Recap / The Nostalgia Critic S 10 E 10

Release: May 16, 2017

Film: Suicide Squad (2016)

Tagline: People love it or hate it. Is it worth all the fuss?

This review contains examples of:

• Aborted Arc: The Critic notes a loose end involving Griggs, a police officer Joker used as his contact to Harley, with the latter warning him that he could be in big trouble, which never happens (at least onscreen).
• Acting for Two:
  • One scene has Malcolm play both Deadshot and his daughter Zoe.
  • Malcolm also plays Analyst Two aka Black Chart Guy, and in one scene Deadshot responds to a statement made by him.
• Actor Allusion: One scenario the Critic imagines for what could happen to Griggs for helping Harley has him receive mail stating that he will be in two more seasons of The Mindy Project, where his actor Ike Barinholtz also plays Morgan Tooker.
• Attention Whore: The Critic's opinion on Jared Leto playing as the Joker even outside shooting. He lampoons it with one of Jim Joker's tattoos reading "Give Oscar!", and later admitting as such in a celebrity news clip.
• Bad People Abuse Animals: While every member of the Suicide Squad, strictly speaking, is evil/bad, the Joker's more evil than any of them, not to mention even more mentally deranged—and in one of his first scenes, he kills Critic's pet mouse and mails it to him, just to show how evil he is.
• Berserk Button: The Critic has little patience for the portal-in-the-sky cliché, so when that does play up, he angrily asks who put that scene in, and correctly judges Rob Analyst as the culprit.
• Big "NO!": Walter Griggs' reaction to the Actor Allusion above.
• …But He Sounds Handsome: Jim Joker's first appearance has Rob Analyst call him by his real name but Jim plays dumb and compliments himself.
  Rob Analyst: Listen Jim-
  Jim Joker: Jim? Who's Jim? Sounds like a handsome guy.
• Call-Back: Rob Analyst claps to darken the room throughout the Suicide Squad's battle with Heather Enchantress's minions, itself a Running Gag from the Fantastic Four (2015) review.
• Clip Show: Inverted. The review stars Doug as Rick Flag (in his Nostalgia Critic guise), Malcolm as Deadshot, Tamara as Katana, Rob as Killer Croc, Jim as the Joker, Walter Banasiak as El Diablo, Bryan Porter as Captain Boomerang, Aiyanna Wade as Harley Quinn, Heather Reusz as the Enchantress, Adonis "KJ" Wright as Amanda Waller, and Orlando Belisle, Jr. as Slipknot. In addition, Doug and Tamara respectively play Dexter Tolliver and Admiral Olsen, a pair of government agents consulted by KJ Waller regarding her plan to gather a team of supervillains, Malcolm, Walter and Heather as Zoe, Griggs and June Moon (the Enchantress's host), Orlando and Aiyanna as a pair of cops after Rob Croc, and Doug, Tamara and Walter as the cameos of Batman, Wonder Woman and the Flash, respectively.
• Did You Just Flip Off Cthulhu?: The scene described in the Narm entry below features the Suicide Squad mocking Heather Enchantress.
• Even Evil Has Standards:
  • The Analysts find Jim Joker so creepy they agree with the Critic to write him out of the script for their review.
  • Even Malcolm Analyst is Squicked out by Rob Analyst getting off on the portal-in-the-sky cliché.
• Evil Is Hammy: Heather Enchantress is this from not only shouting every line, but also the constant dancing.
• Fantastic Arousal: Rob Analyst has a bizarre boner for the portal-in-the-sky cliché, much to the Critic and the rest of the Squad's, and even Malcolm Analyst's disgust.
• False Reassurance: Orlando Slipknot takes him being introduced without much fanfare as a sign that he will be killed very soon. The rest of the Squad try to dissuade his fears, but fail to remember his name as assurance. Sure enough, he dies immediately afterwards.
• Fanservice: Discussed, when it's remarked a few times that Harley Quinn's sole purpose in the movie is fanservice (looking and acting sexy to please the viewer).

• Flipping the Bird: Doug Dexter double-flips KJ Waller off after the latter seizes the Idiot Ball.

• Follow the Leader: Invoked—between the Analysts' Suspiciously Specific Denials and Blatant Lies, their language strongly implies that Suicide Squad was made so DC Comics can play catch-up with Marvel following the success of Guardians of the Galaxy (2014).
• For the Evulz: To gather attention, Jim Joker does a lot of nasty things for kicks, such as torturing Walter Griggs, killing the Critic's pet mouse Mrs. Brisby, killing Orlando Slipknot, and mailing the Critic anal beads.
• Hilarious in Hindsight: When the Critic/Rick has a breakdown over the quality of the movie, Amanda Waller comforts him by telling him to hope Wonder Woman will be better. To say they didn't hope in vain would be an understatement.

• Idiot Ball: KJ Waller learns that Heather Enchantress broke free (largely due to the incredibly lax security detail she sent, only consisting of Doug Rick)

• I'll Be in My Bunk: Rob Analyst claims he has paperwork to do before going to a private room to masturbate to the portal-in-the-sky cliché.
• I'll Kill You!: What the Critic screams at Jim Joker for killing his pet mouse Mrs. Brisby and then sending it to him as a present.

• I Need a Freaking Drink: After learning Heather Enchantress got out, Tamara Olsen drinks off her misery with red wine.

• I Resemble That Remark!: Before the above I'll Be in My Bunk moment the Critic had already accused Rob Analyst of having a specific fetish for the portal-in-the-sky cliché.
  • In the Narm moment described below the Squad mocks Heather Enchantress with Walter Diablo mockingly asking if Heather Enchantress was going to do the macarena. The final dance move done by Heather Enchantress is the macarena.
• Joker Immunity: Absolutely no one on the Squad except Aiyanna Harley buys it that Jim Joker seems to have died.
• Let Me Get This Straight...: Doug Advisor asks this after hearing about Captain Boomerang.
  You're going to take down the next Superman with a boomerang?
• Method Acting: The Critic notes how Jared Leto acts as the Joker even outside shootings.
• Mood Dissonance: The Critic finds the bright neon colors of the film extremely contrasting with its dark, gritty nature.
• Ms. Fanservice: KJ Waller outright describes Aiyanna Harley's superpowers as simply "fanservice".
• Narm: In-Universe, Heather Enchantress dancing while trying to be threatening has the Squad trying (and failing) to not crack up at her.
• Nerves of Steel: KJ Waller keeps her cool even as she was getting grilled for her poor decision-making.
• New Powers as the Plot Demands: The Critic gets quite upset at Walter Diablo's One-Winged Angel form and how nobody knew he could do that. Then he remembers the Analysts' motto: "for the fans".
• No Fourth Wall: The Analysts and the characters in the film itself often interact with each other.
• No Sense of Personal Space: Jim Joker is incredibly touchy-feely around Malcolm Analyst and Walter Griggs.
• Noodle Implements: For no other reason than For the Evulz, Jim Joker mails the Critic anal beads.
• Not Me This Time: Unlike in the film, where Rick detonates Slipknot's Explosive Leash as punishment for insubordination, in this version Jim Joker holds the actual detonation device, while Doug Rick simply holds that for deactivation, simply For the Evulz.
• "The Reason You Suck" Speech: The Critic calls out KJ Waller for her decision to admit Heather Enchantress into the Suicide Squad, allowing her to subsequently break free and plot to destroy the world.
• Reckless Gun Usage: Jim Joker shoots off his gun in his own chopper as celebration for getting back Aiyana Harley, making it crash.
• Remember the New Guy?: At the end of his brief appearance in the film, Jim Joker asks Aiyanna Harley to remember him.
• Running Gag:
  • The Analysts explaining that their drastic changes to the film from the original comic books are "for the fans".
  • Rob Croc saying "I'm a dinosaur."
• Shout-Out:
  • When discussing KJ Waller's plan to recruit incarcerated supervillains to act as heroes in the absence of Superman, Doug Advisor reminds Tamara Advisor of a time when Superman saved Metropolis from Zod, before realizing the damage Superman did.
  • Orlando Slipknot calls Bryan Boomerang "Discount Sokka".
  • When Malcolm Deadshot simply shoots down one of Heather Enchantress's putty-like minions, Aiyanna Harley thinks Mighty Morphin' Power Rangers would've been shorter had they simply done that.
  • When the Critic reintroduces the Suicide Squad during their battle in the dark against Heather Enchantress's minions, with their captions providing lighting, he reintroduces Malcolm Deadshot and Rob Croc as "the Professor and Mary Ann".
  • When the Critic does his "Reason You Suck" Speech towards KJ Waller, it parodys the infamous rant from There Will Be Blood, up to directly saying Daniel's iconic line of "I. Drink. Your. Milkshake!"
  • Rob Analyst and Malcolm Analyst sing "What Can I Say Except You're Welcome" at the end, referencing Moana and The Rock.
• So Okay, It's Average: The Critic's verdict on the film.
• Story-Breaker Power: The critic points out that Enchantress is the only member that really matters, and that they can perfectly dismiss the rest of the group who don't even have real powers.
• Spared by the Adaptation: Unlike the actual film, Walter Diablo survives the review's version.
• Squick: Everyone's reaction to Rob Analyst getting off on portals-in-the-sky cliché appearing in movies.
• Stealth Hi/Bye: Walter Flash casually walks past Bryan Boomerang's introductory scene and says "Hello" to the audience before knocking the latter out.
• Subverted Catchphrase: The Critic's introductory greeting is interrupted by the Analysts, who claim they have to redo the whole review.
• Take That!:
  • One of the Critic's scenarios for Griggs' punishment for working as a contact between the Joker and Harley has his actor Ike Barinholtz seeing his tenure in The Mindy Project extended.
  • Rick Flag is deemed so forgettable the Critic compares him to Lt. Ford Brody from Godzilla (2014).
  • While getting aroused to the portal-in-the-sky cliché, Rob Analyst name-calls examples from The Avengers (2012), Fantastic Four (2015) and Ghostbusters (2016).
• Translation: "Yes": Rob Croc saying "I'm a dinosaur" is treated like he said something smart or poignant to the rest of the Squad.
• Unholy Matrimony: Of all the subplots in the film, the Critic actually likes the romantic chemistry between the Joker and Harley, given that the latter is a relatively recent addition to the Batman mythos, which allows flexibility for said relationship.
• Viewers Are Geniuses: The Analysts' excuse for cutting out several expository elements for several characters.
• Visual Pun: Doug (as the Critic) plays the part of Rick Flag, with his only identification being a name-tag which reads "Rick", with a picture of the American flag below.
• You Keep Using That Word: The Critic is irked at the Analysts excusing their cuts as being "for the fans".
• Your Head Asplode: How Orlando Slipknot dies.

"Mmm-hmm."