About a year and a half ago, DC Films and Warner Bros. released Suicide Squad into theaters. After months of amazing marketing, fans were hopeful that they’d get a solid, fun film that helped to correct all the mistakes Batman v Superman made only months before. Unfortunately, that didn’t happen, and when all said and done, Suicide Squad got even worse reviews than its predecessor, as director David Ayer reflected with EW.

“It was sh–. Yeah, it was sh– reviews. I got my throat cut. It was a super polarizing movie. Incredibly polarizing.”

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Not long after that, Ayer jumped immediately into the Netflix original film, Bright. So did the negative reviews have an effect on Ayer and his directing game?

“It’s like going to the boxing ring and getting knocked out is how it felt. And I had to go into the ring again. And directing is a confidence game, because you’re selling everyone on something that only exists in your head. The actors have to feel that confidence to trust that you know what you’re doing, and so does your crew. As a director, you set the tone. Really, it’s coming off that movie, I understood the pitfalls, I understood the dangers, I knew where the alligators hide, you know? And so I made damn sure I didn’t repeat any mistakes.”

Unfortunately, it was kind of the same story with critics, who were just as critical (if not more) as they were with Suicide Squad. However, while Suicide Squad was largely disliked by all, Bright had one positive going for it — a lot of audiences actually seemed to be going for it. While there’s no perfect way to actually gauge audience response (and no way for CinemaScore to break into people’s houses and ask their impressions), the conversation online seems to be one of positivity among fans.

So while this isn’t likely the perfect step up, it is something, and it was enough to make the film the most successful original film on Netflix. Now, Ayer is set to write and direct the sequel to the film. Not a bad way to go, is it?

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SOURCE: EW