The verdict on David Ayer’s Suicide Squad is in, and despite a few brave souls standing up for the supervillain ensemble, the majority of critics did not like it… at all.
The movie officially releases this weekend, and Warner Bros. will be hoping that general audiences embrace it more than the critics have – a sentiment shared by some of the cast when they were asked about the film’s negative reaction while attending the premiere.
Joel Kinnaman (Rick Flag) acknowledges that some acclaim would have been nice, but hopes the fans will enjoy what he calls a “work of love”:
You know, of course you want critical acclaim, of course, but what matters is what the fans think. We’re really proud of this film, we loved making it, everybody on the film has become really close friends and this is like a work of love and I hope the fans like it.
Cara Delevingne, meanwhile, was a lot less diplomatic:
The critics have been absolutely horrific, they’re really, really horrible. You know, I just don’t think they like superhero movies.
Jay Hernandez (Diablo) chimed in as well, and was positively riled:
Yeah I am bothered about it, I think it sucks, obviously we worked hard and tried to give the fans what they wanted. It’s weird that some of the criticism I heard was that it was ‘too much like a comic book’, in terms of you have these characters being objectified like Harley Quinn, there are just certain elements that are just part of being a comic book.
Despite the reviews, Suicide Squad is still looking good for a very strong opening weekend at the box office. The question is, though, will it have legs?