Initial Reaction: Video Review - SUICIDE SQUAD

The biggest story of the weekend was always going to be Suicide Squad no matter how bad or good the reviews were and no matter how much money it did or didn't make it. Turns out, the movie did indeed make a ton of money despite a second wave of negative reviews for the second DC comics extended universe film this year. By comparison, Suicide Squad is making the critic reactions to Batman V  Superman look tame. Whereas that film divided critics and fans alike due more to the tone and story the film decided to take on many have been reacting to Suicide Squad for its altogether incoherent tone and story. As these things go much of these complaints seem to be coming from the fact Warner Bros. reacted to the BvS reviews by having multiple editors make multiple cuts of Suicide Squad in an attempt to make the film funnier, more light-hearted, and clearly to add a ton of music as the soundtrack for this thing is off the charts (thanks, Guardians of the Galaxy). It will be when Warner Bros. learns that it's not the second or third property to do something people initially liked that will garner it all the attention and praise, but when they do something original and striking that it will be their turn to receive the praise and fandom of the movie-going faithful. Instead, be it trying to ape Chris Nolan's dark and gritty tone or trying ape the "fun", but more importantly *established* tone of Marvel there is no reason for sudiences to respond excitedly to something they've seen before. Personally, I enjoyed much of what Suicide Squad had to offer-especially in its relentless first hour, but as I get further away from the film and the more stories I hear about how audiences came to see the version we did the more I tend to dislike what WB is doing and simply hope they allow these established directors they've hired to create a singular vision. Otherwise, why hire them? Only time will tell if Patty Jenkins, James Wan, Rick Famuyiwa, and Ben Affleck suffer the same circumstances as David Ayer, but for now I'll hold out hope that, like with BvS, we get an extended cut of Suicide Squad in the way Ayer envisioned the film when he shot it when it hits home video later this year. All of that said, Suicide Squad still topped the previous August opening weekend record by more than $40 million with an estimated $135.1 million. That was enough to give the film the largest August opening weekend, the largest August opening day with $65.2 million, which in turn included the largest August Thursday preview total of $20.5 million. Combined with a $132 million international opening from 57 territories, the film's global haul stands at $267.1 million after the first weekend on a $175 million budget. Be sure to follow us on Instagram and Twitter as we now have those accounts set up and, as always, subscribe to our YouTube channel as we have a new review (or reviews) up each week!



Read my full Suicide Squad review here.

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