Ever since the heavily hyped Suicide Squad movie had its theatrical release on Friday, a new fight has made its way to the forefront of superhero and super villain rivalry. No, not the longstanding enmity between Batman and The Joker, or even that of perpetual comic book rivals Marvel and DC, but rather a battle between movie critics and fans for the reputation of one of the most highly anticipated releases of the year.
Via Youtube.
In its opening days, Suicide Squad got panned by critics. Not even at the base level of criticism most comic book based films have to endure, but rather at a level DC fans haven’t seen since the ill-fated Green Lantern movie, although maybe that’s taking it a bit far. It has managed to surpass the generally-agreed-upon mess that was Batman v Superman in terms of negative ratings. However, while critics seem to be in agreement that the film is just bad, fans don’t seem to be holding with that opinion. The online reaction looks positive, and passionate fans of the film even called for aggregator site Rotten Tomatoes to be taken down for portraying the film so negatively.
Via Rotten Tomatoes
As someone who would happily sit around and write reviews of TV and movies all day, I feel like this reaction is a tiny bit harsh to critics. It is their job to, you know, critique a movie, even when viewers might disagree. We should strive to have journalists trying their hardest to tell you what they think in an objective manner.
But, I am also not an unbiased journalist. I grew up around comic books and watching superhero movies. I will watch pretty much anything DC or Marvel if it winds up in front of my eyes — although, I never saw the new Fantastic Four, so I can’t claim that I have that much of a tolerance policy. But I’m no stranger to criticism. When I go to see the newest release I go with the harshest critic, my dad. I thought Man of Steel was not that great. He thought Man of Steel was the worst movie he had ever seen. I thought X-Men: Days of Future Past was fantastic. He thought it was “pretty good” (although we’re both in agreement on the superiority of First Class). I don’t think he’s seen Suicide Squad yet, but I’m pretty sure I can predict that he’ll side with the critics on this one. I guess when comic books are part of your 9-5, it takes a lot to impress you.
However, the thing is that even though I do take his opinion seriously, it’s also just that, his opinion. Art is subjective. It doesn’t affect my enjoyment of a movie if someone tells me they don’t like it. Maybe I’ll be on the lookout for pitfalls a little more, but I’ll probably form my own opinion in the end. Movie critics are just people. People with a platform, no doubt, but people like every other person walking into that dark theater. A.O. Scott may write for the NY Times, but his opinion of Suicide Squad holds much less weight in terms of your enjoyment of the movie than your own. Try to remember that when the lights go down.
