Surprise! Suicide Squad is getting bad reviews.

After months and months of promotion and hype Suicide Squad, the next installment of the DC Extended Universe, will open nationwide this Friday, August 5. The question is whether or not the film starring a motley crew of bad guys doing good deeds will pull the DCEU from the downward spiral initiated by Batman v Superman: Dawn of Justice. I doubt it. The review embargo was finally lifted less than a week before the release date, which is never a good sign; and unfortunately for Warned Brothers and DC, they are mostly negative. As of this writing Suicide Squad is at a dismal 35% on rottentomatoes.com, only marginally better than the 27% obtained by Batman v Superman. A common theme of the reviews is that Suicide Squad is too grim and dark, and is as unpleasant to watch as Batman v Superman. This does not surprise me as I've brained out loud before that DC forces all their movies into the Christopher Nolan Batman Trilogy mold. However, some critics were surprised, suggesting the fun and energetic trailers sold a movie that doesn't exist. Some reviews claim the film falls apart and drags after the first act. Critics are also saying Jared Leto's Joker was just strange for the sake of being strange and not anything groundbreaking like Heath Ledger's performance.


Similar to how director Josh Trank made excuses for the failure of Fantastic Four (which some turned out to be true) David Ayer, director of Suicide Squad is already defending the movie. Tweeting the quote, "Prefiero morir de pie que vivir de rodillas," from Mexican revolutionary Emiliano Zapata. Translation “I’d prefer to die standing, than to live on my knees.” Ayer says he defiantly took risks and made decisions for the fans, not the critics. In interviews, Ayer has repeatedly said that he was given total control by Warner Brothers. Reports claim that he was occasionally forced into Zack Snyder's horrible and unimaginative style, now validated by footage. So I'm not sure how many risky choices Ayer actually made.

This guys super power is ropes.

Regardless of the reviews, the fans have spoken and Suicide Squad has broken the August record for pre-sale tickets on Fandango previously held by Guardians of the Galaxy. The film is estimated to rake in $140 Million its opening weekend domestically, and with little competition it could remain the #1 film for weeks. Unless the live action Pete's Dragon film, opening August 12 takes the #1 spot, and I think it may. It appears as if history is repeating for Warner Brothers and DC and if Suicide Squad falls on its second Friday as much as Batman v Superman did (with its record-breaking 81.6% drop) then Pete's Dragon from Disney, which is predicted to have an $80 Million weekend, will push Suicide Squad to the #2 spot, despite that Pete's Dragon is targeting a younger demographic.

The drastic decline of ticket sales for Batman v Superman was attributed partly to the negative reviews and DC fans are attempting to take preemptive action. A petition has been filed on Change.org to shut down rottentomatoes.com. This is desperate and pointless since rottentomatoes is an aggregate site that collects reviews and not the source of the reviews. Plus the person who filed or any of those who signed the petition have most likely not even seen the film. Another sad grasp is the conspiracy theory that claims Disney/Marvel is paying critics to submit bad reviews. This can be debunked simply by pointing out that most film critics pull double duty as a journalist and the fact that not one of the hundreds of critics has broken the scandal that any journalist with integrity would love to expose. The funnier thing about this Marvel biased conspiracy theory is that Warner Brothers actually was caught and fined by the Federal Trade Commission for paying YouTube stars, including PewDiePie, for positive game reviews.

Critics are not biased, and it's not a conspiracy. It just seems to be a simple fact that Warner Brothers can no longer produce an enjoyable superhero film. This has dashed my hopes for Justice League and Wonder Woman. Both films revealed trailers at the 2016 San Diego Comic Con last month and both trailers looked great. However with disappointment after disappointment, the excuses and dishonesty from the filmmakers, the revelation that the trailers are cut to be deceiving, and the fact Zack Snyder is still employed you can count me out.

The Justice League trailer does make the film appear inviting and more lighthearted than Man of Steel or Batman v Superman. However, appearances can no longer be trusted. I was apprehensive at first of Aquaman but I am sold on Jason Momoa(Game of Thrones) for the role. However I think Cyborg looks Michael Bay Transformers awful and The Flash suit/armor looks like a knockoff Ironman Halloween costume. The Wonder Woman trailer looks really good except for the Zack Snyder '300' slow motion fight scenes. Leaving me to wonder if that hack influenced the film in other ways. I was hopeful for Justice League and Wonder Woman but not any longer. I'll wait and see what the reviews are like.