heliosRAzi
Banned
It lacked style. There's was no gravitas to it. What's even weirder is that the putties were shown to be using weapons, but they never shot at him. Argh, this movie!
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[SPOILER THREAD] Suicide Squad
- Thread starter George Oscar Bluth II
- Start date
- Status
broncobuster
Banned
Additional concept art and scenes left out
George Oscar Bluth II
Banned
They had some truly terrible ideas for how these characters should look
If you want to take down meta humans, Harley is like the last person you would call.
Astral Dog
Member
You need the Ghostbusters for that 👻
Thewonandonly
Junior Member
broncobuster
Banned
They are all awful.
What did he mean by this?
Member
I was hoping the entire plot of the movie was changed in reshoots including the awful all cgi big boogie bad
But no this was it from day 1 -__-
Illconceived is an understatement
"Alright let me write all the character beats first then I'll flesh out the plot later"
*6 weeks later*
"Fuck"
But no this was it from day 1 -__-
Illconceived is an understatement
"Alright let me write all the character beats first then I'll flesh out the plot later"
*6 weeks later*
"Fuck"
Thewonandonly
Junior Member
Right lets take a squad of super villains that are meant to be covert ops soilders and have them save the world and fight a 5000 year old witch.
Like why not have them go into a secret military base and have them find other villains that arnt as powerful as enchantress who litterally took out a fucking military satellite from 5000 miles away. Why the hell couldn't they fight the joker or mr freeze
BadAss2961
Member
Huh? They had plenty of trained military with them, and for the most part they couldn't do shit. Waller's Squad did all the heavy lifting.
Enchantress was chosen because of how powerful she was, but Waller lost control of her after she went rogue. It's a movie, shit happens.
Task Force X isn't a defense against metahumans, that's just the perfect cover Waller needed to finally get a green light on the idea. Human or metahuman, she wants a crew of the most dangerous beings in the world to do her bidding, whatever that might entail from time to time. Could be anything from street level to world threatening.
Discotheque
Banned
i think the end result appearance-wise was great. especially katana, harley and joker imo. but man how they spoke was a different story...
killer croc....yikes.
Monocle
Member
You know what, this movie isn't worth the time, but I have to vent.
Like I said above, I saw Suicide Squad a second time today. Sometimes novelty distracts me from flaws, so I thought I'd pay extra attention to the weaker aspects of the film this time around.
And... it's worse than I thought. Let me just dump this out in bullet point format so I don't waste too much more of my day here.
- The movie's main problems, from greatest to least: Editing, writing (this covers character motivations and storytelling through dialogue and visuals), music, and action (both choreography and visual clarity).
- This movie is edited like a rambling conversation about an early draft of a mediocre script. We should have spent more time with the characters before their captivity. Then their capture, additional backstory, and mission should have been presented with adequate buildup and transitions. Their team bonding needed considerably more screen time as well, or at least much more effective establishing moments if we're to believe they care about each other near the end.
- Half baked doesn't begin to describe the writing. Everyone's logic is broken.
- It makes no sense that Waller would recruit people like Harley, Boomerang, and Slipknot for a team intended to defend the US from hostile metahumans. They have no qualifications.
- It likewise makes no sense to send this ill-equipped team to fight an ancient superpowered witch with an equally strong brother. Waller's extraction is understandable, but then why did she murder the colleagues she must have personally selected to work with her in the first place? You'd think she would have ensured they had clearance to know about the Suicide Squad and the Enchantress situation before hiring them to staff her center of operations.
- Why did Waller's rescue chopper take a low flight path when she had excellent surveillance and would have known how Enchantress's soldiers were armed? The chopper even deploys decoy flares, so she must have anticipated anti-air munitions. But no, she lets the pilot go low enough not just for RPG, but within swatting range of Incubus's tendrils. Good job.
- Enchantress tapping into Waller's mind to find military targets should have been clearly explained. It's very easy to miss this point amid everything else that's going on. I'll take this opportunity to mention that the visual storytelling in this movie is sorely lacking. The principle of "show, don't tell" is violated in every scene. Army guy often blurts out info like a precocious 9-year-old explaining plot points to his little sister.
- Why did Enchantress build her genocide machine in the middle of Midway City? She is a teleporting witch who can go to a vault in Tehran and back in under a second. She wouldn't have had to contend with the Suicide Squad if she'd simply zapped herself to a remote location.
- Why would military guy let the Suicide Squad walk into a bar when he still has the neck bomb detonator and Waller is in need of rescue?
- Why the hell would army guy smash the neck bomb detonator and say the Squad is free to go? It makes no sense whatsoever. He endangered his mission and his life, and let the worst of the worst walk free just to punctuate a sentimental moment between killers. Wow. Waller should have had his head on a pike for that.
- Why in the world would Deadshot choose to help army guy find Waller, the one person who can keep him and his new friends (???) under her thumb. He literally walked himself right back into prison, just like everyone who followed him. Also, his daughter never thought he was "a piece of shit" in the first place, so his explanation is nonsense. Plus, this came right after army guy revealed that Deadshot's daughter's letter has been withheld. Which came right after army guy destroyed the one thing keeping the Squad from killing army guy and running off.
- I liked the bar scene quite a lot the first time I saw it, but the second time I was agitated by how out of character the whole situation was, for everyone. The Squad hadn't bonded nearly enough to act so buddy buddy with each other at that stage. I'm going to repeat myself a little here, but if you recall, they were forced to cooperate under threat of death, and no sooner do they rescue the woman who holds their leashes, than they're chatting like old war buddies and choosing to stick together on second mission to rescue Wallee that will result in death if they fail and years of prison if they succeed.
- Why did Harley pal around with the Squad after Joker deactivated her neck bomb? She said they had nothing better to do than help Deadshot save Waller, but clearly she did. They all did. Why not go find Joker's crash site? Why not get the hell out of dodge?
- In the final confrontation, Enchantress went dark mode again (her depowered state? Weird strategy) and fought everyone hand to hand, but not before trapping them all in illusions long enough for Incubus or herself to take them out with tendrils or teleportation. Which they didn't. Then she disarms them all at the same time after the pointless fight, which she could have done before. Then she offers to let the Squad join her because they fought well, when they were totally ineffective the whole time, and have absolutely nothing of value to offer the soon-to-be queen of the world.
- After Enchantress's heart gets ripped out by Harley due to her own inexplicable carelessness, and Killer Croc tosses the bomb at her machine, she has several long, very drawn out moments to watch the bomb and create an illusion of Deadshot's daughter to convince him not to shoot the bomb. There was ample time for Enchantress to teleport around the world three times over, yet she just lies there and watches the bomb while Deadshot was distracted. She could have retrieved it whenever she wanted, or moved it the same way she disarmed the Squad earlier, but nope.
- The action in this film is terrible. Just so very bland. No sense of style in the moves or framing, very few standout moments or interesting use of abilities. Utterly pointless slow motion that last for too long and rarely highlights anything special. Compare the action scenes to literally any Marvel film and the contrast could not be more obvious. I couldn't believe how bad the action was when I took the time to really look. Talk about crushingly dull fighting. Suicide Squad was in dire need of a competent action director. How WB could let this stand with Marvel as their competition is completely beyond me. Even BvS's fights are much better, especially Batman again random thugs.
- The use of popular music is so artless and cynical that it actually pisses me off. I looked at the cinematography and performances and saw fragments of a decent movie with a grounded tone. I realized Suicide Squad's setting is not actually grimdark like I was saying in earlier posts. It's simply lit and framed like a serious film. The setting actually could have worked with very different editing and an appropriate score. But no, WB paid out the ass for a dump truck full of tracks dripping with flash and swagger, and had them staple-gunned over scenes that were clearly designed to strike more subdued tones. Guardians of the Galaxy uses classic song to craft moods that match the tenor and energy of each scene. Suicide Squad's music imposes itself like paintballs splattered across the Statue of David's junk. It's either painfully literal ("You don't own me..." "Don't tell me what to do..." as Harley is defying her guards) or crowbarred in at random because it's a classic (Bohemian Rhapsody in that ending montage of everyone settling back into prison life). Bugger off.
- All that said, the first credits song is perfect. Sounds real cool with the theater's bass.
Suicide Squad is put together so ineptly, it's a wonder the final cut was ever approved for release. My second viewing snapped the movie's issues into focus, and yeah, it's one hell of a mess. Fundamental problems with editing, writing, and tone, with laughable action and an insulting parody of Guardians' jaunty soundtrack, there an extension of the impish tone shared between all its well matched parts, here a garish Instagram filter on every scene that wants to be earnest.
I don't need to see this movie ever again now. I can only hope an alternate cut surfaces at some point, because I'd like to experience what could have been.
Like I said above, I saw Suicide Squad a second time today. Sometimes novelty distracts me from flaws, so I thought I'd pay extra attention to the weaker aspects of the film this time around.
And... it's worse than I thought. Let me just dump this out in bullet point format so I don't waste too much more of my day here.
- The movie's main problems, from greatest to least: Editing, writing (this covers character motivations and storytelling through dialogue and visuals), music, and action (both choreography and visual clarity).
- This movie is edited like a rambling conversation about an early draft of a mediocre script. We should have spent more time with the characters before their captivity. Then their capture, additional backstory, and mission should have been presented with adequate buildup and transitions. Their team bonding needed considerably more screen time as well, or at least much more effective establishing moments if we're to believe they care about each other near the end.
- Half baked doesn't begin to describe the writing. Everyone's logic is broken.
- It makes no sense that Waller would recruit people like Harley, Boomerang, and Slipknot for a team intended to defend the US from hostile metahumans. They have no qualifications.
- It likewise makes no sense to send this ill-equipped team to fight an ancient superpowered witch with an equally strong brother. Waller's extraction is understandable, but then why did she murder the colleagues she must have personally selected to work with her in the first place? You'd think she would have ensured they had clearance to know about the Suicide Squad and the Enchantress situation before hiring them to staff her center of operations.
- Why did Waller's rescue chopper take a low flight path when she had excellent surveillance and would have known how Enchantress's soldiers were armed? The chopper even deploys decoy flares, so she must have anticipated anti-air munitions. But no, she lets the pilot go low enough not just for RPG, but within swatting range of Incubus's tendrils. Good job.
- Enchantress tapping into Waller's mind to find military targets should have been clearly explained. It's very easy to miss this point amid everything else that's going on. I'll take this opportunity to mention that the visual storytelling in this movie is sorely lacking. The principle of "show, don't tell" is violated in every scene. Army guy often blurts out info like a precocious 9-year-old explaining plot points to his little sister.
- Why did Enchantress build her genocide machine in the middle of Midway City? She is a teleporting witch who can go to a vault in Tehran and back in under a second. She wouldn't have had to contend with the Suicide Squad if she'd simply zapped herself to a remote location.
- Why would military guy let the Suicide Squad walk into a bar when he still has the neck bomb detonator and Waller is in need of rescue?
- Why the hell would army guy smash the neck bomb detonator and say the Squad is free to go? It makes no sense whatsoever. He endangered his mission and his life, and let the worst of the worst walk free just to punctuate a sentimental moment between killers. Wow. Waller should have had his head on a pike for that.
- Why in the world would Deadshot choose to help army guy find Waller, the one person who can keep him and his new friends (???) under her thumb. He literally walked himself right back into prison, just like everyone who followed him. Also, his daughter never thought he was "a piece of shit" in the first place, so his explanation is nonsense. Plus, this came right after army guy revealed that Deadshot's daughter's letter has been withheld. Which came right after army guy destroyed the one thing keeping the Squad from killing army guy and running off.
- I liked the bar scene quite a lot the first time I saw it, but the second time I was agitated by how out of character the whole situation was, for everyone. The Squad hadn't bonded nearly enough to act so buddy buddy with each other at that stage. I'm going to repeat myself a little here, but if you recall, they were forced to cooperate under threat of death, and no sooner do they rescue the woman who holds their leashes, than they're chatting like old war buddies and choosing to stick together on second mission to rescue Wallee that will result in death if they fail and years of prison if they succeed.
- Why did Harley pal around with the Squad after Joker deactivated her neck bomb? She said they had nothing better to do than help Deadshot save Waller, but clearly she did. They all did. Why not go find Joker's crash site? Why not get the hell out of dodge?
- In the final confrontation, Enchantress went dark mode again (her depowered state? Weird strategy) and fought everyone hand to hand, but not before trapping them all in illusions long enough for Incubus or herself to take them out with tendrils or teleportation. Which they didn't. Then she disarms them all at the same time after the pointless fight, which she could have done before. Then she offers to let the Squad join her because they fought well, when they were totally ineffective the whole time, and have absolutely nothing of value to offer the soon-to-be queen of the world.
- After Enchantress's heart gets ripped out by Harley due to her own inexplicable carelessness, and Killer Croc tosses the bomb at her machine, she has several long, very drawn out moments to watch the bomb and create an illusion of Deadshot's daughter to convince him not to shoot the bomb. There was ample time for Enchantress to teleport around the world three times over, yet she just lies there and watches the bomb while Deadshot was distracted. She could have retrieved it whenever she wanted, or moved it the same way she disarmed the Squad earlier, but nope.
- The action in this film is terrible. Just so very bland. No sense of style in the moves or framing, very few standout moments or interesting use of abilities. Utterly pointless slow motion that last for too long and rarely highlights anything special. Compare the action scenes to literally any Marvel film and the contrast could not be more obvious. I couldn't believe how bad the action was when I took the time to really look. Talk about crushingly dull fighting. Suicide Squad was in dire need of a competent action director. How WB could let this stand with Marvel as their competition is completely beyond me. Even BvS's fights are much better, especially Batman again random thugs.
- The use of popular music is so artless and cynical that it actually pisses me off. I looked at the cinematography and performances and saw fragments of a decent movie with a grounded tone. I realized Suicide Squad's setting is not actually grimdark like I was saying in earlier posts. It's simply lit and framed like a serious film. The setting actually could have worked with very different editing and an appropriate score. But no, WB paid out the ass for a dump truck full of tracks dripping with flash and swagger, and had them staple-gunned over scenes that were clearly designed to strike more subdued tones. Guardians of the Galaxy uses classic song to craft moods that match the tenor and energy of each scene. Suicide Squad's music imposes itself like paintballs splattered across the Statue of David's junk. It's either painfully literal ("You don't own me..." "Don't tell me what to do..." as Harley is defying her guards) or crowbarred in at random because it's a classic (Bohemian Rhapsody in that ending montage of everyone settling back into prison life). Bugger off.
- All that said, the first credits song is perfect. Sounds real cool with the theater's bass.
Suicide Squad is put together so ineptly, it's a wonder the final cut was ever approved for release. My second viewing snapped the movie's issues into focus, and yeah, it's one hell of a mess. Fundamental problems with editing, writing, and tone, with laughable action and an insulting parody of Guardians' jaunty soundtrack, there an extension of the impish tone shared between all its well matched parts, here a garish Instagram filter on every scene that wants to be earnest.
I don't need to see this movie ever again now. I can only hope an alternate cut surfaces at some point, because I'd like to experience what could have been.
Kibbles
Member
I'm sure video isn't allowed but dang this theater's reaction to when Joker shows up at the end - http://picosong.com/Dutq
This gonna be the first movie I'm buying on BluRay in freaking years
This gonna be the first movie I'm buying on BluRay in freaking years
Monocle
Member
In that case you should probably buy Mad Max instead.
That whole scene felt weird to me. I think at some moment there were grunts behind Will Smith, just staying there wiggling their arms instead of trying to attack him, but suddenly after a change of sequence they´d just disappeared. It reminded me a bit of the bad Power Rangers fights, or of bad beat´em up games where the bad guys just stay away looping a simple stupid animation, waiting for the player to kill the nearest 2 enemies before attempting to get closer to him. It may not have happened like this, the whole scene was so confusing and lackluster.
Are there really people who bought into the "we killed the Joker offscreen" bs?
of course not, but i guess they didnt expect to see him again on the movie
ThePackman
Member
Funny I don't recall seeing The Joker in Suicide Squad at all.
MedicUnderFire
Neo Member
The whole design of Incubus was one of the worst things I've seen in a film in a good time, i can't believe they settled on what ended up looking like a third rate Thor villain.
I chuckled at that.
Have to agree with a few sentiments here, or well, most of the criticism actually.
The action was boring, and had no weight to it, too many cuts added to it made it all jumbled.
The overuse of licensed music. Licensed music can be used to great effect, but the first 30 minutes felt like every other scene made use of it, looses all it's oomph then.
They should've fleshed out the characters more before they get together, and not just with dialog.
They should've focused more on their bonding, if that's what they were aiming at, during the short time they were together (how the hell did they become "family"?)
Explain why the suicide squad was needed for this particular fight.
Maybe have them fighting in a "smaller" event in this movie, considering this was a global event, Bats and the others should've been called in you'd think.
I must've missed why they didn't just blow up the heart as soon as Enchantress went rogue as well. Was this explained and I had just zoned out?
Edit: also, awkward "dancing" by Enchantress. why???
The action was boring, and had no weight to it, too many cuts added to it made it all jumbled.
The overuse of licensed music. Licensed music can be used to great effect, but the first 30 minutes felt like every other scene made use of it, looses all it's oomph then.
They should've fleshed out the characters more before they get together, and not just with dialog.
They should've focused more on their bonding, if that's what they were aiming at, during the short time they were together (how the hell did they become "family"?)
Explain why the suicide squad was needed for this particular fight.
Maybe have them fighting in a "smaller" event in this movie, considering this was a global event, Bats and the others should've been called in you'd think.
I must've missed why they didn't just blow up the heart as soon as Enchantress went rogue as well. Was this explained and I had just zoned out?
Edit: also, awkward "dancing" by Enchantress. why???
Nathan_Drake
Member
Boomerang came back because Harley called them Pussies (this happened twice i think ha)?
Harley helped because Flagg was going to save his love interest. I think she just is crazy about the idea of love and since she thought her Puddin was dead she was going to support someone else's crazy love.
Movie was a mess. I am just trying to come up with some reasoning.
Worse than Doomsday?
heliosRAzi
Banned
No, it's just a great showcase for his skills /s. It's worse that in the office building, they get pinned down by just a few putties that are shooting at them and Deadshot, instead of doing the same thing he did earlier, relies on Diablo to get the job done. Does this mean that Deadshot is only good when he's not under fire?
Did Boomerang even take that personally? His return wasn't even acknowledged. It wasn't motivated. They left a crucial part--the reason he came back--on the cutting room floor.
As someone who didn't hate BvS, this was hot garbage.
Did they kill the mystic brother guy with a bomb?? You can kill a dude who live in a statue for thousands of years with a bomb? Why wouldn't they just bomb the building if that's all it takes?
Did Diablo die? Unless I missed something, he was never mentioned again after the bomb went off. If he did die, how can no one mention his sacrifice? If he didn't, was he just not shown again? Disgraceful. Maybe I just missed something.
Deadshot was so set on everybody knowing they did something good. Then in the end he never mentions that again. Just really bad storytelling.
Did they kill the mystic brother guy with a bomb?? You can kill a dude who live in a statue for thousands of years with a bomb? Why wouldn't they just bomb the building if that's all it takes?
Did Diablo die? Unless I missed something, he was never mentioned again after the bomb went off. If he did die, how can no one mention his sacrifice? If he didn't, was he just not shown again? Disgraceful. Maybe I just missed something.
Deadshot was so set on everybody knowing they did something good. Then in the end he never mentions that again. Just really bad storytelling.
heliosRAzi
Banned
MedicUnderFire
Neo Member
Honestly yea. We have a new winner and his name is incubus.
YesNOnoNOYes
Member
Such a cool name and concept, too :<
But yeah, his fight was worse than Doomsday fight, i think
....did they seriously think he was dead?
Broken Joystick
At least you can talk. Who are you?
You'd be surprised, I know folks who thought fury was actually killed in winter Solider and didn't know Bucky was the winter soldier.
peanutbutterlatte
Member
... he had JOKER on his Swat Vest ;_;
YesNOnoNOYes
Member
PREP TIME JOKER
Thank God where I live they don't dub these movies.
peanutbutterlatte
Member
I'm imagining a cut scene where The Joker paints "JOKER" on a swat vest, messes up, and has to try again. But he didn't have a spare, so he has to order one from the police depot. And the line is busy. And he has half an hour until his goons bring the car around.
#justjokerthings
His gear should've been painted purple and green. That would've been some Joker stuff
You guys do know, the Squad fighting the enchantress and other high powered Metahumans aren't a new thing right?
They had Enchantress and Nightshade on their squad though...
heliosRAzi
Banned
The Squad is better when they fight against something more grounded than 6000 year old witch.
YesNOnoNOYes
Member
Another day, he was busy selecting and picking different knives and other tools of death and was engrossed in arranging them meticulously only to discover he didn't have enough stuff so he went to the nightclub's kitchen to grab more stuff to complete his ikebana of weapons. He was happy for a bit when he was done. It was perfect. But a few hours later, he was hungry and had to pick the steak knives out so he could enjoy dinner. It was only missing a couple of elements but it was no longer perfect. Damaged, you could say.
#justjokerthings
MedicUnderFire
Neo Member
indeed, the only time i want to see enchantress fighting magical creatures is when she's with these guys.
Jean Grey Will Rise
Banned
Her vessel is still alive so hopefully she manages to retain some of Enchantress' powers. Would have been more interesting to see her as a member of the team rather than as the threat itself.
Movie was okay. More character interactions and development in the sequel and it would be straight fire. The editing really ruined what could have been because I absolutely enjoyed individual scenes although it didn't really quite mesh together.
heliosRAzi
Banned
The fact that so many people don't get what Waller's deal is a testament to the bad storytelling/editing in this movie.
Kibbles
Member
This is sort of my personal thing and maybe less about a larger connection. But Joker killed Robin and Batman basically smashes his teeth out and locks him up in Arkham Asylum. Its in the asylum where Joker would have done the damaged tattoo as a message to Batman saying, Youve damaged me. I was so beautiful before and now youve destroyed my face. Thats where the grill comes from.
David Ayer on Jokers appearance and the killing of Robin / http://www.empireonline.com/movies/suicide-squad/suicide-squad-spoilers/
David Ayer on Jokers appearance and the killing of Robin / http://www.empireonline.com/movies/suicide-squad/suicide-squad-spoilers/
To be fair they altered a ton of other stuff to make Joker seem more caring than he actually is. This is probably one of the more caring interpretations of their relationship that I've seen.
supermarioworldE
Banned
Dont know how I missed the spoiler thread for this long. Now I can talk about my thoughts in detail!
The cast is still the shining spot of the movie for me. Smith is great as Deadshot, and Robbie did a good job as Harley. Deadshot was all around badass, but I couldnt help but roll my eyes every time he made a death threat to someone and didnt make good on that promise. Seemed to make him more bark than bite as the film went on. Harley is near perfect. Robbie's accent fluctuated and could be grating at times, but she had the right balance of flirtatious and crazy.
Captain Boomerang was the first role Ive seen Jai Courtney in where he wasn't an insufferable bore. He's legitimately funny and does a good job with the material. I think he should be doing less "straight man" roles in his career from here on.
Jay Hernandez as Diablo killed it. I loved his backstory, sacrifice, and general unwillingness to let loose. Like most other characters, I wish he had more screentime, but he had a decent arc.
Killer Croc, Slipknot, and Katana all fall into the "just there" category.
And of course, I loved Viola Davis as the head woman in charge. She really could not have done Waller anymore justice than what I saw on screen. Tough, collected, and always in control until one of her more dangerous ideas backfire. Just like the comics.
Now, the one character I have mixed feelings about is The Joker. I agree with everyone else that The Joker just wasnt given enough screentime, and he kinda felt shoehorned into the story. Leto himself was...okay? He wasn't very menacing, and I didnt feel enough of the craziness. Storywise, it's even worse. Not feeling the nightclub, penthouse, expensive outfits/cars gangster look. Seems too normal and humanized. I never took The Joker to be someone who spends his money on the latest flash. I also dont like his relationship with Harley. We get so little of his abusive side that we're left with the idea that he legitimately loves Harley, and would drop everything to get her back with him. Blecch.
Hell, the main story itself is so forgettable and by the numbers that Im not surprised it was written in a few weeks. A powerful witch tries to destroy the earth, and the "heroes" must get to her location to stop her. There's a little more to it with Flaggs relationship with The Enchantress, but it's still just as hollow, and gets resolved neatly by the end of the movie. I never felt any threat or tension in the entire movie, as safely as it was all played.
Slipknot was only there to establish that the squad couldnt escape. Waller reinforces this and the status quo by the end of the movie. Diablo is the only fleshed out character to die because of his past sins. Deadshot is still imprisoned, but gets to see his daughter. The Joker turns out to have survived the plane crash and frees Harley. And The Enchantress is gone for good.
It's all so obvious and safe that the movie might as well have not existed at all. I left the theatre thinking that Suicide Squad was just plain mediocre, but each time I look back at it, it just gets worse and worse. It's still WB/DC's best film of their new universe, but thats only because there are actually a few likeable characters and some attempts at being fun. Outside of those elements, Suicide Squad is just as bad as Man of Steel and Batman V Superman.
The cast is still the shining spot of the movie for me. Smith is great as Deadshot, and Robbie did a good job as Harley. Deadshot was all around badass, but I couldnt help but roll my eyes every time he made a death threat to someone and didnt make good on that promise. Seemed to make him more bark than bite as the film went on. Harley is near perfect. Robbie's accent fluctuated and could be grating at times, but she had the right balance of flirtatious and crazy.
Captain Boomerang was the first role Ive seen Jai Courtney in where he wasn't an insufferable bore. He's legitimately funny and does a good job with the material. I think he should be doing less "straight man" roles in his career from here on.
Jay Hernandez as Diablo killed it. I loved his backstory, sacrifice, and general unwillingness to let loose. Like most other characters, I wish he had more screentime, but he had a decent arc.
Killer Croc, Slipknot, and Katana all fall into the "just there" category.
And of course, I loved Viola Davis as the head woman in charge. She really could not have done Waller anymore justice than what I saw on screen. Tough, collected, and always in control until one of her more dangerous ideas backfire. Just like the comics.
Now, the one character I have mixed feelings about is The Joker. I agree with everyone else that The Joker just wasnt given enough screentime, and he kinda felt shoehorned into the story. Leto himself was...okay? He wasn't very menacing, and I didnt feel enough of the craziness. Storywise, it's even worse. Not feeling the nightclub, penthouse, expensive outfits/cars gangster look. Seems too normal and humanized. I never took The Joker to be someone who spends his money on the latest flash. I also dont like his relationship with Harley. We get so little of his abusive side that we're left with the idea that he legitimately loves Harley, and would drop everything to get her back with him. Blecch.
Hell, the main story itself is so forgettable and by the numbers that Im not surprised it was written in a few weeks. A powerful witch tries to destroy the earth, and the "heroes" must get to her location to stop her. There's a little more to it with Flaggs relationship with The Enchantress, but it's still just as hollow, and gets resolved neatly by the end of the movie. I never felt any threat or tension in the entire movie, as safely as it was all played.
Slipknot was only there to establish that the squad couldnt escape. Waller reinforces this and the status quo by the end of the movie. Diablo is the only fleshed out character to die because of his past sins. Deadshot is still imprisoned, but gets to see his daughter. The Joker turns out to have survived the plane crash and frees Harley. And The Enchantress is gone for good.
It's all so obvious and safe that the movie might as well have not existed at all. I left the theatre thinking that Suicide Squad was just plain mediocre, but each time I look back at it, it just gets worse and worse. It's still WB/DC's best film of their new universe, but thats only because there are actually a few likeable characters and some attempts at being fun. Outside of those elements, Suicide Squad is just as bad as Man of Steel and Batman V Superman.
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