While promoting the indie thriller Edge of Winter, arriving in theaters today, Joel Kinnaman took a moment to address the overwhelmingly negative reviews Suicide Squad received from film critics and the generally positive response it received from moviegoers.

First off: Did he read any of the Suicide Squad reviews? "I read a couple, but I didn’t enjoy reading them, so I stopped," Kinnaman told Vulture. "They were not kind."

And how did those undesirable reviews make him feel? "You always hope to get good reviews," he explained. "It’s always nicer when people say nice things about you. But on a film like Suicide Squad, it really only has an ambition to entertain. There’s no big political aspirations about the film; it doesn’t take itself that seriously. The only way it takes itself seriously is portraying these characters in an honest way. I really think we did that, and I’m proud of my work and everyone else’s work in that film, too. So, on a film like this, that has those kinds of ambitions; it becomes even more important what the fans think. We made this film for the fans.

"I can’t remember ever seeing a bigger disparity between reviewers' and fans' response to a film," he continued. "It really was night and day. We’ve just been showered with love and appreciation for this, so it’s been pretty phenomenal. Sure, the film is not perfect. But the kind of vitriol that it got? [Laughs.] It sure as hell didn’t deserve that. I think it actually might’ve been good for the film. Now people don’t have too-high expectations for it. It reset that a little bit, and people went into the theaters and just got entertained by what they saw. So I was really happy with how that whole thing turned out."

It feels good to be bad… Assemble a team of the world’s most dangerous, incarcerated Super Villains, provide them with the most powerful arsenal at the government’s disposal, and send them off on a mission to defeat an enigmatic, insuperable entity. U.S. intelligence officer Amanda Waller has determined only a secretly convened group of disparate, despicable individuals with next to nothing to lose will do. However, once they realize they weren’t picked to succeed but chosen for their patent culpability when they inevitably fail, will the Suicide Squad resolve to die trying, or decide it’s every man for himself?

Written and directed by David Ayer based on the characters from DC Comics, the film stars Will Smith (“Ali”), Jared Leto (“Dallas Buyers Club”), Margot Robbie (“The Wolf of Wall Street”), Joel Kinnaman (“RoboCop”) and Viola Davis (“The Help”). The cast also includes Jai Courtney (“Insurgent”), Jay Hernandez (“Takers”), Adewale Akinnuoye-Agbaje (“Thor: The Dark World”), Ike Barinholtz (“Neighbors”), Scott Eastwood (“Fury”), Cara Delevingne (“Paper Towns”), Adam Beach (“Cowboys & Aliens”), and Karen Fukuhara in her feature film debut. It is produced by Charles Roven and Richard Suckle, with Zack Snyder, Deborah Snyder, Colin Wilson and Geoff Johns serving as executive producers.

Suicide Squad is now playing in 3D, and in 2D, and in select IMAX 3D theaters.