First Reactions to Suicide Squad Are In

Earlier today, Warner Bros. released a critics TV spot for "Suicide Squad," giving us a few of the early reactions. However, it raised a few questions as a results, such as why they would put such a spot out before the embargo was released, and why would they resort to using smaller outlets (or Shawn Edwards, the quote machine)?

Well, as it turns out, they were trying to keep ahead of the backlash the film has received thus far in the form of mostly negative reviews. At the time of this article, there are 49 reviews on Rotten Tomatoes, with only 16 of them positive, giving it a rotten score of 33% (5.3/10). No doubt this is a major disappointment for those of us who have been waiting for the film for quite some time, but let's take a quick look at some of the specific things being said.

Those on the fresh side have said:

"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." - Chris Nashawaty, Entertainment Weekly

"Suicide Squad is the rare superhero movie in which I actually found myself wondering about the characters' inner lives. - Bilge Ebiri, Village Voice

"Compared to its ilk, Suicide Squad is an excellently quirky, proudly raised middle finger to the staid superhero-movie establishment. - Brian Truitt, USA Today

While those on the negative side have said:

"On paper, this could have been the antidote to an increasingly codified strain of comic-book movies, but in the end, it's just another high-attitude version of the same. - Peter Debruge, Variety

"A puzzlingly confused undertaking that never becomes as cool as it thinks it is, Suicide Squad assembles an all-star team of supervillains and then doesn't know what to do with them. - Todd McCarthy, Hollywood Reporter

"Who stole the soul of Suicide Squad? I'd say it's Ayer's willingness to go all limp-dick and compromise his hardcore action bona fides for a PG-13 crowdpleaser that would rather ingratiate than cut deep, or even cut at all. - Peter Travers, Rolling Stone

This looks like another instance where many of those calling the film fresh don't seem fully convinced of it, whereas most of those who haven't liked it are really going at it. We all knew it was a possibility after the disastrous "Batman v Superman," but from the trailers, it looked like it was going to be a really fun film. It could be that the critics are just being overly-judgmental, but they were indeed right on the nose when it came to DC's last film project, so perhaps expectations should be lowered just a tad.

I'll be seeing the film tonight, and I'll still be hoping for the best, but I can't say that this doesn't dampen my spirits at least a little bit. My review will go up on Thursday morning, so be sure to check back to see which side of the fence I land on.

"Suicide Squad" hits theaters this Friday, August 5th.

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