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I’m going to start with a short preface: Suicide Squad wasn’t terrible. The film follows a team of supervillains forced together by ARGUS agent Amanda Waller (Viola Davis), under the vigilant supervision of Rick Flag (Joel Kinnaman). The team includes Deadshot (Will Smith), Harley Quinn (Margot Robbie), Killer Croc (Adewale Akinnuoye-Agbaje), Diablo (Jay Hernandez), Enchantress (Cara Delevingne), Boomerang (Jai Courtney), Katana (Karen Fukuhama), and Slipknot (Adam Beach). When Waller loses control of Enchantress, Flag and his team are sent to neutralize her. With several interventions from the Joker (Jared Leto) (and other obstacles), the team is eventually successful in stopping Enchantress from destroying the world. After months of buildup and hype (and quite a few bad reviews from movie critics prior to its August 5th release date), I was a little hesitant to see Suicide Squad. I read that while fans of the franchise and DC Universe loved it, cinematically the movie was a nightmare (with only a 26% on Rotten Tomatoes among critics). Before talking about everything I didn’t like, one aspect I really liked about Suicide Squad was the casting. While all characters were cast pretty well, I especially loved Viola Davis as Amanda Waller, Will Smith as Deadshot, and Margot Robbie as Harley Quinn. I would also like to highlight Delevingne’s performance as Dr. June Moone/Enchantress, Leto as the deranged Joker, and (again) mention Smith’s success as the comedic hitman Deadshot. The final cut of the film was just shy of two hours, and after seeing the movie, I can vouch that it was not long enough. I heard some complaints that the final cut removed some important scenes that helped transition the plot. While I could follow the majority of the movie, some parts left me confused, wondering if I had missed some important detail. I think the longer edition of the movie (available with DVD purchase) will better address this problem. I also think it will help lessen the choppiness between scenes. I also found the relationship between the characters somewhat forced. At the end, Diablo called the squad his family, and Harley referred to them as her friends. The movie could have spent more time developing these relationships, as most characters acted very hostile toward one another for the first 90 minutes of the film. The dynamic between Harley and the Joker is worth a mention, as it wasn’t what I thought it would be. The villainous duo were portrayed as more of a mutually-affectionate couple than the abusive and manipulative relationship they have historically shared. While in one scene, the Joker tortures Harley (as Dr. Harleen Quinzel, before she is known as Harley Quinn), there is little else suggesting emotional/physical abuse. An image released by Rolling Stone Brazil suggests some abusive scenes may have been cut from the final release.   As mentioned before, Suicide Squad wasn’t a terrible movie. I didn’t enjoy it as much as I thought I would, but perhaps the extended edition (featuring more Joker and transitional scenes) will change my mind. Overall, I rate the movie 2.5/5 stars. I’m not sure I would watch it again, but I did thoroughly enjoy the characters.
NOTE: All images were taken from here and here.
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I just found out about Donald Glover's new show on fx, out 9/6, and holy hell am I excited. Not only do I adore Donald Glover, both musically and in film, but the promos look killer. They're shot elegantly, with minimal sound, sometimes backwards, and look reminiscent of Wes Anderson. Watch the whole slew of trailers below via Youtube. Also, Shadow and Act says: FX will premiere Donald Glover’s much-anticipated “Atlanta” on Tuesday, September 6 at 10pm, unfolding over a 10-episode first season, each a half-hour long, revolving around two cousins on their way up through the Atlanta rap scene whose opposing views on art versus commerce, success and race, will make their quest anything but easy.  |
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