Yesterday at 9am PDT, Warner Brothers lifted the critical embargo on the superhero movie of the week, David Ayer’s Suicide Squad, and it was not pretty. The first reviews slammed the picture as yet another ugly, lifeless, joyless bit of comic book masturbation (we’ll have something on the film tomorrow; suffice it to say it shall not alter the consensus), and by the time the dust had settled, the film was sitting at 33% on the critical aggregator site Rotten Tomatoes. This is a bit of a pattern for films in the so-called “DC Extended Universe”, which have all been certified “rotten” – Man of Steel could only manage 55% positive reviews, but it’s Spotlight compared to Batman v Superman, which lodged a miserable 27%. (In all fairness, both of those movies are terrible.) Some fans just got mad, harassing critics on Twitter for disliking a movie they are certain must be great. But now, ONE BRAVE MOVIE FAN is putting on his hero suit to take on this evil super-villain.
Taking to the activist petition site change.org (of course), Abdullah Coldwater is gathering signatures to “Shutdown (sic) Rotten Tomatoes.” Here is his statement of purpose, which we present without alterations of any kind so as not to dilute his powerful message:
We need this site to be shut down because It’s Critics always give The DC Extended Universe movies unjust Bad Reviews, Like 1- Batman v Superman: Dawn of Justice 2016 2- Suicide Squad 2016 and that Affects people’s opinion even if it’s a really great movies
At any rate, we’re sure Warner Brothers appreciates this effort on their beha—what’s that? WB owned Rotten Tomatoes from 2011 until earlier this year, and maintains a minority stake in the site, serving as, per Deadline, “an ongoing strategic partner”? Huh. Some crazy world, ain’t it?