Suicide Squad fans angered by negative reviews launch petition to shut down Rotten Tomatoes
The latest DC Comics movie Suicide Squad has been slated by reviewers ahead of its release on Thursday (4 August), leading avid fans to start a petition demanding the closure of review site Rotten Tomatoes.
Suicide Squad
The petition was started by Abdullah Coldwater, who wrote “Critics always give The DC Extended Universe movies unjust Bad Reviews… and that Affects people's opinion” (sic), after critics on the site gave Suicide Squad a rating of 35%.
The critics consensus read: “Suicide Squad boasts a talented cast and a little more humor than previous DCEU efforts, but they aren't enough to save the disappointing end result from a muddled plot, thinly written characters, and choppy directing.”
Rotten Tomatoes are not the only ones to slate the film; the Independent and the Telegraph awarded the film two stars, with the latter calling the film “crushingly puerile comic-book pornography”, while Scott Mendelson wrote in Forbes “another devastating letdown from the newfangled DC Films universe”.
Rolling Stone gave the film one star, with Peter Travers calling the film “anything but super”, adding “this botch job makes Fantastic Four look good”.
So far over 13,000 people have signed the petition, getting closer to its 15,000 target by the minute. After the petition gained traction among fans, its creator Coldwater added a clarification note saying “a petition definitely won't shut down the site” and that the aim of the petition is to “deliver a message to the critics that there is a lot of people disagree with their reviews”.
He added the petition is not to shut down the site but “a way to express our anger”.
Regardless of the negative reviews it has received, the film is still expected to take in around $140 million its debut weekend.