VolantRedX
Official Conscience of Worm Fanfiction!
Umm? So? It's still insane to compare the two films on really any level. Like you wouldn't compare Matrix to Speed Racer despite having the same director.
DC's "Suicide Squad" Casting Revealed
- Thread starter Jace911
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Mister Bad Guy
Mr Mercury to friends
- Location
- Bay Area
Alright, lemme break it down for ya.
- Both are films based on a comic that is a cult classic among comic fans, but virtually unknown to the viewing public.
- Both are films focusing around a group of criminals forced together by circumstances involving the government, who eventually become friends.
- Both feature lengthy action sequences with faceless black mooks.
- Both have a villain who is pretty throwaway in terms of motivation and character development, especially compared to their comic counterpart.
- Both aim for a more humorous, youth-oriented tone than prior installments.
- Both put most of the focus on the titular team and attempt to show them growing together, including a scene where they are brought to their lowest point and consider breaking up, but choose instead to save the world.
- Both emphasize the flaws in the titular team ("what a bunch of a-holes" vs. "worst. heroes. ever.") and play them as a ragtag bunch of losers.
- Both attempt to set up a famous villain for later installments by having them be connected to the plot but aiming for a greater scope.
- Both feature lots of snarky one-liners and dialogue exchanges.
- Both feature lots of pre-existing famous songs playing over appropriate scenes (probably the most blatant one, since GOTG had an actual justification and theme behind them and SS didn't).
- Both take place in a world where bizarre and supernatural occurrences have a lengthy history (particularly worth noting, since the other films in Suicide Squad's universe treated such occurrences as world-shattering revelations).
- Both are largely disconnected from the prior plots of their universes (GotG is on the other side of space in a series that only left Earth for the Thor films, SS is about fighting an evil witch in a series where magic has yet to play any real part, both focus on a bunch of people we've never met).
- Both really, really, really want you to like the deuteragonist, giving them most of the "choice" lines and moments and handing them lots of merch and promotion (Rocket Raccoon in Guardians, Harley in Suicide Squad).
- Both opened in the first week of August, where they would face little competition and have room to become a sleeper hit.
More pointedly, Suicide Squad has far more in common with Guardians than any other DC film, which have thus far been stolid and humorless affairs with heavy religious subtext and gravitas, focusing exclusively on their most famous characters.
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As it's been said a few times, the Suicide Squad being sold as a team of covert metahuman villains collapsed when it really only contains two outright metahumans and a technical third member which ended up being the villain. I've read Harley has some low-key enhancements in the comics, which could have been played up in the movie. Deadshot also could have been explained that way given what seems to be his lack of military background I thought he had (assuming his origin in Arrow is closer to cannon). Slipknot and Captain Boomerang however didn't make any sense given they felt like ordinary people with shitty gimmicks than being these infamous superpowered villains worthy of even being considered for what Waller was pitching. And though Katana has her soul drinking sword, she's not a member of the squad officially and seemed to be shoe-horned into the story for no apparent reason; not to mention they made her in into that Asian stereotype of a character who only talks in her native language. Was she like some execs favorite character or something? Whatever the answer, her implementation was just terrible.
I saw the problems with this back when we only had the trailers to go on, but I could have forgiven this if not for the sloppily slapped together structure of the film; it added to the bad after taste this movie gave me. Overall though I keep going back forth on how I feel about Suicide Squad and the DCEU as a whole, and whether I want to bother giving anymore of their movies a chance. I want DC to succeed, but it's been twice now I've seen really awesome trailers that got me hyped, and then to be ultimately let down. At least to me, WB knows how to make these films look awesome, but I wish they had the plots to go with it. Unlike the MCU, they don't have their blockbusters to pick up the weight for their leaner offerings. And given this is another divisive film, I fear Wonder Woman will suffer another reactionary recut under the orders of the execs to get them that overall universally praised movie that ensures a healthy franchise.
I saw the problems with this back when we only had the trailers to go on, but I could have forgiven this if not for the sloppily slapped together structure of the film; it added to the bad after taste this movie gave me. Overall though I keep going back forth on how I feel about Suicide Squad and the DCEU as a whole, and whether I want to bother giving anymore of their movies a chance. I want DC to succeed, but it's been twice now I've seen really awesome trailers that got me hyped, and then to be ultimately let down. At least to me, WB knows how to make these films look awesome, but I wish they had the plots to go with it. Unlike the MCU, they don't have their blockbusters to pick up the weight for their leaner offerings. And given this is another divisive film, I fear Wonder Woman will suffer another reactionary recut under the orders of the execs to get them that overall universally praised movie that ensures a healthy franchise.
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vicky_molokh
Posthuman spidery thingy.
- Location
- Kyïv, Ukraine
Err, what is that supposed to mean? Are Asians somehow inferior compared to, say, Americans or Russians, who often only speak in their native languages IRL? Are they for some reason not allowed to stick to their own language like Westerners and Northeasterners do, immediately turning into stereotypes when they try?
Agreed that she's not a well-made character in this film. Mostly because I found her boring. At least Boomerang had the point that I had an active dislike for him, which at least slightly shifted my opinion away from finding him merely boring . . . slightly.
"This is way too feminist, we need to recut it so that Gadot gets married, becomes a housewife and focuses only on raising Pine's kids."
"But Milo, we're working on a prequel..."
"DO NOT QUESTION ME YOU LEFTIST CUCK."
She only communicated in Japanese when she was around an entirely English speaking cast, and relied on Flagg to be a translator. It's heavy trope in American films. There was no point for it other than to enhance her foreign nature I guess. It would be one thing if she was suppose to be a prisoner straight from Japan or something along those lines, but they imply she works directly for the States. This doesn't mean she has to be multilingual, but it's just a tiring stereotype that Asians all have to be foreigners who can't speak English whenever they appear in American media. There was really no point for it or to her being in a film at all given the way she enters the plot.
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vicky_molokh
Posthuman spidery thingy.
- Location
- Kyïv, Ukraine
I mean, it just feels very unfair towards Asians to say that they can't stick to their language or else they risk becoming walking stereotypes.
My ex went to work in Iceland, and AFAIK still doesn't speak Icelandic. We had a prime minister who couldn't meaningfully speak Ukrainian (he pretended to try, though), and two presidents who could kinda-sorta do it with great effort and a horrible accent/pidgin. Plenty of Englishmen seem to go abroad and communicate only through interpreters/translators both in real life and in depictions (or just outright force English onto non-Anglophone characters in non-Anglophone states). Saying that Asians lack the right to speak their native language instead of English without being called a stereotype is not nice to Asians.
(This shouldn't matter, IMHO, but in case it does in your opinion, I can say that I've been on the receiving end of a similar treatment IRL, and I was not amused.)
Mister Bad Guy
Mr Mercury to friends
- Location
- Bay Area
I've said it a few times before, but they were all members of the Squad in the comics. (Slipknot only lasted one issue, mind.) The difference was that they were generally doing low-key covert ops or assassination missions. There are much, much stronger supervillains out there; Squad members just happen to be the ones that can be imprisoned safely and given orders (hell, some of them aren't even villains; just heroes looking to atone for something). Actually entering combat with anything more formidable than a similarly-powered team usually resulted in quite a few casualties and probably a crushing defeat - one early issue has them trying to defend a prison from the Female Furies (a gang of bricks with gimmicky fighting styles) and getting thoroughly stomped.
They weren't an elite government-sponsored Justice League; they were a special-ops gang of useful idiots with plausible deniability.
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Which bears the question - why the hell would anyone send them to Midway City and expect success?
Mister Bad Guy
Mr Mercury to friends
- Location
- Bay Area
I don't fucking know. Taking on an army of demonic warriors is exactly the sort of thing the comics Squad would never be hired for. A rescue mission? More plausible, but only because their membership in the comics included a teleporter (Nightshade) and an infiltration expert (Nemesis). None of the members in the film's team were remotely established to be good at stealth, extraction, protection, or anything else you'd want for such a job. There seemed to be no plan in mind other than "kill our way to the point."
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I get that in regards to the comics. I've read a few issues of Suicide Squad, but just Waller's intended purpose for forming the Suicide Squad in the movie was a plothole. Honestly though, it was the least of my problems with the film.
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Mister Bad Guy
Mr Mercury to friends
- Location
- Bay Area
I know. For me, it's kind of like Jar Jar in Episode I: Yes, it's hardly the biggest flaw in the movie, but a lot of the other ones have more to do with the overall structure of the film being incompetent. It's hard to really point at one moment of something like terrible editing, poor pacing, or a lot of scenes and characters feeling pointless, but it's a lot more concrete to point out something like "why did they even form the Squad in the first place?"
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I thought the film was not bad. Not good, but not bad. Though the more I think about it the more dislike I have for it.
I should honestly stop thinking and try to enjoy it as it is, I think I'm over focusing on looking for flaws.
At least it's some variety for usual DC works, but currently the trend in both the comics and films seem to be more pointlessly gritty things. I would like more of different types of works catered more to my tastes. As it also feels a majority, at least half, of DC, and western comic in general, have more grit nowadays.
Or if it is a gritty work, at least something gritty that would be better executed and written. At least in my opinion, this wasn't well written.
It was like a Call of Duty game plot. Travel to a set piece. Watch an action scene. Leave for another action scene. Little to tie it all together. Thin characterization. Thin actual plot or themes.
At least I still have the CW live action shows.
I agree. Comic books Croc is tied to Gotham Academy now, and is portrayed, if not in one of his heroic phases, the author is showing him in a sympathetic light. Lots of good character moments, dialogue, interaction, and tied to sympathetic reasons in the plot and themes.
If Gotham Academy does well, the characterization might stick, at least for some time. Of course if Gotham Academy does poorly, all those characters will likely be forgotten about for years, and brought back a decade later by either a fan, or to name drop one of them an kill them off in a single panel for drama.
It's not just less popular characters that is inconsistent. Look at Joker for example. Everything about Joker, from his looks to his personality to his ability can change.
I did not like Joker in this film.
The characterization seemed inconsistent. Someone tried to explain it as a take on the "LOL Chaos" interpretation of Joker, but even so, if that's what the objective was, the interpretation as portrayed seem badly written to me. And this Joker also seemed to be written more like the mob boss interpretation. If he was an attempt to be both, it wasn't done well.
And the plot powers and ass pulls.
Why? Because the Joker is popular. He apparently gets an excuse for this.
He's got perfect intel on everything, more then Amanda Waller and Batman and everyone else. Somehow, despite having nowhere near the same depicted resources as either. Just happens to be in the right place at the right times. Perfect timing.
How does Joker hijack a military helicopter off screen and get all his other resources? Because he's the Joker!
How does Joker manage to attack a maximum security prison, research building, military base, and another maximum security prison, successfully attacking all these places with about 10 people in bulky hard to move and hard to see in costumes? Because he is the Joker! (And also being able to stop and waste time in the middle of his attack to taunt for a long, long time.)
How does Joker inspire such loyalty in random people and get such reliable double agents, while never getting compromised in return? Because he's the Joker!
I also disliked Waller being randomly edgy. Amanda Waller in most continuity put herself on the same level as a normal civilian and her own people, in that she is willing to risk her life for what she views as good people. Here she executes her own loyal staff for no reason, and then tries to blackmail Batman to save her own career.
Waller always seemed in comics and the DCAU and other interpretations to value in order
"The Greater Good"
'Normal' people
Herself (she does sometimes see herself as less 'worthy' due to the shady things she does)
Those she views as criminals that are too far gone and unable to rehabilitate, which are the most disposable units to her
I don't think she'd shoot her subordinates, especially if only to save her own career. Maybe this version of Waller has a high opinion of herself, and sees herself as vital to maintaining the 'greater good' and her own ideals for herself, her world, and her nation.
About Suicide Squad, they are somewhat similar to Guardians of the Galaxy. However the Suicide Squad crew are much worse criminals. Though maybe I only think that because I have read the comics, while the Guardians are almost always heroic. Judging solely on screen maybe they seem about the same, as I can't tell because of the information from the comics making me make some assumptions and bias.
The plot of an ensemble or group cast isn't that strange. As is the 'boxed crook' plot. Guardians of the Galaxy isn't really a boxed crook story, but there are similar types of stories along with Guardians of the Galaxy. The Expendables, the Dirty Dozen, Inglorious Bastards.
I should honestly stop thinking and try to enjoy it as it is, I think I'm over focusing on looking for flaws.
At least it's some variety for usual DC works, but currently the trend in both the comics and films seem to be more pointlessly gritty things. I would like more of different types of works catered more to my tastes. As it also feels a majority, at least half, of DC, and western comic in general, have more grit nowadays.
Or if it is a gritty work, at least something gritty that would be better executed and written. At least in my opinion, this wasn't well written.
It was like a Call of Duty game plot. Travel to a set piece. Watch an action scene. Leave for another action scene. Little to tie it all together. Thin characterization. Thin actual plot or themes.
At least I still have the CW live action shows.
I agree. Comic books Croc is tied to Gotham Academy now, and is portrayed, if not in one of his heroic phases, the author is showing him in a sympathetic light. Lots of good character moments, dialogue, interaction, and tied to sympathetic reasons in the plot and themes.
If Gotham Academy does well, the characterization might stick, at least for some time. Of course if Gotham Academy does poorly, all those characters will likely be forgotten about for years, and brought back a decade later by either a fan, or to name drop one of them an kill them off in a single panel for drama.
It's not just less popular characters that is inconsistent. Look at Joker for example. Everything about Joker, from his looks to his personality to his ability can change.
I did not like Joker in this film.
The characterization seemed inconsistent. Someone tried to explain it as a take on the "LOL Chaos" interpretation of Joker, but even so, if that's what the objective was, the interpretation as portrayed seem badly written to me. And this Joker also seemed to be written more like the mob boss interpretation. If he was an attempt to be both, it wasn't done well.
And the plot powers and ass pulls.
Why? Because the Joker is popular. He apparently gets an excuse for this.
He's got perfect intel on everything, more then Amanda Waller and Batman and everyone else. Somehow, despite having nowhere near the same depicted resources as either. Just happens to be in the right place at the right times. Perfect timing.
How does Joker hijack a military helicopter off screen and get all his other resources? Because he's the Joker!
How does Joker manage to attack a maximum security prison, research building, military base, and another maximum security prison, successfully attacking all these places with about 10 people in bulky hard to move and hard to see in costumes? Because he is the Joker! (And also being able to stop and waste time in the middle of his attack to taunt for a long, long time.)
How does Joker inspire such loyalty in random people and get such reliable double agents, while never getting compromised in return? Because he's the Joker!
I also disliked Waller being randomly edgy. Amanda Waller in most continuity put herself on the same level as a normal civilian and her own people, in that she is willing to risk her life for what she views as good people. Here she executes her own loyal staff for no reason, and then tries to blackmail Batman to save her own career.
Waller always seemed in comics and the DCAU and other interpretations to value in order
"The Greater Good"
'Normal' people
Herself (she does sometimes see herself as less 'worthy' due to the shady things she does)
Those she views as criminals that are too far gone and unable to rehabilitate, which are the most disposable units to her
I don't think she'd shoot her subordinates, especially if only to save her own career. Maybe this version of Waller has a high opinion of herself, and sees herself as vital to maintaining the 'greater good' and her own ideals for herself, her world, and her nation.
About Suicide Squad, they are somewhat similar to Guardians of the Galaxy. However the Suicide Squad crew are much worse criminals. Though maybe I only think that because I have read the comics, while the Guardians are almost always heroic. Judging solely on screen maybe they seem about the same, as I can't tell because of the information from the comics making me make some assumptions and bias.
The plot of an ensemble or group cast isn't that strange. As is the 'boxed crook' plot. Guardians of the Galaxy isn't really a boxed crook story, but there are similar types of stories along with Guardians of the Galaxy. The Expendables, the Dirty Dozen, Inglorious Bastards.
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VolantRedX
Official Conscience of Worm Fanfiction!
Quite honestly that's basically a pretty close copy of the comic books.
vicky_molokh
Posthuman spidery thingy.
- Location
- Kyïv, Ukraine
It's almost like narrative-warping is Joker's superpower. Given Joker Immunity, I suppose that's not something hard to notice.
VolantRedX
Official Conscience of Worm Fanfiction!
Well he is sometimes aware that he is in a comic book and there have been some rumblings that he is supposed to be like an evil spirit rather than a person. I think that's been retconed, now in the comics he's three different people, but whether that means he's a team effort or if three different people have gone crazy and call themselves the Joker I don't know.
all fictions
I hate you! (it's not against the rules!)
- Location
- Mons Regius
- Pronouns
- He/Him
Having watched the movie weeks ago, on August 9, I am now finally giving my general impressions.
My score: 6.5/10. Not as good as it could have been and full of wasted potential.
According to the Internet, I am a "Marvel fanboy" for slightly preferring Marvel heroes over DC Comics'. With the exception of Batman, I always liked Marvel setting and heroes over DC, but in recent years, I have had a change of heart. With things like Arrow (well the first two seasons, before it fully transformed into Batman lite) and Flash, even if I didn't like Man of Steel and to this day have no intention of ever watching B vs. S, I have finally began to think "you know, DC doesn't seem that bad". So you can imagine how much I wanted to like Suicide Squad.and for it to blow me away, the same way Deadpool and Guardians of the Galaxy did. The trailers just kept me hyped up, to the point my little sister, who likes DC even less than I once did, decided for the first time to go watch a DC heroes movie. So we went in a small group to see it on August 9th.
More than anything, I was disappointed.
And that's it. Now to read the thread and the pages I missed.
My score: 6.5/10. Not as good as it could have been and full of wasted potential.
According to the Internet, I am a "Marvel fanboy" for slightly preferring Marvel heroes over DC Comics'. With the exception of Batman, I always liked Marvel setting and heroes over DC, but in recent years, I have had a change of heart. With things like Arrow (well the first two seasons, before it fully transformed into Batman lite) and Flash, even if I didn't like Man of Steel and to this day have no intention of ever watching B vs. S, I have finally began to think "you know, DC doesn't seem that bad". So you can imagine how much I wanted to like Suicide Squad.and for it to blow me away, the same way Deadpool and Guardians of the Galaxy did. The trailers just kept me hyped up, to the point my little sister, who likes DC even less than I once did, decided for the first time to go watch a DC heroes movie. So we went in a small group to see it on August 9th.
More than anything, I was disappointed.
Don't get me wrong, I don't think the movie is bad, per se, hence why my personal rating places it in the 60% range. You should probably get it on DVD/Blue-Ray when it comes out, maybe there will be an extended/uncut version worth watching. However, the movie was not as fantastic as the trailers promised us it would be.
The more damning would be how it sticks to a formula we have seen before: ragtag bunch of misfits, eventually call themselves friends, surmont their selfishness to go save the world. Not that I think it's a bad formula (I do like GotG after all), only that when the protagonists of the movie are villains, I would expect something quite different. The heroes of Ocean's Eleven are nominally bad guys, but that's the appeal: you see them committing crimes to reach their goals, but you root for them because they are up against a greater evil. Nothing of the sort in SS. I dunno if it's because of its PG13 (which I doubt), but the only time you see the characters do anything remotely criminal/evil is in flashbacks, unless you count Harley Quinn's short lived betrayal. The rest of the movie has them surprisingly heroic, even if they are snarky about it, which is a shame because I hoped for them to stay villainous through and through even at the end of the movie, with only a tiny spark of decency within them (like with Diablo and Deadshot). The Squad saving Flagg because him dying would mean their death was great! I could see them saving someone out of selfish reason. It was also great to see Boomerang tricking Slipknot into testing the bomb device (somehow his reduced appearance in the movie was even more pathetic than in the trailers), as was Harley and Deadshot planning their escape and Harley leaving him behind. Those are great sequences showing criminals being selfish bastards out to save their own skin. Not shown so much in the rest of the movie, where by the end they crigingly call themselves "friends". It's especially eggregious that they were given non human mooks to fight, as they had an excuse to let loose without actually killing people like a villain would not hesitate to do. Showing them unconcerned with violence against another person and killing would have been great, so again, wasted potential.
Nothing in the movie surprised me. The villains got (really short) character development and became heroes together. I have seen that premise countless times before, I thought the guy who did many really good crime thrillers would give me a similar product here. Speaking of no surprise, bunch of (now confirmed fake) spoilers stated there would be three deaths in the Squad. We got two, but it were deaths people had predicted since before the movie came out, namely Slipknot and Diablo. Julie Moon also survived, somehow.
The biggest cliché for me was that it was a "save the world" plot. Just why? There really was no need to up the stakes so much for a team of street level characters. Yes, it was originally a black ops to rescue Waller (how did the government plan to deal with the Enchantress afterwads?), but I still feel it made the film too "superhero-y" instead of sticking to "super black ops". The movie Assault on Arkham got that right, as did the other DC adaptations in which the Squad appeared, so why going that tired route? At least, I would have been fine with the Enchantress' shenanigans a city or a region, not the whole world. That's the kind of thing you leave to Superman, the Justice League, and the Avengers.
Nothing good to say about the fights. They were on the whole unimpressive and underwhelming. People say that the battles in the Avengers movies are repetitive, but to be honest I would have liked to see something similar in Suicide Squad. You know, have the minions come in waves and droves, to make the battles seem more desperate and not too curb stompy as they felt at times. Instead, the Enchantress and her brother apparently converted about a hundred people and thought it would be enough. The fights would have also been good to show off each character's skill and talents, but, besides Deadshot, Harley Quinn, and Diablo once, no one got to shine in fights. Killer Croc is the strongest of the team, but the movie waste the opportunity for him to show off as the team's lesser Hulk and have him beat guys one by one while the others kill eight in the time he takes him to finish one. He displayed his strength when he threw the witch by surprise in the final battle, but that was it. Boomerang apparently only uses his signature weapon in close range so few were the times I saw him throw boomerangs from a distance (it's a long distance weapon why are you not taking off foes from afar!?!?). Katana was another disappointment: you would think "female modern samurai who fights using a katana that absorbs souls" would be an awesome sight to see and an awesome character to root for. In reality, it was as if she could have been wallpaper the way she blended in the background.
Speaking of characters, I think they were the best part of the movie. Act I was definitely great, it's a shame it didn't quite follow up in Act II, before the plot meandered in the third act. The flashbacks were nicely done, I liked the whole aesthetic. I have little negative things to say about Deadshot and Harley, but that's because they took over the spotlight at the expanse of the other characters. I liked Diablo, but he didn't get as much focus as he deserved. Killer Croc was just there, Slipknot was a joke, Katana really should have been cooler, and Boomerang would have definitely been funnier and a comic relief had Quinn not been given most of the humourous lines (though I did like that he and Croc were the only one to have not mellowed out significantly by the end of the movie). Despite this, the cast of characters were colorful enough that they made the movie better (their requests at the end cemented this in my opinion). Definitely liked the ruthless Amanda Waller, even if shooting government employees stretch my SOD a bit. Flagg, on the other hand, was...meh. The Enchantress is a good villain I think, they certainly spared no expanse for the impressive special effects her magic used, the whole bio organic look was definitely cool to look at. I also didn,t expect Flash, lol. Unfortunately, a great cast is not enough to carry a movie on its own, and as said above it had its own problems.
I'm not sure what to say about the Joker. My friend said he didn't really thought of him as "Joker" due to the whole gangster look and the lack of truly crazy acts aside from hysterical laughs. As for myself, I am in the bizarre position of being glad that he didn't overtook the primary villain like he did in Assault on Arkham...and at the same time disappointed he didn't, because he would have at least done more than the total 10 minutes he appeared for the entirety of the movie.
All in all, I was disappointed the movie didn't live up to the hype, but it was "good enough" that I will probably watch the sequel, only not in theaters.
EDIT: Almost forgot. I think that was the worst use of slow motion I have ever seen on film. Me and the others were like "Wtf is that" while my sister was stifling her laughs. Who thought that was a good idea for a final battle and why was it so long oh my god
EDIT2: And God knows how Waller survived being at ground zero of a magical explosion unfazed, her tablet working, and her clothes more or less unscathed. I guess she took some of Joker's immunity
The more damning would be how it sticks to a formula we have seen before: ragtag bunch of misfits, eventually call themselves friends, surmont their selfishness to go save the world. Not that I think it's a bad formula (I do like GotG after all), only that when the protagonists of the movie are villains, I would expect something quite different. The heroes of Ocean's Eleven are nominally bad guys, but that's the appeal: you see them committing crimes to reach their goals, but you root for them because they are up against a greater evil. Nothing of the sort in SS. I dunno if it's because of its PG13 (which I doubt), but the only time you see the characters do anything remotely criminal/evil is in flashbacks, unless you count Harley Quinn's short lived betrayal. The rest of the movie has them surprisingly heroic, even if they are snarky about it, which is a shame because I hoped for them to stay villainous through and through even at the end of the movie, with only a tiny spark of decency within them (like with Diablo and Deadshot). The Squad saving Flagg because him dying would mean their death was great! I could see them saving someone out of selfish reason. It was also great to see Boomerang tricking Slipknot into testing the bomb device (somehow his reduced appearance in the movie was even more pathetic than in the trailers), as was Harley and Deadshot planning their escape and Harley leaving him behind. Those are great sequences showing criminals being selfish bastards out to save their own skin. Not shown so much in the rest of the movie, where by the end they crigingly call themselves "friends". It's especially eggregious that they were given non human mooks to fight, as they had an excuse to let loose without actually killing people like a villain would not hesitate to do. Showing them unconcerned with violence against another person and killing would have been great, so again, wasted potential.
Nothing in the movie surprised me. The villains got (really short) character development and became heroes together. I have seen that premise countless times before, I thought the guy who did many really good crime thrillers would give me a similar product here. Speaking of no surprise, bunch of (now confirmed fake) spoilers stated there would be three deaths in the Squad. We got two, but it were deaths people had predicted since before the movie came out, namely Slipknot and Diablo. Julie Moon also survived, somehow.
The biggest cliché for me was that it was a "save the world" plot. Just why? There really was no need to up the stakes so much for a team of street level characters. Yes, it was originally a black ops to rescue Waller (how did the government plan to deal with the Enchantress afterwads?), but I still feel it made the film too "superhero-y" instead of sticking to "super black ops". The movie Assault on Arkham got that right, as did the other DC adaptations in which the Squad appeared, so why going that tired route? At least, I would have been fine with the Enchantress' shenanigans a city or a region, not the whole world. That's the kind of thing you leave to Superman, the Justice League, and the Avengers.
Nothing good to say about the fights. They were on the whole unimpressive and underwhelming. People say that the battles in the Avengers movies are repetitive, but to be honest I would have liked to see something similar in Suicide Squad. You know, have the minions come in waves and droves, to make the battles seem more desperate and not too curb stompy as they felt at times. Instead, the Enchantress and her brother apparently converted about a hundred people and thought it would be enough. The fights would have also been good to show off each character's skill and talents, but, besides Deadshot, Harley Quinn, and Diablo once, no one got to shine in fights. Killer Croc is the strongest of the team, but the movie waste the opportunity for him to show off as the team's lesser Hulk and have him beat guys one by one while the others kill eight in the time he takes him to finish one. He displayed his strength when he threw the witch by surprise in the final battle, but that was it. Boomerang apparently only uses his signature weapon in close range so few were the times I saw him throw boomerangs from a distance (it's a long distance weapon why are you not taking off foes from afar!?!?). Katana was another disappointment: you would think "female modern samurai who fights using a katana that absorbs souls" would be an awesome sight to see and an awesome character to root for. In reality, it was as if she could have been wallpaper the way she blended in the background.
Speaking of characters, I think they were the best part of the movie. Act I was definitely great, it's a shame it didn't quite follow up in Act II, before the plot meandered in the third act. The flashbacks were nicely done, I liked the whole aesthetic. I have little negative things to say about Deadshot and Harley, but that's because they took over the spotlight at the expanse of the other characters. I liked Diablo, but he didn't get as much focus as he deserved. Killer Croc was just there, Slipknot was a joke, Katana really should have been cooler, and Boomerang would have definitely been funnier and a comic relief had Quinn not been given most of the humourous lines (though I did like that he and Croc were the only one to have not mellowed out significantly by the end of the movie). Despite this, the cast of characters were colorful enough that they made the movie better (their requests at the end cemented this in my opinion). Definitely liked the ruthless Amanda Waller, even if shooting government employees stretch my SOD a bit. Flagg, on the other hand, was...meh. The Enchantress is a good villain I think, they certainly spared no expanse for the impressive special effects her magic used, the whole bio organic look was definitely cool to look at. I also didn,t expect Flash, lol. Unfortunately, a great cast is not enough to carry a movie on its own, and as said above it had its own problems.
I'm not sure what to say about the Joker. My friend said he didn't really thought of him as "Joker" due to the whole gangster look and the lack of truly crazy acts aside from hysterical laughs. As for myself, I am in the bizarre position of being glad that he didn't overtook the primary villain like he did in Assault on Arkham...and at the same time disappointed he didn't, because he would have at least done more than the total 10 minutes he appeared for the entirety of the movie.
All in all, I was disappointed the movie didn't live up to the hype, but it was "good enough" that I will probably watch the sequel, only not in theaters.
EDIT: Almost forgot. I think that was the worst use of slow motion I have ever seen on film. Me and the others were like "Wtf is that" while my sister was stifling her laughs. Who thought that was a good idea for a final battle and why was it so long oh my god
EDIT2: And God knows how Waller survived being at ground zero of a magical explosion unfazed, her tablet working, and her clothes more or less unscathed. I guess she took some of Joker's immunity
And that's it. Now to read the thread and the pages I missed.
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Shanejayell
Yuri Fan without a Pause
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Much like there's been yelling for a 'Snyder Cut' of Justice League, there's been rumblings of a Ayer's Cut of Suicide Squad.
The director now claims that over 40 min of the film was removed by WB.
comicbook.com
The director now claims that over 40 min of the film was removed by WB.
Suicide Squad Director David Ayer Says Warner Bros. Cut First 40 Minutes From His Movie
Suicide Squad director David Ayer is now saying that Warner Bros. cut the first 40 minutes of his [...]
comicbook.com
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Already watched the Director's Cut.... it wasn't better. Then again, I liked the theatrical cut of Suicide Squad. It wasn't ground breaking but they nailed Harley and accidentally made the Joker a good guy and that makes me laugh.
I'm utterly serious on that second point. Jared Leto's Joker
I'm utterly serious on that second point. Jared Leto's Joker
- Drives Harley Mad (Bad)
- Gets her to jump into ACE Chemical's special blend (Bad)
- Fights Snyder's Fascist Batman (Good)
- Murders a Mob Boss for making a crack about Harley (Goodish. Neutral at Worst)
- Kidnaps the Prison Guard who has been abusing all the inmates through the first act (Good)
- Murders scientists who manage Task Force X's bomb collars (Good)
- Tries to Rescue Harley from the suicide mission (Good)
- Successfully rescues her from Belle Reve, a government blacksite (Good)
VolantRedX
Official Conscience of Worm Fanfiction!
To be fair to the film the biggest issue is that it didn't commit to the bit. It was set up almost like an Anti-Guardians of the Galaxy, where the misfit band of criminals are actually horrible people who have no sense of morality, loyalty, or camaraderie but are forced to work together to save the day. Then out of fucking nowhere the 3rd act totally shifts gears to make the horrible monstrous criminals we've been following start talking some bullshit about family and saving the day. Totally missed the target it seemed to be aiming for.