Tag Archive: Suicide Squad


Suicide Squad

Suicide Squad (2016)

Directed by David Ayer

Starring Will Smith, Margot Robbie, Jared Leto

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Caution Potential Spoilers included

“What happens when the next Superman comes to our planet and decides not to follow our values, who is going to stop them. That is why we have to put a taskforce together, the worst of the worst.”

Amanda Waller has decided that the time has come to put a team of bad guys together to use for whenever things get too dangerous and things need to be kept off the record. Deadshot, Harley Quinn, Killer Croc, Boomerang and Diablo are the bad guys, and girl, chosen to come together under the leadership of Rick Flag all while following Amanda’s orders, and threats of blowing their heads up.

The big bad in the film is Cara Delevingne’s Enchantress who is basically pissed off with the world, thanks to Amanda Waller, so wants to destroy it. Its up to the Suicide Squad to stop her by coming together and saving the world.

Firstly my negatives, the general story and big bad is a bit naff, but then how do you make a big bad when every character is suppose to be a baddie. The film won’t win any awards but that’s not the reason for it. Joel Kinnaman’s character Rick Flag was the worst in the film. His acting was terrible and the character, who was suppose to lead the squad, came across as pretty pointless and so had no connection with the audience. I wonder if Tom Hardy would have made the character likable had he not left the role.

The Joker is one of my favourite characters in the DC universe. Jared Leto’s take on him was interesting and his laugh was so menacing. He seemed to take the character in a mafia/gangster direction and to me just didn’t feel crazy and manic enough. Perhaps I’m just stuck on the fantastic approach taken by the late Heath Ledger.

Now for my good points. I enjoyed the beginning which introduced the Suicide Squad characters, knock it out with a little bit of back story, bit of Batfleck, while not taking too long with explanations. suicide-squad-harley-quinn-margot-robbie

The film definitely focuses around Will Smith’s Deadshot and Margot Robbie’s Harley Quinn with them getting the most screen time which in the case of the latter was the correct thing to do. Margot Robbie’s performance was bang on as the crazy Joker loving Harley and stole the show. And it doesn’t hurt that she oozes sex appeal to appease the fans, which was shown throughout the film with the numerous shots of her walking away from the camera wearing her hot pants.

I was a little worried when casting was made that Will Smith would be too old for this but I found he came across quite likable and fits in really well, although he is pushed continuously in your face so you aren’t given much of a choice. Adewale Akinnuoye-Agbaje’s Killer Croc was interesting to finally see on the big screen and visually looked good although he was slightly hard to understand, for the few lines he had, and had minimal screen time.

Recommend

This is a tough one, it depends what you are trying to get out of it. I was interested in a new Joker and Margot Robbie as Harley Quinn and I was reasonable happy with those aspects. As I said previously with Batman vs Superman, its hard getting sold on a DC movie universe due to what Marvel have achieved although this probably wont stop me trying. This film was definitely more enjoyable than Batman vs Superman but still nowhere near what Marvel are doing. Go see the film just for Margot Robbie’s performance and if that doesn’t interest you there is probably no need to see it at the cinema.

If DC learn anything from this film it is to put the Harley Quinn character in more of its future films, perhaps even give her her own solo movie.

 

TheFriedGold rating – 5.5/10 – Not quite the suicide of the franchise

 

Film Fact

*There is a mid credits scene at the end of the film so don’t run off as soon as the credits start to roll*

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Batman vs Superman: Dawn of Justice

Batman vs Superman: Dawn of Justice (2016)

Directed by Zack Snyder

Starring Ben Affleck, Henry Cavill, Amy Adams, Jesse Eisenberg and Gal Gadot

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Bruce Wayne believes that the world are looking through rose tinted glasses at Superman, a false god from another planet who has the capability of destroying Earth. So he takes it upon his alter ego of Batman to take him down for good and prove to be the real hero that everyone needs.

 

It’s Batman against Superman. Actually its bad angry Batman against Superman. Well it is until he, and everyone else, realise that both of their (earth) mothers are called Martha so they forget all the troubles and become best friends. Really that’s exactly what happens. Then a big bad comes along and they have to team up to defeat it, as well as throwing in Wonder Woman for girl power and a change of atmosphere with the beat of the drum.

I have always been a massive fan of both Batman and Superman and I had hope for this film. I didn’t think Man of Steel was as bad as people say and I was in hope that the DC film universe could follow in the footsteps of the Marvel film universe and what that has done for comic book films. The problem they have is that they want to be different and create their own universe that fans can get in to while not following the same processes as Marvel. Unfortunately the film appeared to have quite a few missing parts. Yes we don’t need to see a Batman origin story again but why and how is Bruce Wayne the way he is being angry with everyone, thinks he is the only good guy left, Wayne Manor is burnt down, what happened to Robin and the constant frowning. Oh and that’s not just him, it seemed like every character in the film spent most of their screen time frowning.

A quick note on Jesse Eisenberg’s performance as Lex Luthor. I enjoyed most scenes with him in but didn’t really see him as Lex. It’s as if Jesse might have auditioned and missed out on the part of the Joker, to which Jared Leto is playing in the Suicide Squad film, so he decided to play Lex a bit pre joker in the maniacal sense. He just came across a little too crazy. Peeing into a glass to make someone drink it does not sound like Lex.

 

Something that the Marvel films have done very well is the introduction of new characters or small cameos teasing them for future appearances by having the post credit scenes that everyone knows to stay behind for. It adds an extra excitement and intrigue into what to expect. The team behind Batman vs Superman came out before the release of the film and said for fans not to bother waiting around as there will be nothing in the credits. What they attempted to do was introduce all the future characters in one quick 5 minutes scene via some secret files that Lex had showing what they can do. This unfortunately just didn’t have the same excitement that you would have expected especially with it coming half way through the film.

Don’t get me wrong there were some good bits to the film. The fight between Batman and Superman was pretty cool and what some fan boys and girls have been waiting for, for a long time. And having Wonder Woman turn up to save the guys was pretty cool, even though we had seen that in the trailer. However for a film that has been in the making for a long time there were a few too many issues with it and when I try to picture my favorite part of the film I struggle. And what was with Bruce’s dream? Mental, old age, or a vision of things to come? It was just a bit weird.

Oh and the ending (slight spoiler alert) If you know the DC comic universe and certain characters you know what is going to happen and what will happen afterwards. Maybe because I’m in that boat that the final scene of the film wasn’t a surprise!

 

Recommend

If you are a loyal follower of the Marvel Cinematic Universe and were hoping of something similar with DC I’m afraid it hasn’t started off all that well. Is it worth seeing at the cinema? Not really especially when it clocks in at a whopping 151 minutes and half of that is all the frowning. Will I watch it again? Doubtful, although I have heard some people say it is better on a second watch.

I am excited to see Suicide Squad and to see Leto’s take on The Joker not to mention Margot Robbie as Harley Quinn but as for Aquaman and The Flash and other Justice League members, I have no feelings for them at all. As a big fan of the DC TV shows of Arrow and The Flash, to which they will be completely ignoring for the film franchise, I am more than happy to stick with them as my DC needs.

 

TheFriedGold rating – 4/10 – Time to turn that Bat signal off

 

Film Thought

Who knew Gotham and Metropolis were so close……….

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