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Suicide Squad Fans Petition To Shut Down Rotten Tomatoes Over Negative Reviews (variety.com)

Posted by msmash on from the haters-gonna-hate dept.

The much-anticipated movie Suicide Squad has largely failed to impress film critics and normal people alike. People are leaving the theaters disappointed, with a firm belief that DC Universe has let them down again. Vanity Fair goes as far as saying, "Suicide Squad isn't even the good kind of bad," adding that "I'd have to imagine that most fans of Harley Quinn -- male, female, gay, straight -- will be disappointed." The ratings are super low at IMDB and Rotten Tomatoes as well. Amid these reviews, the fans of the film have launched a Change.org petition with the intent of shutting down film review aggregator Rotten Tomatoes. Variety adds: Abdullah Coldwater, the DC Comics fan who drafted the petition, accused the site of giving "unjust bad reviews" that "affects people's opinion even if it's a really great [movie]." He added, "Critics always give The DC Extended Universe movies unjust bad reviews." The petition has received over 13,000 signatures as of this post. "Suicide Squad," which stars Will Smith, Jared Leto and Margot Robbie and is one of the most highly-anticipated movies of the summer, currently has an approval rating on Rotten Tomatoes of 34 percent. In comparison recent critical disgrace "Batman v Superman: Dawn of Justice" settled at 27 percent on 344 critiques, whereas Marvel's "Captain America: Civil War" garnered a laudatory 90 percent with 320 critics chiming in.

12 of 407 comments (clear)

  1. Wah! by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 5, Funny

    Wah!

    1. Re:Wah! by Tablizer · · Score: 5, Informative

      Basically RT is facing a big coordinated batch of trolls.

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      Table-ized A.I.
    2. Re:Wah! by Tablizer · · Score: 5, Insightful

      Trolls roam in batches ... official term for a group of trolls...

      "Political Party"

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      Table-ized A.I.
    3. Re: Wah! by ArmoredDragon · · Score: 5, Funny

      I am a self confessed troll as I troll somewhat often. That said, I prefer the term "underpass", as in "an underpass of trolls". As for my intended marks, I refer their group as a "trip", for more than one reason.

    4. Re:Wah! by MightyMartian · · Score: 5, Insightful

      Yes exactly. If a critic thinks it's a bad movie, they'll write that it's a bad movie. If a bunch of critics give shitty reviews, then a bunch of critics think it's a shitty movie. Demanding critics be silenced because they might hurt a movie's prospects at the box office makes about as much sense as authors demanding bad reviews of their books be taken down because it might hurt book sales.

      Besides, I'm pretty dubious as to how much critics' views even matter. The critics largely seem to think most of Michael Bay's films are dire hunks of steaming donkey shit (a view I share), and yet they appear to be licenses to print money, so clearly a helluva lot of people who go to the movies either don't read reviews, or don't give a shit.

      And heck, I'm one of them. Lots of critics hated Coneheads and Mars Attacks back in the day, and I confess, every time I watch either, I laugh my ass off, so fuck the critics on those ones.

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      The world's burning. Moped Jesus spotted on I50. Details at 11.
    5. Re:Wah! by Opportunist · · Score: 5, Interesting

      Ghostbusters was, if anything, an example how much you can bully and bribe critics today. The comparison between the "professional" and the "user" verdict speaks volumes on pretty much every review aggregation page.

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      We used to have a Bill of Rights. Now, with the rights gone, all we have left is the bill.
  2. Shoot the Messenger by PvtVoid · · Score: 5, Insightful

    Do these idiots even remotely understand how Rotten Tomatoes works? All they do is aggregate critics' reviews. They don't review the movie themselves.

  3. A better idea by Tyrannosaur · · Score: 5, Insightful

    I have an idea, how about we instead make a change.org petition to have The DC Extended Universe movies be better written? That would solve TWO problems!

  4. Deadpool suceeded, SS failure by justcauseisjustthat · · Score: 5, Insightful

    From what I understand Deadpool was created without input from studio executives, Suicide Squad was just the opposite and was actually recut to try and copy Deadpool humor. Maybe getting rid of the committees that make so many bad movies will bring us more entertainment.

  5. The New Stupid: Censor what I don't agree with ! by UnknownSoldier · · Score: 5, Insightful

    I thought groupthink was limited to /. and reddit but I see it is alive and well in new areas now:

    /sarcasm Yeah, let's censor reviews we don't agree with!

    Uh, No, "this movie sucks" is an opinion. You don't have to like it, or even agree with it, but trying to censor opinions you don't disagree just because it hurts your bottom line is just plain stupid. We already have the legal right to "voice" our opinion as long as it isn't slander nor libel.

    As they say, Everyone is a critic.

    Which ironically has this gem:

    Harrison's Postulate: "For every action there is an equal and opposite criticism"

  6. Re:I'd be sympathetic to Rotten Tomatoes but... by vux984 · · Score: 5, Informative

    Its 'certified fresh' at 73%, with an average rating of 6.4/10, with an audience rating of 58%. Seems pretty fair to me, and suggests it is a fair but nothing special movie.

    For comparison, the Daredevil TV series is 86% fresh, with 95% audience approval; Deadpool is 84% with 91%. Jessica Jones TV series got 93% and 90%. Antman got 81% and 86%. Gaurdians of the Galaxy got 91% and 92%.

    I've seen all of these and they were all pretty good. I think the ratings are pretty fair.

    So NO, I don't think there is a bias against Marvel's extended universe at all. I think Suicide Squad is likely to be a pretty weak movie.

  7. Re:PG???? by amicusNYCL · · Score: 5, Insightful

    How do you do a movie about insane criminals and keep it PG-13?

    Easy. Just stuff in all the violence you can manage, but don't show any nipples.

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    "Our two-party system is like a bowl of shit looking at itself in a mirror." - Lewis Black