Dumb movie, great casting, bad editing, yeah, yeah, whatever. I enjoyed it far more than I was expecting to, but seriously, how do you keep getting this so wrong, DC? What a mess.
The movie is *called* Suicide Squad, the main plot is about a coverup, the main cast is designed to be populated with unsympathetic, expendable bad guys— why is there not a higher body count? Seriously, whatever name recognition characters like Killer Croc may bring you, using more obscure characters who you were actually willing to kill off would have been worth way more. We already know you're not going to seriously kill off Deadshot, Harley, or the Joker. Killer Croc and Captain Boomerang are borderline, but even they never actually seem to even be in any real danger onscreen. The soldiers die, but they're more or less just an extension of Flag, so I don't count them (in the movie it felt like they were his superpower, like a mundane version of Multiple Man).
Throw in some D-listers who we believe can actually die. Disgraced heroes, joke characters, utterly irredeemable trash we won't miss. Kill off Rick Flag so that saving Enchantress actually feels like it cost something, or kill her off so that the Squad is all he has left, *something*. If you're already playing Deadshot, Rick Flag and June Moone, El Diablo (who ended up being surprisingly interesting— kinda loved that reveal) and even Harley Quinn as sympathetic, there isn't room for Katana and Killer Croc to also be kind of-sort of tragic, too. People need to die for Captain Boomerang's survival to feel like a surprise (he also needed some of those asshole moments that were cut for his comeuppance to feel satisfying); the stakes needed to be higher for us to really root for Deadshot other than his being Will Smith with a kid.
So yeah. What a mess. A fun mess, but... Yeah.
I would like to see the original cut of all that exposition at the beginning, though. I feel like some of those scenes were almost salvageable.
edited 11th Aug '16 10:34:25 AM by Unsung
I dont know, im part I liked not much people die, otherwise it will feel like a typical horror film where people die left and right to feel shocking.
on the other hand I ask myself if that was Warner handling one of the critic of Bv S that chararter where unlikable
"My Name is Bolt, Bolt Crank and I dont care if you believe or not"You know that I am usually not a big fan of characters dying, because I feel that it is just a cheap shock effect which only deprives us of the opportunity to experience more stories with the characters in question. But Moon, she totally should have died. That one felt like a giant cop-out.
edited 11th Aug '16 1:43:18 PM by Swanpride
I'm not a fan of cheap deaths, whether for shock value or to provide a source of easy drama or a simple motivation to keep a character hating the villain, but the idea that characters can and will die is the entire point of Suicide Squad. How they die and how that affects the survivors *is* how we get to know these characters.
I think of it less like a horror movie and more like a war movie. If everyone lives and we get an artificial happy ending, then that's kind of a cheap cop-out as well.
Watched the movie earlier today. I definitely enjoyed it, but I do agree that the editing was pretty horrible. I think the most jarring for me was the random flashback scene when Katana appeared.
Will Smith's Deashot was great and I really thought he did good in the role. He was definitely my favorite character throughout.
El Diablo and Katana definitely needed more screentime. I especially wanted more of El Diablo's character arc, as I felt he didn't appear enough throughout the movie, when he otherwise has a great character arc that'd benefit from being more spaced out.
edited 11th Aug '16 2:32:17 PM by StormKnight
My main objection (aside from editing and use of music) is the whole structure of the movie. It spends roughly 40 minutes with nothing but information vomit. I am sure that this might be more enjoyable for actual comic book fans because they finally see their beloved characters on screen and are immediately able to connect the dots to some sort of comic book history, but for an "outsider" with a passing knowledge on comic books, it was more or less like someone just throws a big chunk of information at you and expects you to care about those characters from this point onward. So while you are still busy sorting out everything which you were just told in your head, and it seems like the movie is about to start (I actually quite like the scene when they all open their boxes and suit up), they suddenly bring in another character with a quick explanation. And then another character. And I just wanted to throw up my hands a scream "Are you done yet?" So nearly half of the movie is dedicated to character introduction, backstory explaining and general exposition. It follows a confusing second act during which I try to figure out what the point of all this is which somehow leads into an equally confusing third act in which everyone is suddenly best friends and ready to risk everything for the sake of the world for...reasons.
The inclusion of the Joker was completely forced and unnecessary. His scenes only served to hurt the already poor pacing of the film and the escape scene was completely pointless.
IMO, the film would've been a lot better if, instead of a distraction from the plot, that Joker was the main villain instead of that dumbass Enchantress.
I kind of had the impression that the origins were meant to be trickle-fed to us over the course of the movie, like if Lost was a movie. Like how El Diablo gets to tell his story at the bar at the end of the second act, and how we've got Waller explaining things at dinner, and Deadshot and Harley get all the early focus even while they keep getting *more* flashbacks all through the movie, and Captain Boomerang, Slipknot, and Katana just sort of show up.
I have to feel like if a competent editor were to handle this, you could string all this out and have it feel pretty good. Still not positive you could make it make sense, but then we haven't seen what was left on the cutting room floor.
I didn't really have expectations for her the way I did for Apocalypse, but the part about building a Big Dumb Machine out of trash and neutering the world's armies is definitely similar. I feel like she and her scenes were more visually interesting in a way that Apocalypse *should* have been.
edited 11th Aug '16 3:03:29 PM by Unsung
I thought Katana's introduction, as fatiguing as introductions might have been at that point, was one of the funniest. I just loved the matter of fact way that Flag said "This is Katana. She kills people with a sword that takes the souls of its victims." and nobody questions it at all. Harley's obligatory "funny interjection" killed the more subtle humor of the scene though. I think that's one of the film's greater flaws, Harley's comic relief being the main comic relief when there should be multiple styles of humor weaved throughout not just "I'm wacky" for every joke ever. More Boomerang would've helped.
But still, I do like the string of these long-winded introductions followed by one that probably needs the most information getting almost none. Just a simple "she has a soul-stealing sword" is all we get and that's just hilarious to me.
"A king has no friends. Only subjects and enemies."One thing for sure, I don't want to see another blue beam shot up into the sky anytime soon. I can only think of one movie where this actually worked for a climax.
See Kantana was what angers me the most, because her story sounds awesome. I want to see a whole movie about this. Not two throwaway lines. Plus, you don't actually need her for the story. Like, at all. You could have cut down half of the Squad and it would have made no difference. Other than having more time to actually focus on the story and the other characters.
edited 11th Aug '16 3:08:04 PM by Swanpride
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I was less weirded out by Katana's introduction and more the weird flashback of what she was doing which meant she was late. I really felt that should have been earlier in the movie, like somebody making a comment about and waiting for her to show up, and then showing the flashback. Because the actual flashback seemed to come out of nowhere to me and was weirdly edited in.
I mean Apocalypse and Enchantress are both ancient beings who possess other people's bodies, worshiped as gods and betrayed by their followers, they awake in modern times angry at the world for worshiping machines instead of the "gods" and sake to destroy the world.
That was seriously crossing my mind when I was watching her take to her brother.
I think for the sequel the team should go up against Deathstroke. Have it where their mission is to protect or escort somebody because they got a tip that Deathstroke's been hired to kill them, a senator or something or just Waller again. But rather than fight mooks, it's just the entire team versus Deathstroke, just really play him up as a dangerous Implacable Man, but still a decidedly human and more Badass Normal opponent than Enchantress. And maybe Deadshot has some assassin rivalry with him to boot. And then The Reveal is that Joker or Lex or somebody is the Bigger Bad that hired Deathstroke to begin with, and usurps the third act.
And add new members Bronze Tiger, Poison Ivy, and Captain Cold. And then kill Flag, Cold, and maybe Croc or somebody. And Bronze Tiger takes over as the Token Good Teammate.
"A king has no friends. Only subjects and enemies."Ok they can't kill Captain Cold, he's a main Flash villain, same with Croc. While not as high-tier, he's still a well-known Bats villain.
I think for a sequel they shouldn't try to make it big, keep it small. That's what the Squad are about, special black ops missions that save their nation not the world. I think that's they went with Enchantress' doomsday plot. To make the mission feel big cause they didn't think simple low-scale black ops jobs would make for a fun movie where stuff's gotta matter.
"I am Alpharius. This is a lie."That's why I think Deathstroke's a better antagonist who's still dangerous but a lot more grounded than a proper metahuman threat on a scale as big as Enchantress. He's still a threat, but a threat that runs his own black ops, small-scale missions, being a more covert assassin/terrorist and a good one-man foil for an entire team of other villains. I just like the idea of seven or so people struggling for an entire movie to put a stop to one guy.
And I'd just say kill Captain Cold because I find him to be a redundant villain with the likes of Mr. Freeze and others out there and I doubt he'd ever be a choice for the Big Bad of a Flash movie. And I think he makes for a good Butt-Monkey. But instead of him maybe Killer Frost. Keep her around long enough to do some cool ice stuff and be a bitch and then kill her. I'm less inclined to kill Croc as well, just because he was one of my favorite parts of the movie. There really isn't anyone on the Squad I didn't like, just people I wanted to see more of, like Katana.
"A king has no friends. Only subjects and enemies."

So the "doctor" finds an ancient doll in an ancient tomb and decides to just twist and fidget with the head until it snaps off?! What a shit archaeologist! She deserved possession.