I saw Suicide Squad last night in the local IMAX, and I'm here to tell you that it isn't really deserving of all its bad reviews. Rotten Tomatoes (an aggregate site that gathers data from tons of reviewers) has it pegged at below 30%. But if I were to rate it, I'd probably give it 60% (meaning it'd be "fresh" instead of rotten). To clarify, I didn't think it was spectacular but neither was it a complete trainwreck. Those people that insist that it is are probably just people that hate comic book movies and love to tear things down when they disappoint. Either that, or they love Marvel and think that DC should just stop making movies altogether.
The first thing I loved about the movie was that it's gorgeous. That has to count for something right? Every scene is loaded with color and detail that make it seem like an alternate version of reality. It's hard to describe, but I think the director really pulled the use of color and "gritty" off. The characters were also pretty representative of their comic book selves, and that kind of thing always makes me happy.
Second, it subtly built itself upon Batman versus Superman thereby adding to the universe. There were appearances by "The Flash" and by "the Batman" who were both responsible for putting certain villains behind bars. I like the sense of having that bigger universe skirting around the edges of all the events that you see unfold on the screen.
Third, it had a riveting soundtrack.
So if I had a criticism it would be this: Suicide Squad should have boldly embraced an "R" rating. I think that DC (if anything) missed an opportunity here to go incredibly dark and beat Marvel at its own game (with Deadpool). And it also needed a better villain. The one they chose was interesting, because I've always liked Enchantress. However, I don't think they pulled Enchantress off very well. I've always thought of Enchantress as more of a Green Lantern villain, but seeing as DC screwed up Green Lantern, seeing her here at least gave her a shot at doing some cool stuff. But I feel her magic was wasted just having her stay in one spot for the majority of the film.
Anyway, that's my review of Suicide Squad. I felt compelled to write something because every other review out there is saying its terrible, and I just felt that there was something more to it that people were missing.
I read up to the riveting soundtrack part to avoid spoilers. Actually a lot of people who have negatively reviewed the film have stated issues like a flimsy plot and bad editing that just chopped up the story into many messy pieces. While I still plan to see the film DC with it's 2016 movies especially seem to have an issue going a bit crazy in the editing bay. I love Batman and comic book movies but saly B v S disappointed me in theaters. From what I've heard the extended cut was way better with a lot of scenes properly explained and expanded. If they did this again with Suicide Squad like some critics have stated, then it's getting some of that criticism for good reason. Doing the same messy thing twice is not going to get you a pat on the back from critics. They're going to slap you with Harley's mallet. Of course I have not seen it as yet and really hope DC knocks this one out of the park. Their collection has some of my favorite characters ever invented and I don't want to end up only seeing Marvel superhero movies in theaters no matter how spectacular I find them. Competition is good and I really hope we'll soon start getting quality hero comic movies from other studios again like we did with the HellBoy movies. Just make good movies with sensible budgets and take a chance people. Fox wasn't confident about Deadpool but look how that turned out? Best of luck to Suicide Squad and glad you enjoyed seeing it Mike.
ReplyDeleteThere is a rumor that Disney is paying reviewers to trash any non-Marvel/Disney film and I'm starting to believe it. The guy at JoBlo's site said the same thing. He enjoyed it despite it's flaws and has no idea what film everyone else saw.
ReplyDeleteI'm still seeing it this afternoon!
It sounds like the type of movie that will become a cult classic.
ReplyDeleteIt's not terrible...they should use that on the ads. It feels like a gyp that they show the Joker so prominently and he's not even the main villain.
ReplyDeleteThese days it seems like everyone sees more movies than I do. The only movie I've seen over the past month was the new Star Trek movie, which was just okay.
ReplyDeleteDC is killing this franchise by trying to show spectacle at the expense of a tight story. Origin stories are the easiest thing to make successful these days. Trying to make a coherent story while introducing 6 new people to non-comic readers is really hard. It still amazes me that James Gunn was able to pull it off with Guardians of the Galaxy. Add DC's propensity for darker stories and you have a disaster.
ReplyDeleteGo slow. Make Aquaman. Make Wonder Woman. People will want to see those as long as you tell a well thought out story. Instead I read DC/Warner needs $800 million gross to recoup their investment on this show. They are doing it wrong and that is what frustrates me above anything else.
Oh, so that's what they were talking about! Kiddos in second period today were discussing Flash and Batman and comparing and things, and now that I read this, I know they had seen this movie. Now the conversation makes sense!
ReplyDeleteI saw this on Friday, and my review just went up not too long ago. Much like BvS, the movie started off well, and had the potential to be very good, if not outright great.
ReplyDeleteThe main problem for me was the actual villain and the threat they posed. They should have just stuck with Batman and the Joker as the main threat, like they'd led us to believe in all the trailers. Instead, we get a generic baddie seeking to wipe out humanity like every other generic bad guy out there.
Overall, I'd give the movie a 6/10. Watchable, but just barely so.