Support NeoGAF

[XAL]

Another one crashes and burns.

Man this flick was a fucking boring mess with a healthy serving of cringe. Harley was a vehicle for some really forced cringey one liners. The music was often out of place and it felt like the scenes they were slapped over were not shot with those songs in mind.

And it was so dark visually it was like someone put a dreary opacity filter over the whole fucking movie, daytime shots looked dark and bad.

And word that the film had extra humor added to it was true I guess, and allegedly a lot of the dark stuff was cut out of the film like Slipknot being a serial rapist.

I don't know which version would have been worse to be honest. The "well the directors cut would have been great" is a lame excuse at this point.

Between this and BvS it just proves even more that the upper brass don't know what they're doing (hey lets trim all of these important scenes that kind of make the movie work) and the creatives don't know what they're doing.

Disappointed. Really hope they get their shit together for Justice League, this was just an embarrassment.

 

[overcast]

The point was to make the GotG homage complete:

Bio cards: check

roundtable character riffing (bar scene): check

character with a cutesy idiosyncratic obsession: check

slow motion end sequence with loved one hallucination to help them: check

I really didn't like SS. Probably a 2/5 movie for me. It was marketed with GOTG influence; for good reason seeing as how successful that movie was. I think the character cards could be similarly "me too".

That being said round table discussion isn't a GOTG influence.. that's character interaction man. SS could have done with a lot more character development through those characters in that way.

Not even gonna bother with those other two.

 

[DeathyBoy]

She was looking directly at him, had it have been a flashback I think he would've flashed back to the actual scene instead of his daughter Infront of him. Having his daughter Infront of him stops him from pulling the trigger which is what Enchantress wanted.

This is the same Neogaf that had a double digits thread debating whether Alfred dreamt the end of TDKR

 

[Killer Queen]

This is the same Neogaf that had a double digits thread debating whether Alfred dreamt the end of TDKR

That doesn't even surprise me.
But hey does anyone know what the original third act was supposed to be like since apparently it changed?

 

[Cuburt]

She was looking directly at him, had it have been a flashback I think he would've flashed back to the actual scene instead of his daughter Infront of him. Having his daughter Infront of him stops him from pulling the trigger which is what Enchantress wanted.

There was the scene earlier of Harley remembering the Ace Chemical scene were she snaps out of it on the stairs and Deadshot is standing in front of her. I think she was pointing a gun at him too IIRC, they certainly blurred the lines between flashbacks and reality.

They also made little stylistic difference betwen flashbacks and mind magic. A lot of their memories weren't exact but rather impressionistic. El Diablo's flashback literally had his unburned wife turn into ash in his hands so I took that as not the literal depiction of what happened and most of Harley and Joker flashbacks were like some kind of acid flashback.

 

[Dynedom]

I don't think you can take that scene as anything but Enchantress trying to hack him. If it's not, the scene comes across a whole lot worse.

 

[Houndi101]

This DC/WB "saving" it's films with bluray extended cuts shouldn't become a thing..

Spoiler

I wanted one for Warcraft but I really enjoyed the theatrical cut

 

[DeathyBoy]

This DC/WB "saving" it's films with bluray extended cuts shouldn't become a thing..

Spoiler

I wanted one for Warcraft but I really enjoyed the theatrical cut

You mean like how LOTR EE worked?

 

[Houndi101]

You mean like how LOTR EE worked?

Well IMO Lord of the rings films were good to begin with and arguably ROTK was made worse by EE?

 

[Broken Joystick]

https://twitter.com/NickdeSemlyen/status/761869966228516864

David Ayer confirmed there were multiple edits of the first act. One began with June Moone in the jungle. They went with the "Dossier Cut".

 

[BKSmash]

I loved this movie so much, I've never disagreed with reviews so much in my life.

 

[Monocle]

https://twitter.com/NickdeSemlyen/status/761869966228516864

David Ayer confirmed there were multiple edits of the first act. One began with June Moone in the jungle. They went with the "Dossier Cut".

Should've stuck with this one.

 

[Blackpanther25]

Should've stuck with this one.

Agree. Honestly I thought that scene would be the intro.

 

[ThoseDeafMutes]

At first glance, there were multiple redundancies in the story telling. We shouldn't have needed a flash back where we explain to the characters what is going on and what their objective is when we saw that scene as the audience. We also didn't need multiple takes on explaining task force X. Additionally, we didn't need like two explanations about how Waller loves leverage and how she intends to control Enchantress.

Other problems included:

• Classic rock soundtrack could have worked it there was just one or two in the whole movie. There were like 7 used, and most of them were one after the other in a space of 30 minutes or less. Eek.
  
• Took too long to get to the point and the characters didn't know what the fuck mission they were on until like 60% through. The "explain what the suicide squad is", "explain character abilities", "explain how people got caught" and actual recruitment scenes shouldn't have been as jumbled and back to back as they were.
  
• The way they kept cutting between the action and Waller narrating the action was terrible especially since she kept saying things they had either just shown, or were just about to show. They should have stuck with one or the other. If you want the narration, then just show brief half second flashes of something happening.
  
• Did they even have a coherent mission to stop Enchantress? It seemed like it was just a random afterthought. Talk of a rushed script would explain why it felt this way.
  
• The central premise of the squad was to use them for top secret dirty work that could be deniable. Rescuing Waller and stopping Enchantress barely qualifies, it felt like regular superhero work that had a tiny veneer of "ooh it's secret because she doesn't want people to know she done fucked up". They probably shouldn't have gone with world ending stakes, but they did because they needed obligatory 3rd act CGI porn + chasing that GotG plot.
  
• Several characters were wasted. Katana was given nothing to do for most of the film except "exist during action scenes", while Harley was given lots to do but felt like she had no business really being there in terms of skill set.
  
• They squandered a golden opportunity to show a Captain Boomerang fantasy gag where it's just him sitting in a chair with a beer watching footy.

With BvS it was easy for me to gravitate to a lot of positive things in addition to the negative. With this, it's just bleh. Boomerang had some moments but this movie is not funny enough to stand as a comedy, not well written enough to stand as drama, and not well choreographed and filmed enough to stand as an action movie.

 

[ThoseDeafMutes]

Amanda Waller was talking all that shit about having something for the next Superman and her squad included a dude who can climb ropes, a guy who can throw boomerangs, a crazy woman with a baseball bat and pistol, and a Japanese woman with a sword. How is a set of athletic adults with gym supplies going to stop a Kryptonian.

This reminds me - they were conflating two separate things into the suicide squad.

1. The actual suicide squad. A team of villains who can be used for dirty work and disposed of / denied should they be caught or go off the reservation.

2. Project Cadmus. A government program to find countermeasures to superheroes and/or metahumans.

She sold the pentagon suits on the latter, but she actually put together the former. Enchantress was the only impressively powerful member of the team and she was the villain of the movie.

 

[Sgt. Kabukiman]

Just came out of the theater. Not a single laugh from anyone during the movie.
I hated this movie so goddamn much, wtf DC / Warner? This might rank lower than BvS for me. I hated Snyder's film but at least it felt like his vision. It's not a vision I like but I can respect the movie for its ambition and its unwillingness to conform to the Marvel formula.
All the reports of Suicide Squad being retooled by the people who made the trailers (which were great) have to be true. The first 45 minutes were an endurance test for me, just a bunch of shallow character trailers cut to popular songs, it felt so incredibly lame and desperate.
Surprisingly, I actually prefered the end of the movie. Sure, it's completely generic and I would hate it in a better movie but at least here I was mildly entertained.

And I despised this Joker. I'm not a comic fan who can't handle when characters are portrayed differently on film. I don't mind as long as they're still interesting. But the moppy Superman and the serial-killer Batman from BvS are just not interesting characters. And neither is this mildly threatening mob boss with a strange fashion sense who's madly in love with Harley Quinn. Batman, Supes, The Joker, Luthor, they are the most important characters in the DCU and I hate them all. It has nothing to do with the actors btw, it's all in the writing. I just don't want this cinematic universe to happen anymore.

A couple of good things:
- Viola Davis nailed it, she's absolutely perfect and that's the Amanda Waller I always wanted to see. Kill everyone else in the DCCU, it's time for the Waller cinematic universe.
- The one scene that felt like it belonged in a David Ayer movie: the quiet little moment where Harley drops her act for a little bit and then puts on a fake smile when she notices the Squad. They all know she's faking it but they humor her anyway. That was a real and subtle character moment and a true interaction between the members of the Squad.

I enjoyed it a tiny bit more than BvS but I respect it less as a film. Just a broken product assembled together by a bunch of scared executives.

 

[Htown]

Why was Joker in the movie?

because he's important to Harley's character

Katana literally has nothing to contribute. Croc is nearly as bad.

 

[Broken Joystick]

So apparently they filmed a flashback for Slipknot but it got cut in post.

Also this is what Slipknot was doing when he got caught

https://twitter.com/NickdeSemlyen/status/761903509159772160/photo/1

 

[Greatest Ever]

Leto's performance was, no exaggeration, one of the worst performances of all time. That was awful. The movie was bleh, but had its moments. Leto's Joker has none, whatsoever.

 

[PartTimeWarrior]

Yes, so Enchantress tried to guilt trip him with "Daddy, don't shoot." Only this time Deadshot shoots. And yes, people ignoring obvious plot points bugs me.

Poorly explained plot points bug me

 

[DeathyBoy]

Poorly explained plot points bug me

How was it poorly explained?

It could only be explained more if Will Smith broke character and told us exactly what was going on in the form of rap.

So apparently they filmed a flashback for Slipknot but it got cut in post.

Also this is what Slipknot was doing when he got caught

https://twitter.com/NickdeSemlyen/status/761903509159772160/photo/1

OMG that jobber character is too much...

 

[PurpleTwilight]

Poorly explained plot points bug me

How was it poorly explained?

It could only be explained more if Will Smith broke character and told us exactly what was going on in the form of rap.

Guys guys none of this matters this plot point shouldn't have been in the movie at all due to being a terrible plot choice by the "writer" of this film.

So many odd plot choices by David that just had me scratching my head.
Here's a big one, why is this story a end of the world/save the world plot? Really those plots should be saved for the big guys like Superman and Wonder Woman. This should have been a small scale plot like a bad guy(like Joker) is trying to hold a city hostage for money. You wouldn't have a Batman movie plot be about saving the entire world, no you would have him saving a small part of a city and later in a sequel the entire city but never a world ending plot. The perfect movie plot I think of when I first heard about this movie and even while wanting it is Dredd. Dredd isn't a "good" guy but he helps people and his story was really small scale with him only saving a single building. That's what i think this movie should have been more like instead of a portal in the sky plot.

 

[duckroll]

I didn't pay enough attention to the end credits because I was just shellshocked from disappointment, but is Ayer really the sole writer on this film? It's really hard to believe. This does not feel in any way like a film written by a single person who is also the director of the film. It feels like a film which went through one rewrite after another, removing entire subplots and characters, only to leave irrelevant details behind in the scenes which remained, and having a totally different "main plot" transplanted into the remains of the corpse.

I'm way less interested in even talking about the plot details or the elements of the movie itself, and more interested in how this movie was made and released the way it was. Just... how?

 

[PurpleTwilight]

That what shocked me the most. This only had one writer and he's also the director. David Ayer had full control over the plot and this is what he gave us. People are saying that WB ruined this film in editing and yes they did do that but even still those plot points were still written by David. He wrote everything we see and hear in the film.

 

[JLynn]

Copy and paste from a YouTube comment I did.

I saw it last night. It was OK. It was part zombie movie, and part Ghostbusters (1984), with the Avengers squeezed in. The music did not match well at all. The movie is a lowkey Will Smith movie. The trailers made it out to be a Harley/Joker movie (Jared tried to be Heath Ledger and IMO failed.). The witch hallucinations reminded me of Morrigan le Fey hallucinations in Justice League. Only parts I like were the parts involving Waller. I am thankful it's not a depressing movie like previous DC movies.

That mid credits scene reminded me of the mid credits scene in The Incredible Hulk though.

 

[shingi70]

This reminds me - they were conflating two separate things into the suicide squad.

1. The actual suicide squad. A team of villains who can be used for dirty work and disposed of / denied should they be caught or go off the reservation.

2. Project Cadmus. A government program to find countermeasures to superheroes and/or metahumans.

She sold the pentagon suits on the latter, but she actually put together the former. Enchantress was the only impressively powerful member of the team and she was the villain of the movie.

To be fair Suicide Squad was put under a division of Argus which has becomes DC's Cadmus replacement / shield rip off.

 

[Darryl M R]

"You one of those deaf hoes."

"White people that shit up."

"Would you live for me."

Amazing lines.

Also I saw that Harley killed Robin as her description.

 

[DeathyBoy]

"You one of those death hoes."

"White people that shit up."

Amazing lines.

I don't know, it needed more Shakespeare in the park quips.

 

[Yeezus H. Christ]

I don't know, it needed more Shakespeare in the park quips.

lol bro, you've been on maximum salt level for a while

 

[PurpleTwilight]

I hope for Wonder Woman they have the Diana say the following line:
"What am I, some sort of Wonder Woman?"
and for Justice League by Batman because clearly he is the most comedic of the group:
"What are we, some sort of Justice League?"

 

[duckroll]

I hope Justice League has a scene where they argue about their right to act internationally and what their priorities should be, and someone just goes "We're not the goddamn Justice League of AMERICA here." and drops the mic.

 

[Grizzlyjin]

I hope for Wonder Woman they have the Diana say the following line:
"What am I, some sort of Wonder Woman?"
and for Justice League by Batman because clearly he is the most comedic of the group:
"What are we, some sort of Justice League?"

*Shudder*

Please put a Fantastic Four trigger warning on this post. Thank you.

 

[BKSmash]

"You one of those death hoes."

"White people that shit up."

"Would you live for me."

Amazing lines.

Also I saw that Harley killed Robin as her description.

Yeah, Deadshot and Harley were BY FAR the highlights of the movie. They really need to bring back these characters in

Spoiler

all

future movie

Spoiler

s

.

 

[DeathyBoy]

lol bro, you've been on maximum salt level for a while

This is nothing, just wait until WW comes out and gets 20% on RT. I'm gonna rain down salt.

 

[Broken Joystick]

"You one of those deaf hoes."

"White people that shit up."

"Would you live for me."

Amazing lines.

Also I saw that Harley killed Robin as her description.

"Stay evil, dollface"

 

[Yeezus H. Christ]

This is nothing, just wait until WW comes out and gets 20% on RT. I'm gonna rain down salt.

we can do better than that

16%

Tis a downward trend after all

 

[Ovek]

This film is just so meh it's like nothing happens really other than the squad walking down a street for a bit with very little resistance. Deadshot, Harley Quinn, Captain Boomerang and Killer Croc are all good but the last two are massively underused.

If I was scoring it out of 10 I would give it 4 and I kinda liked BvS.

 

[sasliquid]

Not in the movie,

Is... is he about to pee on her?

 

[PurpleTwilight]

*Shudder*

Please put a Fantastic Four trigger warning on this post. Thank you.

I actually wonder how the next Fantastic Four will be like. You know that's something that's unique to the Fantastic Four. There will always be a new Fantastic Four movie every decade until the end of time because Fox has to make a film or they lose the rights which they would be idiotic to do so. I foresee many small budgeted F4 movies in the future with the same plot and no name actors with no marketing and like 10 theaters for release.
Rejoice F4 fans you will never be without a movie. Your children and your children's children will always have access to a new F4 film.

 

[Kurt Angle]

cara delavinge is new bae

 

[Broken Joystick]

cara delavinge is new bae

 

[bananafactory]

posting gifs pirated from scenes of the movie isn't cool man

 

[PurpleTwilight]

Seriously what was with that arm wailing. Was I supposed to laugh?

 

[DeathyBoy]

we can do better than that

16%

Tis a downward trend after all

Unite the 7%

 

[Ovek]

Is... is he about to pee on her?

Nah but I bet it still involved his cock though... if you get what I mean.

 

[Yeezus H. Christ]

Unite the 7%

If that isnt the OT title, bruh

 

[Greatest Ever]

I cannot get over how lame the actions scenes were in this movie. That first fight in a literal corridor almost put me to sleep.

 

[Houndi101]

Nah but I bet it still involved his cock though... if you get what I mean.

No way.

 

[DeathyBoy]

Nah but I bet it still involved his cock though... if you get what I mean.

I thought they got rid of Dick

 

[Atraveller]

"Stay evil, dollface"

"Lady, you're EVIL!"