suicide squad

It’s been six months since Suicide Squad was released in theaters and a collective history is starting to shape up around the film. Despite denials from Warner Bros., it’s now pretty much understood that the studio rushed production of Suicide Squad and backed director David Ayer into a corner about the film’s final cut. Despite these issues, Ayer has remained a loyal solider for the studio, regularly commenting that the film we saw in theaters was his and his alone.

The Internet Movie Database is a fount of helpful information. With a few simple clicks, users can learn who shot the Miley Cyrus vehicle So Undercover (Things to Come cinematographer Denis Lenoir), which sequel in the Hellraiser franchise featured a performance from a young Adam Scott (the fourth one), or how old Taraji P. Henson is (who looks that good at 46?!). As a repository for loose factoids from in and around the world of screen entertainment, it can’t be beat. As a source for critical perspectives on those same films, however... hoo boy. Just take a gander at any comment section for a movie’s page and marvel at the IMDb is the site where rabid anti-Ghostbusters zealots congregated to downvote Paul Feig’s movie into oblivion weeks before its actual release, and the newly-released IMDb Top 10 provides an even clearer view of its user base.

There were a lot of great movies in 2016. There were! Please don’t let this list convince you otherwise. The movies were absolutely wonderful this year. Just not these specific movies. These were bad. So, so, so bad. Just awful.

Jared Leto’s gritty ’n grilled take on the Clown Prince of Crime was easily the most controversial part of David Ayer’s Suicide Squad. Early photos of Leto’s tatted-up Joker drew heavy criticism from fans and launched a million jokes on social media, where he was compared to everything from a Juggalo to a Hot Topic mascot — and that was before we found out about his wacky on-set “method acting” antics, which permanently cemented his status as a ridiculous human being. But if you thought that version of the Joker was obnoxious, boy do we have some concept art for you.

There may not be a lot of common ground between fans and critics of Suicide Squad, but one thing we can all agree on is the quality of the closing credits. Those swirling patterns of color and character icons that played behind the names of the crew were probably more colorful and fun than the entire last 45 minutes of the movie combined. So all of us  —  fans and critics alike  —  should be pretty excited that production company Buddha Jones has uploaded both the film’s final credits and a VFX reel to their Vimeo page.

Be honest: When you clicked on the link to open this page, did you think for a second this article might just say “ALL OF THEM!”

In case you were confused about the tone of the DC movie universe, this new Justice League logo should make things perfectly clear: This isn’t your kid’s bright and shiny Marvel Cinematic Universe. Oh, no. This is a heavy metal comic book world where superheroes straight-up SHRED. Can you hear that? It’s the sound of a guitar wailing in the distance, heralding the arrival of heroes in need of a stiff drink and a bar fight.

By all accounts, a lot of stuff got cut out of Suicide Squad. If you believe the recent press reports, there were two totally different versions of the film competing for release: A darker take from director David Ayer, and a jokier movie edited in consultation with the company that made the film’s popular, upbeat trailers.

Despite receiving overwhelmingly negative reviews, Suicide Squad opened with record-smashing numbers, obliterating the record set by Guardians of the Galaxy back in 2014. And yet, the box office of summer 2016 has taught us one thing: anything can happen after that opening weekend and it probably will. This certainly looks like a huge victory for Warner Bros. and their DC Extended Universe right now, but who knows what next week will bring?