It is true that actor Will Smith plays the sharpshooting villain Deadshot in Suicide Squad . However, he has apparently been targeted with a telescopic lens by critics and fans after the recent release of the film’s first official trailer.
Perhaps one of the biggest “pet peeves” that generated the most negative criticism was when Will Smith’s Deadshot uttered an iconic yet somewhat cliché line of heroism.
“Let’s go save the world.”
That line in particular seemed to strike a lot of nerves with fans and critics – primarily because of the fact that Will Smith has said the same thing in so many other of his films.
Gotta see the numbers on how many times Will Smith has said some variation of “Let’s go save the world” in a movie trailer
— Hanif Abdurraqib (@NifMuhammad) July 13, 2015
Y’all noticed that Will Smith always has a “Lets save the world” line — 2 is tha name (@KiDDNice) July 13, 2015
Will Smith isn’t actually in Suicide Squad. If you bump into Will on the street there’s a good chance he’ll say “Let’s go save the world.”
— Jack Moore (@JackPMoore) July 13, 2015
Did Will Smith really utter the words “Let’s go save the world.” and say the title of the movie in the trailer? Spell it out for us D.C. — Mitchell Hendricks (@mmhendricks15) July 13, 2015
In addition to the fact that Will Smith seems to “save the world” in a lot of films, the fact that he is saying it now as a sharpshooting assassin seems to escalate the line’s level of annoyance even higher.
Will Smith, even when he’s playing a bad guy, plays a good guy. “Let’s go save the world.” You’re a goddam assassin, act like it.
— Dan Ritchie (@knownAs_Dan) July 13, 2015
Will Smith politely ushers someone, hugs a child, says “let’s go save the world.” How is he a convincing bad guy? https://t.co/vn21O2k5lA — Ross Miller (@ohnorosco) July 13, 2015
It is true: Will Smith has hardly ever played the “bad guy” role in a movie, especially a superhero/action film.
When the average movie fan thinks about Will Smith’s biggest blockbusters over the years — Independence Day , Men in Black , Bad Boys , I Robot — it becomes clear that playing a villain on the big-screen might be a huge stretch for Will Smith.
Even in the 2008 Peter Berg-directed superhero film Hancock , Will Smith was more of a good guy with a bad temper.
I watched Hancock this evening, lol it’s so hilarious! I love it so much @CharlizeAfrica #WillSmith pic.twitter.com/VK0IxzzNr7
— Will Smith Support (@SupportingWill) March 20, 2015
Even though Will Smith’s performance was heavily criticized, it is important to keep things in perspective.
Will Smith as Deadshot was only shown in the first official trailer during a relatively small window of time. Hopefully, more pleasing footage of Will as the big-screen version of Floyd Lawton will be released over the next year leading up to the movie’s August 20106 release.
A low-quality version of the Suicide Squad trailer was reportedly leaked online last weekend shortly after making its big debut at the San Diego Comic-Con. David Ayer , the film’s director, assured fans via Twitter on Monday that everything would be made right.
As we used to say in the #Navy stand-by to stand-by. We’re gonna make it right.
— David Ayer (@DavidAyerMovies) July 13, 2015
That was apparently code for “We’re going to release the official trailer today, too.”
Even with the slight edge of criticism directed at Will Smith, many fans of the infamous DC Comics team of villains were satisfied by what was shown in the first trailer.
[Image Credit: Kevin Winter/Getty Images]