The critical response to Suicide Squad has not been very good, but that hasn’t stopped the movie from performing well at the box office. It’s still too soon to say for sure whether or not it will end up being a hit for Warner Bros., but the signs are pointing to that being the case, something which is sure to make the studio feel better about that 26% score on Rotten Tomatoes.
In a new interview, House of Cards star Joel Kinnaman – who played Rick Flag in Suicide Squad – has weighed in on those reviews, and after explaining that he stopped reading them after the first few proved to be not too kind, the actor offered up an explanation as to why they may not matter all that much.
“You always hope to get good reviews. It’s always nicer when people say nice things about you. But on a film like Suicide Squad, it really only has an ambition to entertain. There’s no big political aspirations about the film; it doesn’t take itself that seriously. The only way it takes itself seriously is portraying these characters in an honest way. I really think we did that, and I’m proud of my work and everyone else’s work in that film, too. So, on a film like this, that has those kinds of ambitions; it becomes even more important what the fans think. We made this film for the fans.”
As for the backlash from Suicide Squad fans which has been aimed at the reviews, Kinnaman went on to express his surprise at just how varied opinions have been and the way that poor critical response could ultimately have helped the movie by lowering the expectations of audiences going in to see it.
“I can’t remember ever seeing a bigger disparity between reviewers’ and fans’ response to a film. It really was night and day. We’ve just been showered with love and appreciation for this, so it’s been pretty phenomenal. Sure, the film is not perfect. But the kind of vitriol that it got? [Laughs.] It sure as hell didn’t deserve that. I think it actually might’ve been good for the film. Now people don’t have too-high expectations for it. It reset that a little bit, and people went into the theaters and just got entertained by what they saw. So I was really happy with how that whole thing turned out.”
There’s no denying that Suicide Squad has been a very divisive film, but fans do seem to like it and it’s done pretty well at the box office this week. Kinnaman makes some great points here too, and it’s going to be interesting to see how well Suicide Squad does as the summer continues.
