David Ayer

News, Reviews & Features
  • Suicide Squad, DC and the Warner Bros war against coherence

    Movie Feature | Ali Gray | 8th August 2016

    It should be abundantly clear now to anyone with even a passing interest in superhero movies that the concept of the "shared universe" should be feared. Credit to Marvel: they took a big risk, did their groundwork and built up their shared universe by releasing not one but four successful individual franchises, before bringing them together like a corporate executive doing an overbite and interlocking his fingers in the universal sign language for 'synergy'. Everyone else saw The Avengers' box-office success and thought, 'Yeah, we'll have a bit of that. But sod all that hard work!' And thus, the very blueprint for superhero movies was torn up, sellotaped back together and plonked on the desks of finance departments throughout Hollywood.

  • Suicide Squad

    Movie Review | Matt Looker | 5th August 2016

    Here's something that shouldn't be a thing: any director, cast member or studio that says "we made it for the fans, not the critics". Now, I would say that I occupy a space somewhere in between those two clearly very unique and separate positions. I'm an occasional blogger currently writing a review (that, heaven forbid, will be listed on Rotten Tomatoes) but who particularly enjoys superheroes and comic-book movies. So where does the DC party line of 'fans not critics' leave me? I'll tell you where - in the same place as literally anybody else who sees this film: with an opinion, and only that. Obviously, it should be argued as objectively as possible, but for the sake of DC's stance in the matter, let me try to review this like a fan rather than like a clueless critic doing super-serious critiquing on Marvel's payroll. With that in mind, Suicide Squad is a bit rubbs.

  • Fury

    Movie Review | Ali Gray | 17th October 2014

    War movies. Huh. Good God. What are they good for? By now, it feels like every manoeuvre, every landing and every battle of the Second World War has been fought and won or lost on screen. Subsequently, each new WWII movie has to prove its worth before a single shell has been fired or bomb dropped. David Ayer's Fury doesn't even bother pretending it's based on a true story, jumping straight into action with an ambush, a dead Nazi and a knife through the eye socket - and it gets progressively more grim from then on in.

  • #LFF2012: End Of Watch

    Movie Review | Matt | 4th October 2012

    As we welcome the BFI London Film Festival into our lives once again, get ready for a spate of reviews of worthy, awardsy type films that illicit an emotional response different to our usual "fuck yeah, that roundhouse kick was awesome!". And End Of Watch is as good a film as any to kick off proceedings, being a GRITTY, REALISTIC cop drama that reminds us that crime on the streets of LA is GRITTY and REALISTIC and OFTEN QUITE HARROWING REALLY.