'Suicide Squad' director responds to harsh reviews

The writer and director of Suicide Squad, David Ayer, has responded to the negative reviews the film has been receiving.

Ayer took to Twitter yesterday to share a quote from Emiliano Zapata, one of the leaders of the Mexican Revolution. The quote translates to, "I would prefer to die standing than living on your knees."

The filmmaker tweeted again a few hours later saying how proud he is of the movie.

Suicide Squad reviews began pouring out yesterday morning, and they have been less than enthusiastic. As of this writing, Rotten Tomatoes has tallied up 87 reviews and found that only 32 percent of critics enjoyed the film. The average rating is a 4.9/10.

Fans of the movie have started a petition on Change.org to have the Rotten Tomatoes site shut down. The petition states, "It's [Rotten Tomatoes] Critics always give The DC Extended Universe movies unjust Bad Reviews." [SIC] There are upwards of 16,000 signers at this time, with a goal of 25,000 signatures.

Meanwhile, Metacritic has rounded up 35 reviews and found the average score at a 44/100.

This is more bad news for Warner Bros. as they try to set up their DC Comics movie universe. The other two installments, Man of Steel and Batman v Superman, were also negatively received. On Rotten Tomatoes, the films have approval ratings of 55 precent and 27 percent respectively. On Metacritic, the two films have a 55 and a 44 respectively.

Suicide Squad was hurt by a fast schedule, multiple editors and the usual director vs. studio tone disagreement, according to The Hollywood Reporter. The $175 million film needs about $750 million to break even, according to one of their sources. Batman v Superman rode its negative reception to $872.6 million worldwide earlier this year.

General audiences get their first chance of seeing Suicide Squad tomorrow night at 6 p.m. in select theaters.

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