THE SUICIDE SQUAD directed by James Gunn (2021) 3 3

[Bosco685]

For an R-Rated movie this is right where they wanted to be

[Zonker]

Having seen it on HBO Max, I'm with most of you:

- Better than I feared based on some of the goofy trailers.  Not all the jokes land, but enough of them do. 
- But not as good as I hoped based on the early screening reviews.

It felt to me like Gunn's attempt to make a Quentin Tarantino comic book movie.  Anyone who's been hungry for that should be thrilled with this one.  

I actually enjoyed Robbie's Harley Quinn portrayal.  The way I see it, once you have a movie featuring King Shark, the Weasel, Polka Dot Man, and TDK, it is kind of hard to find a "top" to go over! 

Finally, the movie's point of view is quite cynical, with at most 2 or 3 sympathetic characters.  I guess that's appropriate for a film with super-villains as protagonists.  But not really my cup of tea.

Edited August 7, 2021 by Zonker

[Bosco685]

[▫️]

On 8/7/2021 at 9:10 AM, Bosco685 said:

I’ll give it to Marvel the day they make a movie with some guy getting killed while hanging hog.

[Gatsby77]

I really liked it.

And it starts with a very simple reason - it's a legitimate Suicide Squad movie, obviously made by folks who read - and understood - the Ostrander run in the '80s.

David Ayer has a lifetime pass from me for writing Training Day, but my god was his Suicide Squad film absolute garbage. It had exactly four good scenes that collectively accounted for less than 20 minutes of screen time, and the rest of it was offensively bad, an affront both to cinema and to the comics themselves.

This one, however, got it.

I don't even mind if it doesn't have broad appeal because, let's face it, neither does the comics title itself.

But here you got a true feel for many of the characters - beyond just Harley and Deadshot. And while Bloodsport's role could have been filled by Will Smith reprising his Deadshot one, I actually think Idris Elba's acting and character fit better here.

Specific highlights?

• The opening sequence, esp. Pete Davidson's Blackguard
• King Shark - my expectations were low here, but the film made him one of my favorites
• Polka Dot Man
• Waller's team - both an homage to the "CIA support staff" scenes we've seen ad nauseum in the Bourne Identity films and a send-up/satire of them.

While John Cena's Peacemaker wasn't my favorite (due to the character himself), I thought his acting was surprisingly good. He can act (and has comedic chops - he was one of the best parts about Amy Schumer's Trainwreck) but this was the best I've seen him do yet. I'm looking forward to The Peacemaker show.

Maybe it went off the rails in the third act because of how ridiculous Starro was, but as @Zonkernotes, " once you have a movie featuring King Shark, the Weasel, Polka Dot Man, and TDK, it is kind of hard to find a "top" to go over! "

To me, this was well worth the time - far better than Gunn's Guardians of the Galaxy 2, and as a DCEU film, ranks third (behind only Wonder Woman and Man of Steel).

I'd also rank it among the mid-point of the Marvel films, easily better than the Ant-Man films, Thor 2, Incredible Hulk, Iron Man 2, Guardians 2 - even Doctor Strange.

Finally, it was so much better than Harley Quinn/Birds of Prey that it felt like it was from a different universe. And a large reason was the decreased focus on Harley Quinn vs. other members of the team - this film was far better for that.

Edited August 7, 2021 by Gatsby77

[1Cool]

Saw it last night and I really liked it.  It was a bit long but I stayed up until 11:30PM so it had me entertained.  I’d give it a solid B

[Bird]

It was too long, we didn't really need the first team at all but I guess Gunn felt it was fun to kill them off (but that seemed derivative of Deadpool 2/X-Force). Without some of the Red Shirts maybe the core team would have shined a bit more...Ratcatcher 2 was the soul of the team. But these are small criticisms, it was fun if overly long. Wifey was put off a bit by Starro's coloring but I like it when unreal things look unreal.

[Iconic1s]

On 8/7/2021 at 8:28 AM, Gatsby77 said:

I really liked it.

And it starts with a very simple reason - it's a legitimate Suicide Squad movie, obviously made by folks who read - and understood - the Ostrander run in the '80s.

David Ayer has a lifetime pass from me for writing Training Day, but my god was his Suicide Squad film absolute garbage. It had exactly four good scenes that collectively accounted for less than 20 minutes of screen time, and the rest of it was offensively bad, an affront both to cinema and to the comics themselves.

This one, however, got it.

I don't even mind if it doesn't have broad appeal because, let's face it, neither does the comics title itself.

But here you got a true feel for many of the characters - beyond just Harley and Deadshot. And while Bloodsport's role could have been filled by Will Smith reprising his Deadshot one, I actually think Idris Elba's acting and character fit better here.

Specific highlights?

• The opening sequence, esp. Pete Davidson's Blackguard
• King Shark - my expectations were low here, but the film made him one of my favorites
• Polka Dot Man
• Waller's team - both an homage to the "CIA support staff" scenes we've seen ad nauseum in the Bourne Identity films and a send-up/satire of them.

While John Cena's Peacemaker wasn't my favorite (due to the character himself), I thought his acting was surprisingly good. He can act (and has comedic chops - he was one of the best parts about Amy Schumer's Trainwreck) but this was the best I've seen him do yet. I'm looking forward to The Peacemaker show.

Maybe it went off the rails in the third act because of how ridiculous Starro was, but as @Zonkernotes, " once you have a movie featuring King Shark, the Weasel, Polka Dot Man, and TDK, it is kind of hard to find a "top" to go over! "

To me, this was well worth the time - far better than Gunn's Guardians of the Galaxy 2, and as a DCEU film, ranks third (behind only Wonder Woman and Man of Steel).

I'd also rank it among the mid-point of the Marvel films, easily better than the Ant-Man films, Thor 2, Incredible Hulk, Iron Man 2, Guardians 2 - even Doctor Strange.

Finally, it was so much better than Harley Quinn/Birds of Prey that it felt like it was from a different universe. And a large reason was the decreased focus on Harley Quinn vs. other members of the team - this film was far better for that.

I agree 100% with your review.  Particularly the Cena part… I can’t stand that guy for some of his off screen behavior but have to admit his acting was good enough to just see the character… which was actually a d-bag also so hey, maybe he was just being himself 

I also finally saw a version of Harley Quinn that was bearable which was really nice!

I really liked Starro, I thought the CGI was pretty cool and by the time he’s walking around you’ve seen enough to believe anything.

Overall, really enjoyable movie… good, but not good enough to worry about having it on blu-ray though. 

 

[Bosco685]

 

[bpc3qh]

I really enjoyed it. It was obviously far superior to the 2016 movie, and worked as its own film too. I'd be happy to see every surviving character in more films.

[paperheart]

Suicide Squad is coming in at a $12.1M opening day at 4,002 theaters, which includes a $4.1M Thursday preview, for what what will be an industry estimated $25.7M 3-day

any way you try to frame this, it's a financial flop

[Zonker]

On 8/7/2021 at 9:28 AM, Gatsby77 said:

 

 

• Waller's team - both an homage to the "CIA support staff" scenes we've seen ad nauseum in the Bourne Identity films and a send-up/satire of them.

 

Brings up a question I had while watching:  are we supposed to know the character who "interrupted" Waller near the end?  

[Iconic1s]

On 8/7/2021 at 10:16 AM, paperheart said:

Suicide Squad is coming in at a $12.1M opening day at 4,002 theaters, which includes a $4.1M Thursday preview, for what what will be an industry estimated $25.7M 3-day

any way you try to frame this, it's a financial flop

I think WB has done such a great job at thumbing their noses at fans that it’s hard for people to want to run to theaters to support anything they do at this point.

I also wonder if there is any real data/analysis on how HBO max (and Disney+ etc) simultaneous streaming release impacts these numbers?  For example, what combination of box office and streaming numbers does it now take to call a movie a ‘financial’ success?

Edited August 7, 2021 by Iconic1s

[Bosco685]

How you compare a PG-13 to an R-Rated film when the latter will have a smaller target audience is beyond me. Other than triggering an illogical debae.

[▫️]

On 8/7/2021 at 11:16 AM, paperheart said:

Suicide Squad is coming in at a $12.1M opening day at 4,002 theaters, which includes a $4.1M Thursday preview, for what what will be an industry estimated $25.7M 3-day

any way you try to frame this, it's a financial flop

R rated flick during COVID with simultaneous release on streaming. Still a critical success that will do well with Blu-ray/iTunes/Amazon purchases once it leaves HBO.

[mysterymachine]

There were a couple scenes that I really liked that I feel James Gunn really pulled off well.

Spoiler

The scene where we see Ratcatcher's background story appear on the window of the train. I thought that was a very creative way to tell her story.

There is also another scene where Harley is killing everyone and as the scene progresses, more and more animated figures begin to surround her, which I think brings viewers who really don't understand her character into her world, if only for a short time.

 

Edited August 7, 2021 by mysterymachine

[Jaydogrules]

On 8/7/2021 at 9:14 AM, Scam Likely said:

R rated flick during COVID with simultaneous release on streaming. Still a critical success that will do well with Blu-ray/iTunes/Amazon purchases once it leaves HBO.

I don't buy the "covid" thing here to explain away a failure of the magnitude.  Streaming isn't a culprit either.  We have too many other comps at this point from various release strategies to not be able to call this what it is- a flop (so far, at least).

-J.

[Iconic1s]

On 8/7/2021 at 12:02 PM, Jaydogrules said:

I don't buy the "covid" thing here to explain away a failure of the magnitude.  Streaming isn't a culprit either.  We have too many other comps at this point from various release strategies to not be able to call this what it is- a flop (so far, at least).

-J.

I imagine that the ‘free’ streaming will eventually come to an end… once we are sufficiently hooked on these simultaneous releases.

I enjoy going to the movies but it’s also hard not to watch a movie at home on the day of release if that option is possible. As cool as the theater is it’s also pretty cool to watch at home and not have your seat kicked, or be annoyed by someone checking their phone.  Can also pause to take a leak and Orville’s popcorn is not nearly as expensive  

All things considered, I’d pay $20.00 to sit at home and watch a movie I have really been looking forward to on day of release.  I hate to see all these theaters go out of business when this happens though!

[Bosco685]

 

[Bosco685]

On 8/7/2021 at 11:16 AM, paperheart said:

Suicide Squad is coming in at a $12.1M opening day at 4,002 theaters, which includes a $4.1M Thursday preview, for what what will be an industry estimated $25.7M 3-day

any way you try to frame this, it's a financial flop

 

On 8/7/2021 at 1:02 PM, Jaydogrules said:

I don't buy the "covid" thing here to explain away a failure of the magnitude.  Streaming isn't a culprit either.  We have too many other comps at this point from various release strategies to not be able to call this what it is- a flop (so far, at least).

-J.

I love when you two make final proclamations in advance of doom. Like you never learned from Joker when you and Gatsby proclaimed it was a failure even before release.