Suicide Squad

Chat about stuff other than Transformers.
Post Reply
User avatar
Skyquake87
Protoform
Posts: 3986
Joined: Sun Jul 04, 2010 9:34 am

Suicide Squad

Post by Skyquake87 »

So I went to the pictures to see this last night. And its ... alright. Kind of average, hitting all the usual beats of team-up-to-beat-the-big-bad films.

Its entertaining, but no one comes over as a proper villainy-villain, more just that they've all had a hard life and its made them do terrible things oh boo hoo hoo (I know this thanks to the film taking a swerve just towards the big obvious end game punch up to sit in a bar telling 'my sad life of crime' stories).

Deadshot and Harley Quinn get the most focus, with everyone else just sketched in. I put this down to Will Smith being the big star and Harley Quinn being the most interesting character (with origin drawn straight from Mad Love). Margot Robbie does a grand job bringing the Batman : The Animated Series character to life. I also liked Jared Leto as the Joker. He plays him closer to Cesare Romero's version, if he'd grown up listening to NWA. I'd be happy to see more of him in the role, as you don't really get a lot of him here.

And that is my thoughts. Not great, but not bad either. Just pointlessly long, when being an economic 90 minutes would have done the job. Its up there with Antman : passable, but not memorable.
User avatar
Heinrad
Posts: 6281
Joined: Sun Dec 23, 2001 5:00 am
Location: Riskin' it all on my Russian Roulette!

Post by Heinrad »

I liked it. It was a fun romp. I'm not completely sold on Leto's Joker, but I did like what I saw.

And thanks to this movie, I actually want to know more about Captain Boomerang.
As a professional tanuki (I'm a Japanese mythological animal, and a good luck charm), I have an alarm clock built into me somewhere. I also look like a stuffed animal. And you thought your life was tough......

3DS Friend Code: 1092-1274-7642
User avatar
electro girl
Posts: 1719
Joined: Tue Mar 25, 2008 4:38 pm
Location: Robot Republic of Yorkshire.
Contact:

Post by electro girl »

It was fine.
-------------------------
A Chinese cartoon where the robots turn into blingwads!
User avatar
Brendocon 2.0
Posts: 1545
Joined: Fri Feb 28, 2014 9:06 pm
Location: UK

Post by Brendocon 2.0 »

I thought it was an absolute mess.
User avatar
Denyer
Posts: 33033
Joined: Sun Sep 17, 2000 4:00 am
Location: Perfidious Albion
Contact:

Post by Denyer »

Didn't feel as long as it was, personally -- felt like a comic most of the time. Helped being in a cinema with a bar I suppose. Some missteps with edits/dialogue and not fond of gangsta Joka, but hadn't gone to see it for him and this thankfully wasn't his story.

Harley and Croc (with a decent showing for CD Enchantress later on) stole the show. Enjoyed the familiar musical accompaniments, although it was played very safe.
User avatar
Red Dave Prime
Posts: 1340
Joined: Fri Jul 27, 2007 11:03 pm
Location: Ireland

Post by Red Dave Prime »

Skyquake87 wrote:
And that is my thoughts. Not great, but not bad either. Just pointlessly long, when being an economic 90 minutes would have done the job. Its up there with Antman : passable, but not memorable.
Seriously, I know I've discussed this with CJ in the Tf Movie threads but is there an actual reason why Hollywood blockbusters are all super long? Its a complaint I've heard about a lot from pretty much everyone, even when the overall film is very good. Is there some extra money they can charge for if the film is 2 hours over 90 minutes?
User avatar
ganon578
Posts: 2210
Joined: Wed Aug 15, 2007 5:26 pm
Location: NoCo

Post by ganon578 »

Red Dave Prime wrote:Seriously, I know I've discussed this with CJ in the Tf Movie threads but is there an actual reason why Hollywood blockbusters are all super long? Its a complaint I've heard about a lot from pretty much everyone, even when the overall film is very good. Is there some extra money they can charge for if the film is 2 hours over 90 minutes?
Nope, all the ticket prices are the same.

Two prime examples I like to use are TF: Age of Extinction and Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles (2014).

AoE is overly long in the final chapter and just never seems to end - it runs for 2 h 45 min! Watching on Netflix a few months back made me realize they could have easily chopped 45+ minutes from that movie. Otherwise, the movie is quite entertaining.

TMNT on the other hand is entertaining and to the point... and it runs 1 h 41 min.

Maybe Hollywood execs feels like they need to bloat a movie so moviegoers don't complain that it was too short for the tix price?
Image
User avatar
StoneCold Skywarp
Posts: 6300
Joined: Sat Sep 16, 2000 4:00 am
Custom Title: Best Served Chilled
Location: UK

Post by StoneCold Skywarp »

To me the film somehow manages to feel incredibly long and incredibly rushed all at the same time.
A clear example of too many cooks spoiling the broth, I can't help but feel like there is an incredible film in this but there's been too many additions and changes to create something wonderful.
The quick cut sequences were jarring and threw me out of the flow of the film along with the change in soundtrack (which individually is great but it's not a cohesive soundtrack - smacks of more interference)
When it's released on blu ray and we get all the cut scenes as bonus features it'll fill in a lot of the problems of the film for me (I'm looking at your BvS : Ultimate edition)
I enjoyed the film for what it was but it's not what the trailers promised.
The first half felt very like Winter Soldier to me which was great, a lot of set up and pseudo politics with the set up of the squad, introductions to Deadshot and Harley and Belle Reve (what, no Blackgate?!) then it threw them into the main story of "we're in to get someone out"
SPOILER! (select to read)
Amanda Waller, really?! Missed opportunity to show that A.R.G.U.S. had Superman's body anyone?!
The action was great, but suffered from over editing again, Deadshot and Diablo really stealing the show here. Killer Croc could easily have been and probably should have been King Shark and seemed in no way menacing beyond "oooh, doesn't he looked weird."
Captain Boomerang -- not a bad job. Not a great job.
And Joker....oh I knew I wasn't gonna enjoy Jared Leto as Joker. He's sinister without coming across as scary. Psychotic without the unhinged reason which makes Joker really beat. No scene played for humour despite attempts at comedic dialogue. I know that Leto has said there's a lot been left on the cutting room floor but it'd have to be a lot of the above to make me think he's worth putting in the role again.
And now to my final gripe before I go back to lurking. It's not really spoilers, but I'll tag it anyway just for people that haven't seen the film yet
SPOILER! (select to read)
Joker and Harley Quinn. I never realised that Joker actually does truly, honestly care about Harley...wait, no, that's because he doesn't. He doesn't give two ****s about Harley at any point, in any iteration, beyond "she's here now, might as well" There were only two scenes where this dysfunctional relationship was hinted at (after the car crashes into the river and he leaves her for Batman and the ACME Chemicals scene) BUT the second of two, after looking like he's about to walk away cos he's had his fun which would be perfect, he goes and dives in.
Now, if he had walked away. She could've surfaced, looked for her puddin' and he be nowhere to be found creating the love/hate relationship that drives their narrative. A close on that scene could easily have been her slumped against the vat, Batman swoops in -- too late to save someone an acid bath again -- and her look at him and start to laugh)
Also, Margot, either go all in with the Brooklyn accent or just give it up
*lurks*
User avatar
Brendocon 2.0
Posts: 1545
Joined: Fri Feb 28, 2014 9:06 pm
Location: UK

Post by Brendocon 2.0 »

StoneCold Skywarp wrote:The quick cut sequences were jarring and threw me out of the flow of the film along with the change in soundtrack (which individually is great but it's not a cohesive soundtrack - smacks of more interference)
It was like somebody had an iPod on shuffle and was just hitting "next track" whenever a location changed. But I suppose it's cheaper than actually hiring somebody to score a film, and also allows for scenes to just be chopped about wherever, so who gives a **** about coherence.

Overall it felt like they made the film, then somebody dropped it and they got a twelve-year-old to put the bits back together.
User avatar
StoneCold Skywarp
Posts: 6300
Joined: Sat Sep 16, 2000 4:00 am
Custom Title: Best Served Chilled
Location: UK

Post by StoneCold Skywarp »

Brendocon 2.0 wrote:It was like somebody had an iPod on shuffle and was just hitting "next track" whenever a location changed. But I suppose it's cheaper than actually hiring somebody to score a film, and also allows for scenes to just be chopped about wherever, so who gives a **** about coherence.

Overall it felt like they made the film, then somebody dropped it and they got a twelve-year-old to put the bits back together.
Yup, I'd read an opinion piece about it that the soundtrack that we got in the trailers was all David Ayer's and those bits are stilled scored by music of that nature. All the re-edits are scored by the more recent music.

I'm inclined to agree with you. There's potential for an incredible "director's cut" but we'll never get to see it until an enterprising fan gets ahold of the "deleted scenes" and puts them back into the film.
Cliffjumper
Posts: 32206
Joined: Wed Jan 31, 2001 5:00 am

Post by Cliffjumper »

Red Dave Prime wrote:Seriously, I know I've discussed this with CJ in the Tf Movie threads but is there an actual reason why Hollywood blockbusters are all super long? Its a complaint I've heard about a lot from pretty much everyone, even when the overall film is very good. Is there some extra money they can charge for if the film is 2 hours over 90 minutes?
I think it's just too many hands TBH as it seems to be mainly big summer stuff that's affected. Everything has to have comedy support characters, there's always an eye on spin-offs, romantic subplots etc. Plus I think a lot of the studios seem to think that if a film's expensive it must be long. It's mad because the longer they are the fewer showings you can fit in - maybe the rise of chain multiplexes with longer hours makes this less of a problem?

I can watch a 3,4 hour film if it's got 3,4 hours of plot no problem. But all of the TF films could have lost a subplot and actually improved.
User avatar
tfforlife12
Posts: 47
Joined: Fri Aug 19, 2016 11:33 am
Location: buffalo,ny

Post by tfforlife12 »

THE MOVIE WAS TERRIBLE!
User avatar
StoneCold Skywarp
Posts: 6300
Joined: Sat Sep 16, 2000 4:00 am
Custom Title: Best Served Chilled
Location: UK

Post by StoneCold Skywarp »

tfforlife12 wrote:THE MOVIE WAS TERRIBLE!
Insightful
:poke: :smack: :nonono:
User avatar
tfforlife12
Posts: 47
Joined: Fri Aug 19, 2016 11:33 am
Location: buffalo,ny

Post by tfforlife12 »

:rant::rant::rant::rant::rant::rant::rant::rant::rant::rant::rant::rant::rant::rant::rant::rant::rant::rant::rant::rant::rant:
SOME LIKE POKEMON! SOME LIKE STAR WARS! BUT I LIKE TRANSFORMERSSSSSSSSS!!!!!!!!
Post Reply