Suicide Squad, in theaters Aug. 5, 2016

[areaseven]

Did he just compare this film to Mortal Kombat: Annihilation? Oh wait - this is the same guy who gave the Ghostbusters reboot a 3 out of 4 star rating.

1 1/2 out of 4 Stars"

Also...

Edited August 9, 2016 by areaseven

[wm cheng]

...set design are excellent...

THANKS!!!

Pleasantly surprised with Will Smith's performance. Always knew Margot Robbie & Viola Davis would be good. Always hated big amorphous CGI thingies - that's when you want something spectacular but doesn't know what it should look like and it turns out looking like nothing.

As for the disjointed nature and editing problems, its because of the Studio Execs not having enough confidence in the director and trying to change his vision after the fact...

http://www.hollywoodreporter.com/heat-vision/suicide-squads-secret-drama-rushed-916693

[chyll2]

Set design are indeed better. CG has improved a lot but it also means viewer are more used to it now.

Just got back home from watching it. Wife and I enjoyed it.

[Dobber]

Simple review.

Not as bad as they say, but still riddled with problems.

Needed more work at the scriptwriting stage (like most movies these days it looks like they started filming on a second or third draft, *sigh*) and it looks like editing is becoming a lost art.

And despite what a lot of people say, I enjoyed the movie more when it became more serious towards the end.

I agree.

Chris

[azrael]

Just saw it. Not as bad as the critics say. It's not the edited mess that needs an extended edition like BvS to fix. Viola Davis was a spot-on Amanda Waller. Margot Robbie made a good Harley. Just crazy enough. Will Smith was fine as Deadshot. Jarod Leto said they cut a good portion of his Joker scenes. I didn't see a need for Joker from the trailer stage of this flick and from what they left in, he didn't feel crazy enough. But I guess the more crazy was left on the editing room floor, maybe. It wasn't a Joker movie anyways.

Semi-spoiler-ish stuff.

-Enchantress was a weak villain. For someone that powerful, she lets Waller have a hold on her heart that easily? Really? Cara Delevingne was hot though.

-And it was nice to see it was Waller's initial op that went belly-up.

-Can't say I liked Leto's Joker but from the sound of it, Joker was mostly edited out.

-I wish they showed the more abusive-side of of Harley and Joker's relationship.

-I wish we got more interaction between Batfleck and Waller. I loved the interaction back in Justice League Unlimited or from Arkham Assault and I wish we got more.

An interaction like this would have been something I would have liked.

It was good but it wasn't without a few misfires.

[Hikuro]

Didn't like leto's joker. Not sure who's to blame.

[TangledThorns]

Didn't like leto's joker. Not sure who's to blame.

Heath Ledger's drug dealer.

[Negotiator]

saw it. Alot of fun. Almost got scared the movie wasn't going to stop for a short break for some reflection. There are scenes in the trailer that are not present. Definately would love to see those. Didn't see any cast problems. They were all great imo. I can see the critism plot wise but if you were looking for a spy thriller or enlightenment ha wrong movie. Its no better or worse than age of ultron imo.

Edited August 6, 2016 by Negotiator

[areaseven]

As I said earlier, Suicide Squad is currently the best of the DC Extended Universe. As for issues, here's what I noticed:

1. The Enchantress. I feel DC is trying to one-up Marvel on who has the weakest villain in all of comic book films. There was not enough development to have us invest our interest in her and her motivations made little or no sense. Her romance angle with Rick Flag feels completely shoehorned. Furthermore, having June Moon live after Flag kills the Enchantress is an obvious cop-out and is most likely one of the film's reshoots. In the end, the Enchantress just solidifies the fact that Waller is the real villain.

2. Rick Flag. He's been portrayed as the fearless leader in nearly every incarnation of the Suicide Squad. Unfortunately, the second half of the film ends up being "Capture the Flag", as he's being tossed between his squad and the Enchantress' zombie thugs.

3. Superhero Cameos. While not as blatant as Batman v Superman: Dawn of Justice, The Flash's cameo feels tacked in.

4. The Third Act. The film is solid throughout the first two acts, but once the Suicide Squad finishes their drinking session, the third act goes all over the place due to last-minute script changes and horrid editing.

5. Product Placements. The DC Extended Universe doesn't seem to know which soda brand to side with. Man of Steel had Mountain Dew, while Batman v Superman had Dr. Pepper. This film has the Pentagon staff drinking Coca-Cola and Dasani.

Can't wait to see the Director's Cut once it's released.

[Negotiator]

as for director's cut, can the execs leave the filmmakers alone? I'm hear 2 or 3 version of the suicide squad. FFS.

[areaseven]

Despite all the negative press, Suicide Squad has made a considerable killing at the box office, making close to US$130 million worldwide as of Saturday. Hopefully, it doesn't nose-dive as hard as BvS on its second week.

Box Office Mojo Numbers

[kajnrig]

So... yeah. Long story short, I've decided I won't see any future DC movies unless someone pays for my ticket and dinner.

I don't get how DC can so consistently demonstrate such a fundamental misunderstanding of their own franchise characters. They decide that a simple flashback to a capture sequence should involve Batman bloodying Harley's nose and then passionately kissing her less than twenty seconds later. I just... God, that's gross.

[Mog]

Seemed pretty clear to me that Bats

cold-cocked Harley underwater after she tried to slash him with a knife. When he got her up to the surface, Bats checked her pulse and thought he had to perform CPR.

Thought they made it clear that Bats thought he needed to save her life. Didn't look like Bats was looking for a make-out session.

Harley just crazy.

These scenes seem pretty consistent with the Bats and Harley characteristics we've seen over the years.

So, how many people watched this for free thanks to T-Mobile? [sheepishly raises hand]

I think it was brought up earlier in the thread, but I'm glad they changed a scene

and had Harley CHOOSE to fall into the acid vat of her own accord.

Overall, the film had some hokey lines [i'm looking at you imaginary esposa de El Diablo!], but it was alright.

[kajnrig]

Seemed pretty clear to me that Bats

cold-cocked Harley underwater after she tried to slash him with a knife. When he got her up to the surface, Bats checked her pulse and thought he had to perform CPR.

This doesn't address my point, which has less to do with the sequential progression of events so much as the reasoning for having the scene play out that way at all, and moreover the decision to shoot/direct/frame it in the way that they did.

It was plainly obvious to me as well that

he was responding to her attack with incapacitation followed by resuscitation. What I'm asking is why, out of any number of possibilities for depicting her and Joker's run-in with Batman, they decided to go with one that carried such creepy misogynistic undertones.

[azrael]

he was responding to her attack with incapacitation followed by resuscitation. What I'm asking is why, out of any number of possibilities for depicting her and Joker's run-in with Batman, they decided to go with one that carried such creepy misogynistic undertones.

I'm gonna agree with Mog...

She's crazy just like Joker. She's unpredictable. It falls in line with what we've seen of the character.

[Dobber]

This doesn't address my point, which has less to do with the sequential progression of events so much as the reasoning for having the scene play out that way at all, and moreover the decision to shoot/direct/frame it in the way that they did.

It was plainly obvious to me as well that

he was responding to her attack with incapacitation followed by resuscitation. What I'm asking is why, out of any number of possibilities for depicting her and Joker's run-in with Batman, they decided to go with one that carried such creepy misogynistic undertones.

Yeah, I don't see how you are interpreting that scene the way you are? It was pretty clear to me.

he resuscitated her and she tried to kiss him because she's crazy. What was mysoginistic about that scene? Because he punched her? She tried to knife him when he tried to save her underwater!

You seem to be really trying to find a reason to hate this movie...but mysogony...really? Dear lord. God save us from that buzz word now.

Chris

Edited August 7, 2016 by Dobber

[areaseven]

[kajnrig]

Look, I get why what happens happens, insofar as I get that she's crazy and would feign unconsciousness underwater in order to take a swipe at Batman, and that he would respond in the bluntest, most straight-forward way possible, and that he would also try to resuscitate her, and that she would take advantage of the situation to do something unpredictable.

Again, it's not so much the sequential progression of events that irks me, it's why the creators decided to play it out that way in the first place. And I use the word misogyny not because it's a convenient buzz word, but because... well, because it's apt. It's a description of the situation, not necessarily the people in it.

Anyway, I'm not going to bother arguing the point further, because really it's one of many drops that make up the ocean of problems with the movie. Among them:

The "nakama" they were going for was almost nonexistent, to the point that I laughed out loud (quietly) multiple times during the tail end of the film. "I already lost one family, I'm not about to lose another!"

Will Smith did the best with what he got, and to be fair he sold the crap out of it. (Also, speaking of doing things that line up with their character, Bats apprehending him in the presence of his daughter, thus putting her in grave danger, AND not pushing her out of the way when she stands DIRECTLY IN FRONT OF A GUN BARREL... Yep. Yeeeep.)

The final battle was yet another by-the-numbers brawl. One of my laughs came when, midway through it, Enchantress decided to teleport back to her throne and ONLY THEN conveniently disarm everybody. Cue evil speech.

The comedy was a lot of hit or miss. It's almost like they reshot those scenes and then hastily cut them in.

That prolonged slow-mo sequence at the end made me giggle.

I think it was Dude McArmy Guy who commented something like "She's able to turn 90-year old grandmas into soldiers that can take a bullet to the head and not flinch," when we got an entire battle sequence where Will Smith went to a lot of effort to prove that sentiment very very wrong.

But all that said, it certainly isn't DC's WORST modern superhero movie. That would have to be a toss-up between Green Lantern and BvS.

[Mog]

Considering her quick bio straight up says "WILD CARD," I really didn't see anything wrong with the sequence.

Harley's actions in the scenes in question pretty much demonstrated that wild card tendency in spades.

Better to SHOW those actions on-screen instead of just have people talk about it. (That was my major annoyance with Attack of the Clones: Anakin always talked about how Obi was like a father to him, but none of the ACTIONS on-screen backed those statements up.)

For me, the scene in question in Suicide Squad was effective for both story purposes and for character background.

[kajnrig]

Oh, geez, the "wild card" shtick.

Sorry, that's not a dig at your statement. It's just I saw that in the movie and my immediate reaction was "Why would they [ie the psych professionals in-universe AND the creative team writing the movie] actually use that term?" followed closely by "They had better play up that aspect like nobody's business." And then, unsurprisingly, they didn't. She wasn't unpredictable at all. What would have been unpredictable is if she had a particularly twisted infatuation with the Bat that rivaled and/or exceeded Joker's and/or manifested itself in other ways (such as the otherwise inexplicable and unnecessary resuscitation-turned-forced-make-out session), or if she didn't fake her surrender to Enchantress, or if she didn't join the final battle at all, or if, at any point in the movie, she stabbed the Joker. They make her out to be this kooky wild card character and then proceed to do absolutely nothing kooky or wild with her.

But as regards your statement in particular, again, my problem again doesn't have to do with the moment-to-moment of the scene at all, but rather that the scene exists in the first place. What happens can be justified through character traits and whatnot, but ultimately someone(s) decided that that particular scene had to happen, and that it had to happen that particular way.

If she had been simply unconscious underwater, would it have changed the scene in any significant way?

If she had simply sputtered out water after he resuscitated her, would it have drastically marred her "wild card"-ness?

If he had laid her on the ground immediately afterwards and performed CPR there (and perhaps cuffed her if necessary), would that not have been more in-character than carrying her to his car, laying her down, THEN checking her pulse, THEN hesitating, THEN leaning awkwardly over her and reviving her?

Her actions might be reasonably justified as her being the "wild card," but that doesn't justify HIS actions. To me, it reeks of DC wanting to add the aforementioned weird creepy yandere dynamic to the Batman/Harley relationship, but not having the guts to take it the distance.

But eh, like I said, it's a drop in the ocean of criticism that I have against the film.

Edited August 7, 2016 by kajnrig

[Einherjar]

It's like Age of Ultron but played straight and with supervillians. Eccentric good guy with the best intentions creates their own enemy forcing bad people, under threat of death, to solve her own mess. It doesn't take a few movies for the world to acknowledge that all of this is a really dumb idea, and she has to rely on someone of more good guy cred it bail her out immediately. However, she's still going through with her plan and all the liabilities that come with it because it's a necessary evil until the big guns get their act together.

It was a good movie.

[renegadeleader1]

Oh, geez, the "wild card" shtick.

Sorry, that's not a dig at your statement. It's just I saw that in the movie and my immediate reaction was "Why would they [ie the psych professionals in-universe AND the creative team writing the movie] actually use that term?" followed closely by "They had better play up that aspect like nobody's business." And then, unsurprisingly, they didn't. She wasn't unpredictable at all. What would have been unpredictable is if she had a particularly twisted infatuation with the Bat that rivaled and/or exceeded Joker's and/or manifested itself in other ways (such as the otherwise inexplicable and unnecessary resuscitation-turned-forced-make-out session), or if she didn't fake her surrender to Enchantress, or if she didn't join the final battle at all, or if, at any point in the movie, she stabbed the Joker. They make her out to be this kooky wild card character and then proceed to do absolutely nothing kooky or wild with her.

But as regards your statement in particular, again, my problem again doesn't have to do with the moment-to-moment of the scene at all, but rather that the scene exists in the first place. What happens can be justified through character traits and whatnot, but ultimately someone(s) decided that that particular scene had to happen, and that it had to happen that particular way.

If she had been simply unconscious underwater, would it have changed the scene in any significant way?

If she had simply sputtered out water after he resuscitated her, would it have drastically marred her "wild card"-ness?

If he had laid her on the ground immediately afterwards and performed CPR there (and perhaps cuffed her if necessary), would that not have been more in-character than carrying her to his car, laying her down, THEN checking her pulse, THEN hesitating, THEN leaning awkwardly over her and reviving her?

Her actions might be reasonably justified as her being the "wild card," but that doesn't justify HIS actions. To me, it reeks of DC wanting to add the aforementioned weird creepy yandere dynamic to the Batman/Harley relationship, but not having the guts to take it the distance.

But eh, like I said, it's a drop in the ocean of criticism that I have against the film.

[slaginpit]

wow. Its like a bunch of members are either personal friends of the actors or were involved in the making of the heaping pile of dino doodoo

But meh Its DC. Its to be expected...

[areaseven]

[areaseven]

[JB0]

So... yeah. Long story short, I've decided I won't see any future DC movies unless someone pays for my ticket and dinner.

I don't get how DC can so consistently demonstrate such a fundamental misunderstanding of their own franchise characters.

Basically, DC and Marvel have a long-running feud that boils down to whatever one does, the other will do the opposite just to prove they are different and thus better. And Marvel has made it their mission to make fun movies about all their characters.

Consequently, it is DC's mission to make unfun movies about all their characters, to prove they're better.

[troyness]

R-rated movies aren't shown in Chinese cinemas, but China's making an exception with this movie's PG-13 rating.

Probably because of the word suicide in the title. Not a good number in China.

[kajnrig]

R-rated movies aren't shown in Chinese cinemas, but China's making an exception with this movie's PG-13 rating.

Probably because of the word suicide in the title. Not a good number in China.

Do they have a suicide epidemic similar to Japan's, or...?

Just remembered one part I really liked was when whats-her-name changed into Enchantress for the first time to convince the Pentagon(?) to OK Waller's plan. How the fingers peek out and then flip over. That was really nice, really creepy.

[Big s]

I heard that China wouldn't show it because of the spiritual issues, similar to the reason they wouldn't show ghostbusters recently. From what I understand they don't like foreign ghosts or cults or witchcraft, but Warcraft is fine.

[Chewie]

I enjoyed it. Didn't go in expecting tons because lets face it, it's Suicide Squad.

The pacing was....off.

Margot nailed Harley.

For me, Jared's Joker wasn't bad or good. He was just there and the movie wouldn't have suffered if he wasn't there at all. His parts felt forced to help build up Harley.

Waller was perfect.

[azrael]

I heard that China wouldn't show it because of the spiritual issues, similar to the reason they wouldn't show ghostbusters recently. From what I understand they don't like foreign ghosts or cults or witchcraft, but Warcraft is fine.

Yes. China allows only 20 movies/year with an additional 14 for IMAX or 3D-only releases. So if you are releasing a regular and a 3D movie, you have taken one of each slot. On top of that come the restrictions.

-Opposing the fundamental principles laid down in the Constitution of the P.R.C.;

-Jeopardizing the unification, sovereignty and territorial integrity of the State (P.R.C.);

-Divulging State (P.R.C.) secrets, jeopardizing the security of the State, or impairing the prestige and interests of the State;

-Inciting hatred and discrimination among ethnic groups, harming their unity, or violating their customs and habits;

-Propagating cults and superstition;

-Disrupting public order and undermining social stability;

Propagating obscenity, gambling or violence, or abetting to commit crimes;

-Insulting or slandering others, or infringing upon the legitimate rights and interests of others;

-Jeopardizing social ethics or fine national cultural traditions.

[Tking22]

Saw it over the weekend, thought it wasn't too bad, the music was irritating and jarring about 90% of the time, but I guess that's about what I expected after WB had the company that made the Bohemian Rhapsody trailer re-do the music or editing or whatever they did for the entire final cut. -- SPOILERS IN THE LINK BELOW -- , this is a huge list put together by someone on Reddit, naturally, that lists all of the deleted and edited scenes for the film. Apparently there was a hell of a lot more Joker, and a whole lot more dark and brooding. After the reception to BvS, no wonder WB scrambled to re-edit and re-shoot a sizable portion of the film. Better then BvS in my opinion, but the ultimate cut couldn't even really save that, another wasted opportunity overall, I liked the cast and it could have been much better. Didn't hate or like Leto's Joker, not enough of him for me to judge, editing was weird and spacey through-out, I found myself asking myself how the hell/what the hell just happened throughout the film. It sounds like a lot of these deleted scenes honestly made other scenes, and certain characters motivations much more clear. Apparently there's no chance at an extended or director's cut, if half these scenes were in the film it would make it even more confusing and disjointed, and almost make it an entirely different film.

http://www.comicbookmovie.com/suicide_squad/unconfirmed-deleted-scenes-from-suicide-squad-a144304

Edited August 9, 2016 by Tking22

[areaseven]

[Knight26]

Saw it over the weekend, great movie, no, terrible movie, no, Ok movie, yes. There were a lot of good things in the movie, most in the first two acts and the final scenes. Overall though the third act was a bit of a mess, and yes, the main villain was weak. What this movie really is, is just world building. Imagine reading a book:

Chapter 1-3, heavy action, focuses on Batman (I have a theory of how the Nolan movies still work with the current DCU)

Chapter 4, we get our first real super powered character, Superman, and see how the world reacts. In narrative this is many years (10+) after chapters 1-3.

Chapter 5, The batman faces off against Superman, clashes of ideology and groundwork for other meta/supers laid.

Chapter 6, this is a world building chapter, we close some plotholes of where Bats was for 10 years (Catching members of SS), see how his nemesis in chapter 2 has changed.
Chapter 8, (upcoming) get some backstory on WW, setup for the big reveal/payoff in chapter 9
Chapter 9, (upcoming) we finally get our justice league pay off.

This movie doesn't really stand on its own, it is part of a larger whole that the DCU is assembling, and it feels like it.

I will say that Leto's Joker still isn't the best in my opinion, Ledger's is still #1, but I can see how the two could be made to be the same character, or the one be the successor to the other.

[sh9000]