Is ‘Suicide Squad’ Good? The Power of Online Reviews
Do you rely on experts, your peers, or a combination of the two?
In light of Batman v. Superman: Dawn of Justice’s less than stellar box office reception earlier this summer, DC fans everywhere were looking for some cinematic redemption in Suicide Squad. From the leaked ComiCon trailer to the unveiling of an all-star ensemble cast, many believed this would be the surprise box office smash of the summer, similar to how Guardians of the Galaxy exceeded everyone’s expectations two years ago. CinemaBlend predicted the DC action thriller would earn about $140 million on opening weekend. Meanwhile, DailySuperHeroes.com, projected the movie to gross roughly $750 million worldwide, an ambitious, but not impossible goal.
The opening weekend prediction wasn’t that far off from the $133 million at the beginning of August 2016; but the movie’s dismal second-week earnings now suggest it will likely fall well short of that $750 million figure. For one reason or another, fewer people than expected are willing go to the theatre to watch it.
Granted, the brains behind Suicide Squad were counting on a devoted niche group of diehard fans to lead the curious majority straight to the box office; so unlike Marvel’s executives, whose movies have enjoyed mainstream success for over a decade. Even the most casual DC fan was hoping for a small taste of the acclaim enjoyed by Captain America: Civil War earlier this summer; however, it’s quite possible that Suicide Squad already had a lot working against it before it was even released:
- The premise (a group of obscure, save in one case, comic book villains, not heroes)
- The litany of underperforming DC movies (as opposed to the more successful Marvel movies) that have preceded it in recent years
- Overall comic book movie fatigue
Why We Rely on Movie Reviews
Casting all that aside, there may be another reason why people haven’t seen this movie, and that’s the scope of negative press it has received—particularly from the review aggregation site Rotten Tomatoes, which currently ranks Suicide Squad at 27 percent. That we rely so heavily on review sites like this to inform our moviegoing decisions should come as no surprise: going to the movie theatre these days is expensive, in time, money, and emotional effort. Movies are getting longer, tickets are getting pricier, and our expectations of constant entertainment for the duration of the film are exploding! We as moviegoers have become so picky now, that we flee at the slightest scent of a movie being bad; it’s just not worth our time or money. Studios are spending more time shooting the trailer for the movie as opposed to the movie itself just to get us in the door.
I’ll admit, once I saw my first Suicide Squad trailer (you know, the one set to Queen’s “Bohemian Rhapsody,”) I was automatically a fan. I told myself I would see this movie no matter what. But as the reviews came in, I, like many others I’m sure, became less and less enthused. In fact, the movie’s been out for two weeks and I still haven’t seen it. The negative press had a chilling effect on me, and now I’m wondering if Justice League and Wonder Woman will even be worth seeing.
Experts don’t like Suicide Squad, it’s true. Yet, in spite of the abysmal 27 percent on the Tomatometer (the score most of us pay attention to) the audience score of 69 percent paints a very different picture. While nearly 300 movie experts hated it, over 100,000 moviegoers thought it was pretty okay. Not great, but definitely not worthy of a 27 percent. People seemed to really love the character development and interplay, and were willing to overlook the obviously weak plot. In fact, one Suicide Squad fan was so upset by Rotten Tomatoes’s treatment of the movie, that he filed a petition to shut the review site down entirely.
Is the Tomatometer Broken?
Perhaps there’s an inherent problem with objectively ranking and reviewing something that is artistically driven. Matthew Rozsa, a writer for The Daily Dot, believes that Rotten Tomatoes’s assigning of a numeric rank to a movie is an oversimplification of how we respond to film:
[Rotten Tomatoes] makes art seem like a science. The nuances of each individual criticism are similarly stifled. There is no room for ambiguity, for breaking down a movie by its elements and describing which ones work and which ones don’t.
And he has a point. Pinning a two-digit number to a movie that’s required years of planning and millions of dollars to produce does seem like an injustice of sorts. Maybe reviewing movies in particular requires a format that allows for more nuance. Take for example this Suicide Squad review from the Mr. Sunday Movies YouTube channel. Here, the reviewer spends an entire five minutes going over the highs and lows of this movie before finally—and unexpectedly—describing it as the best movie to-date in the DC cinematic universe. Not a popular viewpoint. His review likewise acknowledges that reviewing movies is a nuanced practice that can’t really be boiled down to a number [4:43]:
Whether the apparent flaws with a numerical rating system are legitimate or not, the divide between the Tomatometer and the Audience Score is undeniable. And this isn’t the first time such a rift has occurred between the two scores. Cult classic The Boondock Saints got a 20 percent on the Tomatometer, but registered a 91-percent approval rating on the audience score. Meanwhile, Spy Kids reached “fresh” status among critics at 93 percent, but the audience score is only 46 percent. It’s safe to assume that, at least as far as Rotten Tomatoes is concerned, audiences and critics will not always see eye to eye. but really, the answer to who’s right (and whether Suicide Squad is good) comes down to one question: who do you trust?
Critics v. Audiences: Dawn of “Good-ness”
Of course, the answer to that question depends on what you’re looking for in a movie. One that resonates with critics, or with everyday people. Quora user JG McLean put it this way:
When the public likes a film much better than the critics, expect a genre exercise that hews closely to convention; a clear focus on film as entertainment; broad comedy that echoes what has been seen before but is still funny; unambiguous characterizations with likable lead characters; a happy, fully-resolved ending (even where forced).
When the critics like a film much better than the public, expect unconventional, challenging storytelling; a focus on film as art; wit and understated humor; edgy, complex, often unlikable characters; an ambiguous, downbeat or unresolved ending.
And from what I have surmised about Suicide Squad (again, I haven’t seen it yet), the movie fits pretty well into that first category: the story’s not great, but the movie as a whole is entertaining. It fits into some familiar conventions, and likely doesn’t dig that deep, artistically speaking.
Online Review Sites Aren’t a Perfect Science
Both sets of Rotten Tomato’s scores carry inherent flaws. Expert scores suffer from a much more limited sample size than audience scores; experts also grade movies on a higher set of semi-objective standards that may not be relevant to some audiences. Meanwhile, those who contribute to the Audience Score are much more subject to extreme bias (meaning, they’ll only put in the effort to write a review if they really love or really hate the movie, or an actor, or a director, etc.). Because these two scores have the potential to contradict one another, is there really any value in featuring them both?
This is a challenge our readers at BestCompany.com experience regularly. Like Rotten Tomatoes, we have an “Expert Score” and a “User Score” for each company we review. Sometimes, these scores match up pretty closely, but most of the time, there’s a noticeable gap between them. What value does that contribute to a person looking to do business with a solar company, or a credit repair firm? The main reason why we provide two scores instead of one is, like Rotten Tomatoes, we want to give you a more complete picture of a company. Some of us like to rely purely on what the experts think, while others are more trusting of our friends and peers. But I think most of us reason somewhere in between, taking each score with a grain of salt.
So, Is ‘Suicide Squad’ Good?
The copout answer here is “yes, and no,” or “depends who you ask.” But really, to answer this question completely, it’s important to find someone—whether it’s a friend, a professional critic, or a review aggregation site—that 1) aligns with your personal views and experience, and 2) has your best interest in mind. You may find that you don’t even need two scores, let alone one score to help you know what to expect. But knowing what goes into the reviews you read online will help you make sure your money is well-spent.
As for me? I’m siding with Mr. Sunday Movies; I won’t expect Suicide Squad to be transcendent, but I’m sure I’ll like it more than Jesse Eisenberg’s Lex Luthor. And that’s worth a matinee at least.
