Looking back at my review of "Suicide squad", I see that all the negative criticisms that I had about the original are now positives in the later film with nearly the same name: this time the characters are engaging; this time it doesn't matter if you have no idea who these characters are; this time I laughed more than once. I laughed numerous times; this time the soundtrack wasn't used to substitute for the film's inability to offer up anything engaging or entertaining. The early use of Johnny Cash's song "Folsom Prison blues" was relevant. It reminded me of how dark his lyrics were, when he sang: "I shot a man in Reno just to watch him die". Wow! That surely sets up the characters we are about to see!; lastly, I think that this film actually has some repeat viewing value, given enough time between sittings.
Now, the plot. Does anyone really care about this for Hollywood comic book related multiplex offerings? If you insist, a team of supervillains is assembled in a notorious gaol in order to undertake a black op of a suicidal nature (hence the film's title) which, if successful, would see the surviving supervillains get a discount on their gaol sentence. Of course, the supervillains need an incentive to cooperate with the authorities running the covert US government operations. The black op will be centred in a fictional island off of South America and science fantasy elements will feature.
Idris Elba's supervillain character of "Bloodsport" is engaging, as far as what motivates him to join the suicide squad. There's a great scene where he meets his daughter for the first time in a long time. Margot Robbie's character of "Harley Quinn" is no doubt considered by the studio to be the pivotal figure of this franchise but I must say that I found John Cena's turn as "Peacemaker" much more enjoyable, especially early on, where he contributed more than his fair share to the comedy quotient of this film. Later on, Harley Quinn's narrative arc did become more satisfying but not being a consumer of the comics or cartoons, I can't say that she held a lot of cultural cachet for me (I really have to mention Chloë Grace Moretz' wonderfully brilliant turn as Hit-Girl in the comic book related film "Kick-Ass"). As an Australian, I was surprised to be actually amused by some dialogue from Jai Courtney's "Captain Kangaroo". I can't remember having that thought for the first film. It wasn't exactly champagne comedy from him but at least it was passable.
This revamped Suicide Squad seems to have been written by actual, professional screenwriters who know how to construct a good popcorn movie although, I have to say, with the amount of blood and gore in this film, I'm not sure if everybody would be glad to have chosen to be eating something whilst watching this film. In Australia, this film has an MA 15+ rating, so it has blood and gore but unlike a horror movie, there's not a lot of detail on the gore, if that's any recommendation. Given my comments about the first film in this franchise, I would hazard a guess that that first film was written by the studio's marketing department, with input from the accounting department. A rubbish script, in other words.
Another aspect to the comedy is how some of the characters say things that the audience is no doubt thinking, like how ridiculous a character's superpower is. Since I'm not familiar with the comics or cartoons which inspired this film franchise, I can't say whether all the characters here have featured elsewhere. But gee, David Dastmalchian's "Polka-Dot Man" is a ridiculous concept for a character. Sylvester Stallone's "King Shark" isn't much better. There is some fun to be had with these characters though. Perhaps this kind of treatment of the material is because of the impossibility of taking it seriously? That's why this film treats it subject matter so ironically, perhaps. Maybe it's just me though. Watching The Dark Knight trilogy, I came to realise that Batman is actually a boring character and I just wanted to see Heath Ledger's Joker dominate proceedings in the second instalment. Speaking of The Joker, he isn't in this film. That's not something that bothered me at all either. In any case, the characters in "The suicide squad" to give one the impression of this is like watching children play pretend and coming with some cheap, home-made ideas for comic book characters, hence the risibility of it all.
On the subject of ironic treatment of material, this film eschews film clichés like text on the screen indicating place or proceedings. Instead, elements of the picture will form this information, to interesting effect at times. If that's not the kind of thing that you find clever, at least you might appreciate the frequent use of callbacks as far as character proceedings go. In other words, a scene will recall something which happened earlier with a particular character.
Lastly, I should note that the film does critique America's real involvement in that part of the world, as far as supporting brutal regimes go (or least it can't but help remind us of this). There's actually a funny moment in this film where a revelation is made after you see the suicide squad kill a lot of people on their mission. They pretty much embody, at that moment, America's foreign policy strategy and outcomes in the real world. Perhaps that outlook is common in this fictional world? Could you describe that critique of US foreign policy as 'woke'? If this film was directed by Jordan Peele, an African American, would it be considered woke? I ask that because I've noticed that Peele's soft reboot of "Candyman", entitled..."Candyman", has been review bombed on this site for being "woke". Reviewers here are actually using that word. This speaks to who has the 'right' to critique America.
Stay for the post-credits. It might entice viewers to watch a sequel to this.
Now, the plot. Does anyone really care about this for Hollywood comic book related multiplex offerings? If you insist, a team of supervillains is assembled in a notorious gaol in order to undertake a black op of a suicidal nature (hence the film's title) which, if successful, would see the surviving supervillains get a discount on their gaol sentence. Of course, the supervillains need an incentive to cooperate with the authorities running the covert US government operations. The black op will be centred in a fictional island off of South America and science fantasy elements will feature.
Idris Elba's supervillain character of "Bloodsport" is engaging, as far as what motivates him to join the suicide squad. There's a great scene where he meets his daughter for the first time in a long time. Margot Robbie's character of "Harley Quinn" is no doubt considered by the studio to be the pivotal figure of this franchise but I must say that I found John Cena's turn as "Peacemaker" much more enjoyable, especially early on, where he contributed more than his fair share to the comedy quotient of this film. Later on, Harley Quinn's narrative arc did become more satisfying but not being a consumer of the comics or cartoons, I can't say that she held a lot of cultural cachet for me (I really have to mention Chloë Grace Moretz' wonderfully brilliant turn as Hit-Girl in the comic book related film "Kick-Ass"). As an Australian, I was surprised to be actually amused by some dialogue from Jai Courtney's "Captain Kangaroo". I can't remember having that thought for the first film. It wasn't exactly champagne comedy from him but at least it was passable.
This revamped Suicide Squad seems to have been written by actual, professional screenwriters who know how to construct a good popcorn movie although, I have to say, with the amount of blood and gore in this film, I'm not sure if everybody would be glad to have chosen to be eating something whilst watching this film. In Australia, this film has an MA 15+ rating, so it has blood and gore but unlike a horror movie, there's not a lot of detail on the gore, if that's any recommendation. Given my comments about the first film in this franchise, I would hazard a guess that that first film was written by the studio's marketing department, with input from the accounting department. A rubbish script, in other words.
Another aspect to the comedy is how some of the characters say things that the audience is no doubt thinking, like how ridiculous a character's superpower is. Since I'm not familiar with the comics or cartoons which inspired this film franchise, I can't say whether all the characters here have featured elsewhere. But gee, David Dastmalchian's "Polka-Dot Man" is a ridiculous concept for a character. Sylvester Stallone's "King Shark" isn't much better. There is some fun to be had with these characters though. Perhaps this kind of treatment of the material is because of the impossibility of taking it seriously? That's why this film treats it subject matter so ironically, perhaps. Maybe it's just me though. Watching The Dark Knight trilogy, I came to realise that Batman is actually a boring character and I just wanted to see Heath Ledger's Joker dominate proceedings in the second instalment. Speaking of The Joker, he isn't in this film. That's not something that bothered me at all either. In any case, the characters in "The suicide squad" to give one the impression of this is like watching children play pretend and coming with some cheap, home-made ideas for comic book characters, hence the risibility of it all.
On the subject of ironic treatment of material, this film eschews film clichés like text on the screen indicating place or proceedings. Instead, elements of the picture will form this information, to interesting effect at times. If that's not the kind of thing that you find clever, at least you might appreciate the frequent use of callbacks as far as character proceedings go. In other words, a scene will recall something which happened earlier with a particular character.
Lastly, I should note that the film does critique America's real involvement in that part of the world, as far as supporting brutal regimes go (or least it can't but help remind us of this). There's actually a funny moment in this film where a revelation is made after you see the suicide squad kill a lot of people on their mission. They pretty much embody, at that moment, America's foreign policy strategy and outcomes in the real world. Perhaps that outlook is common in this fictional world? Could you describe that critique of US foreign policy as 'woke'? If this film was directed by Jordan Peele, an African American, would it be considered woke? I ask that because I've noticed that Peele's soft reboot of "Candyman", entitled..."Candyman", has been review bombed on this site for being "woke". Reviewers here are actually using that word. This speaks to who has the 'right' to critique America.
Stay for the post-credits. It might entice viewers to watch a sequel to this.