shouldn't just look at how many stars or thumbs up a reviewer has given a movie, you need to read the actual review. After reading several of a critic's reviews of movies and comparing those reviews to your own personal opinion of a movie you'll begin to have a good idea of how to interpret future reviews.

Also, word of mouth will play a big factor following the first weekend. If a lot of people like the movie then more people will go see it.

I often use this board to judge whether I will watch a movie in the cinema or at home. I very rarely go to see a movie on its opening weekend--the only exception in recent years was AoU because my wife didn't want to miss an episode of AoS. Ha! Was she fooled!
 
Wow! Have you already passed judgment on "WONDER WOMAN" as well . . . without having seen it?

Positing a hypothetical scenario or an area of potential concern is not "passing judgment." It's just being aware of possibilities. Just because an idea occurs to you, that doesn't mean you automatically close your mind to all other possibilities -- not if you're a reasonable person at all. You just keep it in mind alongside other possible scenarios, and you refine your assessment of the relative likelihood of those various scenarios as additional information comes along.

At this point, nobody is saying it's guaranteed that WB will mess with Wonder Woman. That would be irrational. It's just a possibility that's occurred to some of us and that we are, of course, hoping will not be the case. Naturally we're hoping that WW will be the exception to the pattern, the one that will break the streak and be an unambiguous critical and box-office success. But that doesn't mean we can't be aware of the risks.
 
Wow! Have you already passed judgment on "WONDER WOMAN" as well . . . without having seen it?


Oh my God! Many of you have already decided that "SUICIDE SQUAD" is a bust without seeing the movie. You're just taking the movie critics at their word . . . without any evidence. What the hell? Even worse, you're accepting this ridiculous idea that moviegoers should choose MCU films over the recent DC Comics movies . . . as if that is a must.

God, I pity human beings today. I had no idea, until recently, how malleable and susceptible a species we truly are. Or that many of are incapable of judging something on our own, instead of making the effort to find out. This is just so damn sad. Pathetic.




I don't know. Like I said, the real problem I had with "FANTASTIC FOUR" was the last 20 minutes or so.
I don't have unlimited time and money, so I do look to the reviews for movies I am unsure about. Generally if the reviews are all saying the same thing then that points to that being a real problem. There some movies that like the DC and Marvel movies, that I will go see now matter what, but if I'm at all unsure about a movie then I will base my decision on the reviews, that is the whole reason we have reviews. Now if all of the comments on sites like this are positive then I will ignore the reviews and go see it anyways.
If I am going to spend the time and money to go see a movie, I want to be sure it's going to be a pleasant experience.
I really don't understand why this is so upsetting for you, if you aren't concerned with wasting time and money on a bad movie, then good for you, some of us don't have that luxury.
 
I really don't understand why this is so upsetting for you, if you aren't concerned with wasting time and money on a bad movie, then good for you, some of us don't have that luxury.

I think the problem is that there are a lot of people on the Internet who instantly denounce a movie based on the tiniest excuse, and people do understandably get annoyed by that, but it's so pervasive that sometimes people overreact and lump more reasonable things -- like deciding not to see a movie based on actual reviews, or expressing hypothetical concerns about how a movie might turn out -- into the same category. So a legitimate criticism of fan overreaction is itself applied too broadly, an overreaction to the overreaction. In entertainment, as in politics, moderate and nuanced positions tend to get lost in the bickering between the extreme positions.
 
The Vox review was so scathing, it was fun to read: Link

Suicide Squad is a slog of a movie. It’s the same piano key being struck at exactly the same volume, and exactly the same rhythm, for two hours. It’s a big bowl full of lukewarm gruel.


I think, if worse comes to worst, that I preferred Batman v Superman: Dawn of Justice to Suicide Squad. At least that earlier film was trying to be about something. (Yes, it failed, but it was aiming for greatness.) Suicide Squadseems to mostly be aiming for the general demeanor of a 14-year-old boy who gets detention for carving the word "RAD" into his desk with his grandfather’s rusty old pocketknife.



This movie dearly hopes it can skate by entirely on attitude, but forgets to develop said attitude. It wants to stand out thanks to its team dynamics, but forgets that a team is made up of many individual characters. And finally, it attempts to lean too heavily on its actors, who are generally decent (save one glaring exception, and no, it’s not that black hole of human charisma Jai Courtney), only to give them nothing to play.

Lots of other reviews have talked about how misogynistic and racist the film is, and, oh, it is. And lots of other reviews have talked about how little sense the story makes, and you had better believe it makes no sense. But the real indignity is how poorly made Suicide Squad is.

Here are five rookie mistakes Suicide Squad makes that keep it from being anywhere near as fun as it could have been.

Not quite as "good" as the Vanity Fair review, though.
 
I think the problem is that there are a lot of people on the Internet who instantly denounce a movie based on the tiniest excuse, and people do understandably get annoyed by that, but it's so pervasive that sometimes people overreact and lump more reasonable things -- like deciding not to see a movie based on actual reviews, or expressing hypothetical concerns about how a movie might turn out -- into the same category. So a legitimate criticism of fan overreaction is itself applied too broadly, an overreaction to the overreaction. In entertainment, as in politics, moderate and nuanced positions tend to get lost in the bickering between the extreme positions.

Remind me, have you seen Batman Vs Superman yet?
 
What's most disappointing to me regarding Suicide Squad now is how WB seemingly didn't have faith in Ayer and set out to make a version of the movie that they thought would bring them more money. So much for artistic vision anymore. Yeah I know Marvel is pretty assembly line with their stuff and why not expect that from DC? Except for the fact that WB was touting how they were letting their directors make the movies. Sure we'll see his cut, on Blu-Ray, where most people will buy it out of curiosity, thus netting WB even more money.

I don't care about the reviews, hell I saw the '98 Avengers film because of the bad reviews and actually ended up somewhat enjoying it. I care about word of mouth though, especially when it comes to a movie ticket, since they're so expensive these days, and word of mouth seems pretty bad.
 
Wow! Have you already passed judgment on "WONDER WOMAN" as well . . . without having seen it?

I have, because I hate the casting (Gal Gadot) and I hate the setting (WWI) and I don't care if it's box office beats avatar and people walk out of the theater going "We're not worthy!" I see no reason to waste my hard earned money on a film centered on things I hate.


Oh my God! Many of you have already decided that "SUICIDE SQUAD" is a bust without seeing the movie.

For the same reason. It's a movie centered around things I hate.

You're just taking the movie critics at their word . . . without any evidence. What the hell?

I have evidence. It's called "trailers", and if any of the ones I've seen so far would have convinced me beyond my own misgivings to spend money on SS I would be less inclined to listen to negative reviews. But they haven't, so why should I doubt the word of people willing to sit through the movie when I'm not? (BTW, LJ, are we also not supposed to listen to critics who praised the movie? Because there are some...)

Even worse, you're accepting this ridiculous idea that moviegoers should choose MCU films over the recent DC Comics movies . . . as if that is a must.

I accepted that notion ages ago because as far as I'm concerned Marvel's better at this right now than DC, because they took their time about it and DC's obviously playing catch-up, and that impression is not going to change if DC continues to put out movies that sharply divide audience opinion.

God, I pity human beings today. I had no idea, until recently, how malleable and susceptible a species we truly are. Or that many of are incapable of judging something on our own, instead of making the effort to find out. This is just so damn sad. Pathetic.

Climb down off your soapbox, LJ. Nobody appointed you Moviegoer Integrity Police.

Some people rely on reviews to choose their movies. Some don't. Neither tack is wrong. You don't judge a movie until you've actually seen it? Good on ya, mate! There's no law anywhere that requires the rest of us to follow your lead.
 
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