"Suicide Squad" released this weekend with a collective shoulder-shrug and "meh" from the countless people who have been anticipating the film since its first teaser trailer early last year. The film, according to random people I follow on Twitter, was either "messy" and couldn't stay focused, full of awkward Jared Leto screen time, flashy in the beginning but boring midway through, or all of those - or - completely, insanely amazing-why-do-people-not-like-this-movie-I-just-don't-get-it. So, lots of room for debate.
And that's pretty much how the general, summer-blockbuster movie-goer community reacted to Warner Bros.' last DC Comics film, "Batman v Superman: Dawn of Justice," a film that wanted to juxtapose the conflicting ideologies of justice in the form of violence and the complete abstaining of that. But in the end, the film itself became confused and was lagged down with lazy plot structure and out-of-place sprinkles of surprisingly amazing, though probably too long, monologues from Jessie Eisenberg (who's his usual, erratic faux-genius self).
Both films were, objectively, not very good. Let's keep it at that.
But the reviews are out and they reflect this sentiment, so of course we're not going to just keep it at that.
In fact, people are apparently signing a petition. To shut down Rotten Tomatoes.
Rotten Tomatoes, and it's professional and semi-professional critics, collectively decided that this film was bad, or technically, "rotten". Starting as a joke, it seems the petition grew into a thing of vigilantism among the abused DC comic book fans everywhere, who just want their favorite comics, portrayed on screen, to be liked by everyone.
That's what you'll see when you go the film's specified location on the site. And I'm not sure which is funnier: a petition to shut down a film critic-aggregate site actually being something people are serious about or that such anger can be inspired by a "Tomatometer."
And if we compare that meter's 26 percent, which is comprised of critic (not fan) reviews, to the "Audience Score" (fans) of 73 percent, it becomes clear what the real issue is here. Rotten Tomatoes is out to get DC Comics.
No, not really, but that's becoming the cry of those poor souls who have supposedly been wrongfully represented as fans of a bad movie. Though, it is always interesting when this type of thing happens. How can fans be in such complete disagreement with people who critique films as a profession? Naturally there will be an outlier or two, but how can the gap be so wide? That question alone is enough to fill books of film theory, ranging from the advent of summer blockbusters into cinema by Spielberg and Lucas to auteur theory and everything in between. But none of that matters if we accept that people can like a film, subjectively, while it still being objectively bad. And vice-versa.
Take me for example: I love the movie "What If" or "The F Word." I enjoy watching all of its anxious grandeur and delicately understated address of romance in the 21st century, (also, Daniel Radcliffe). But it's not that great. Although, Rotten Tomatoes gives it a 70 percent, which I consider average, Metacritic throws that thing a mediocre 59 percent. It's no 26, but I personally feel "What If"is a solid 90. Also, Rotten Tomatoes gives "12 Angry Men" a 100 percent, but ever since I was forced to watch that in eighth grade civics, I can't imagine myself attributing any positive connotations to that "film."
And while there may be inaccuracies and peculiar errors in Rotten Tomatoes, which Kansas City Star's David Frese pointed out (go Kansas City Star), it is far and above (along with Metacritic) more accurate than sites like Fandango and IMDb, that allow users and fans to alter the overall rating of a film. If you (yes, you) are interested in this at all or want to do any more research, Walt Hickey of FiveThirtyEight goes crazy in-depth with statistics and detailed �comparisons, as FiveThiryEight is wont to do, about these very four sites.
If you're not interested, and I wouldn't blame you (and you still like "Suicide Squad"), just know that the film is sitting with a comfortable box-office lead ahead of any film released in August this year, or ever, with 135. Million. Dollars. And what's more important to a Hollywood film than making absurd amounts of cash?
