Might as well post my collected rant from a few days ago on this here as well. Let me just say it wasn't helped by watching the masterpiece of editing and unstated universe building that is Mad Max: Fury Road just the weekend before. I really unleashed both barrels here. Suicide squad I used my last free movie ticket on this. It was wasted. People say that behind the studio interference and the machete job they did re-editing there's probably a good film but I just can't see it. From the footage they showed they had a bunch of 2 minute origin vignettes, some prison stuff, a cutscene in a bar and three levels of a bad video game with faceless impersonal foes. That's this whole movie. If I had to find one word to describe suicide squad it's unearned. It's unearned within the wider DC movie universe. It's unearned when they bring in characters in two minute flashbacks and expect you to care. It's unearned when 20 minutes into their first mission when they've just met each other they're acting like they're family with some lifetime bond of loyalty. Now I'm willing to believe theres a mediocre one hour tv episode in there. Plot wise there's enough to fill a 22 minute animated episode. But it's undeniable that whatever this was originally was mercilessly butchered one the alter of populism. The stitched together corpse has had random hot 100 tracks of the last 40 years slathered over the cracks to hide what's been done but like any extreme plastic surgery the effect is unconvincing and offputting. Think someones attention miht be wavering? Throw Eminem on top with a track that in no way relates to the scene. Basic information from moment to moment is missing, either because it was lost on the floor of the editing room or it was never filmed. This is a bastard monster born of hacks that misunderstood the art of choosing the right music or inferring the right character back story brings to a film like this. It's like a fan edit of three different films spliced together by a teenager in his basement. I care more about Rocket Raccoon seeing the scars on his back than I do about any of these people in 30 minutes of devoted setup. I know less than that even about Groot, but his death was the heart of the GotG film. Every effort here rings false. I don't enjoy the company of any of these people. Even Margot Robbie the unquestioned highlight is butchered by sudden unexplained soul searching and out of nowhere strange reactions to other team members revelations. I blame the script and editing far more than her. Performance wise otherwise its utterly unremarkable. Will Smith is just 2016 Will Smith, a one time movie superstar whose charm was long since worn away under the strain of a string of box office failure. The rest I could barely tell you about, they're undercooked minor characters in every sense. Honestly I expected a below average film with some occasional highlight performances and moments. I expected something like Prometheus, a collection of talented people in a disjointed effort that at least had interesting ideas. There's nothing interesting here. There's nothing of value here. It's fantastic four with pretentions of pop culture relevency. It's the dollar store unlicenced Guardians ripoff. It's abysmal. And everything about it implies shortcuts and half measures designed to get one dollar now over a thousand down the line. Go watch JLU episode Task Force X. Go watch Guardians of the Galaxy. Go read any of the excellent runs of the Suicide Squad comics! Just don't waste your money here, they haven't earned it. Oh yeah Jared Leto is the least remarkable screen Joker of all. Not scary, not funny, not anything. I'm gonna go home and watch Heath Ledger. Part 2 Fuck it I've got more. There's zero team dynamic! You know how Tony and Cap banter back and forth? You know how Star Lord stitches together that bonding with humour and honesty and charm? It's completely absent. There's no chemistry! Guys occasionally smiling at Harker Quinn is not chemistry! It's a complete void which is why its such a mystery that they decide to band together at the end when they dont need to! And don't get me started on the fights. Go watch power rangers. Go on now go watch any random episode. You've just enjoyed better stunts, fight choreography and villains with more personality. Not even kidding, if you saw one episode with Rita and some putties you saw more personality. You want a superhero fight go see Cap 3. You want a 'superhero' fight where the only powers are that baseball bats somehow are more effective than bullets then you might get something out of this. I'm done. I'm probably not done. Gimme some time I'll think of something else. Part 3 I'm willing to bet others find more to like than me, but I can't recall being so bored by a film in so long, especially one that was trying so hard to get my attention with supposed action, music and gratuitous Margot Robbie. I used one life or death gun battle as a piss break. Oh, and most of the back half of the movie looks like they were trying for a abandoned city Cloverfield look and wound up with something akin to Resident Evil: Apocalypse. Also, Amanda Waller has the least efficient management style since General Katana in Highlander II. She has folder filled with profiles of the future Justice League and she picked the fucking psycho dregs deliberately?! Her character comes across as a complete moron not least because the villain of the whole thing was her own fault!
