The Suicide Squad Review (Spoiler-Free)

Good day ladies and gents, I have reappeared online to share my thoughts on The Suicide Squad, the latest DC film from director James Gunn. Now being in the UK I could’ve had my review online last Friday because that’s when it released over here, but I decided to hold off until this week. So having seen it twice I’m ready to share my thoughts via my podcast Film Focus.

In episode 127 of Film Focus, I review the latest film from Warner Bros. and DC; The Suicide Squad. So this is the second attempt to make a Suicide Squad film after the 2016 version failed to resonate with audiences in the way that the studios wanted. So with James Gunn at the helm, he has assembled an impressive cast and crafted a story that from the trailers looks like it’s more quirky, violent, funnier and crazier than the previous instalment. So is the film a good time or not? Well, listen to this spoiler-free episode to find out! 😀

Anyway here’s the review:

If you haven’t checked out my podcast before you can find it here: https://soundcloud.com/film_focus

So have you seen The Suicide Squad and if so what did you think of it? Drop your thoughts in the comments section below and I’ll see ya in the next review, laters! 😀

 

EPIC REVIEW: Suicide Squad

Hey there ladies and gents, time for another new review and today I’ll be talking about one of my most anticipated films of 2016 which I saw around an ago; Suicide Squad. Now for those not aware I’ve been hyped for this film since the first Comic-Con trailer, the choice of director, cast and overall marketing just made me believe that this was gonna be the DC film for me, and more so than Batman V Superman, this was the film that I had most hope for in terms of expanding the DC cinematic universe. Now unless you’ve been away from the internet then you must be aware of all the negative reviews this film has gained over the last few days, and even though I caught glimpses of it, I decided to steer clear of those reviews and see it for myself. So I watched the earliest screening in my cinema, now I’m here, and well, here’s the thing, Suicide Squad, it’s not bad, but was not the amazing film I wanted it to be.

The story can be described as the following:

“A secret government agency led by Amanda Waller recruits imprisoned supervillains to execute dangerous black ops missions and save the world from a powerful threat in exchange for clemency.“

This story had some interesting elements with the formation of the villain squad and some of their individual stories, but the plot felt a little muddled and could have been a lot simpler and more streamlined. The problems begin with the story as I felt like there was a few too many moving pieces, not that it was hard to follow, more so there were a few side/sub plots that could have been shortened or gotten rid of altogether. Also the flow of the story felt off with some pacing issues and oddly edited scenes. And the overall plot was fine, but it had several elements that I’d seen in other comic books films, but not in a good way, plus I was kind of hoping for a film that was on a smaller scale and while this story was smaller than the last two DC films, at the same time it felt like it was reaching further to a global scale and that was unnecessary.

Now let’s talk about the cast, they may be the best part about the whole film, though this ensemble cast are not properly balanced, and some get way more screen time and character development than others. Let’s start with the top-tier characters with Will Smith as Deadshot, Margot Robbie as Harley Quinn, Viola Davis as Amanda Waller, Joel Kinnaman as Rick Flagg and Jared Leto as The Joker. Smith was on-point, he was funny, charismatic, mean and commanding, pretty much all the reasons you like the actor and I liked what he did as Deadshot, but I felt like his character got the most screen time and character development, and some of his scenes could have been cut to give more fleshing out time to other characters. Robbie was solid as Harley Quinn, there was that right balance of playfulness, craziness and sexiness, and while I wasn’t keen on some of the backstory, the overly sexual costume and personality traits, Harley was still a lot of fun. Davis was my favourite as Amanda Waller, she was a no-nonsense, ruthless and intimidating individual and Davis brought her A-game. And Kinnaman, while I didn’t care too much about his character, this was one of the better roles I’ve liked him in. Then there’s the slightly lower tier of the cast. Jai Courtney and Jay Hernandez brought some interesting flavour to the film as Boomerang and El Diablo, Courtney was fun, hilarious and crazy, while Hernandez brought a cool seriousness to his character and ended up being one of my favourite people. And Cara Delevingne as Enchantress, I kind of liked her but at the same time her performance and character fluctuated between me liking and disliking her. As for everyone else they either alright or just there, Adewale Akinnuoye-Agbaje as Killer Croc was alright but we barely got to know him and he didn’t say or do too much, and finally Karen Fukuhara as Katana severely underutilized and had some cool minor character detailed, but she was wasted and it pissed me off because it felt almost as bad as what X-Men: Apocalypse did with Jubilee.

When it comes to the presentation I wasn’t very impressed with this film. Visually the film had some decent moments with the action sequences, use of colour and CGI, but I wasn’t keen on how some of the scenes were framed, the action sequences were alright but lacked the right kind of choreography and cinematography to make them stand out, some of the lighting and editing was off and the CGI was iffy from time to time. Maybe I’m being a little harsh, but the visual material is one of the key elements I look forward to in any comic book adapted film and this film just didn’t have the wow factor. Also on the audio side of things the film score by Steven Price was a little bland and did nothing to amplify what was happening on-screen, plus there felt like there was an overabundance of music put in this film, and while I’m not against the use of popular music in films, at the same time it felt distracting and placed all over the film for the sake of it. Oh and finally, I dunno if it was just me but the sound effects really lacked impact especially when it came to the gunfire and characters getting smacked on the ground or into walls.

In the end Suicide Squad is not a terrible film, it’s certainly not Fan4stic or X-Men Origins: Wolverine, but I wanted to love this film so badly and it pains me that another one of these non-Batman films from DC has ended up not being a complete success considering the talent involved. I feel like this will be another polarizing film, but for the sake of your curiosity/sanity, give this film a watch and decide for yourselves.

So are you going to watch Suicide Squad and if you’ve seen it, pass on your thoughts in the comments below and I’ll see ya on the next review, laters! 😀

 

QUICK REVIEW: Suicide Squad Trailer #2

Howdy ladies and gents, time for another one of those trailer reviews and today I’m here to talk about the newest trailer for Suicide Squad. Now I’m pretty sure I did a review for the first trailer last year, but according to my archives I didn’t. I really enjoyed the first trailer and since then my interest in the film has only increased, the new posters were cool, but I was just waiting for the new trailer and later on it was dropped.

So here’s the trailer below:

Now I only got to see this trailer just before I got to go to work around 10am today and I was impressed. This trailer has a nice sense of personality and charm, and while we don’t get too many new details when it comes to the story, we do learn a few more details like:

1. The fact that we see the villains taken from jail to another undisclosed location and drafted into a team.
2. We see more individual moments from the members of the squad.
3. And we start to see some hints as to what the squad will be up against.

This trailer is all about Margot Robbie as Harley Quinn, I just love this girl’s enthusiasm, personality and timing for humour through her strange personality. Robbie just steals the spotlight and it’s not just because of how gorgeous she is in her costume, but more so because she has some of the best dialogue and scenes. Just behind her was Jared Leto as the Joker, while this trailer doesn’t show much more than before, it did allow us hear him speak and laugh and illustrate this new interpretation of madness. It remains to be seen whether he’ll be a super memorable Joker when compared to what’s come before, but I’m sure he’ll be great. I really enjoyed seeing more of the characters Deadshot, Enchantress and her creepy smoke aura, and more moments of Rick Flag and Captain Boomerang (who looks pretty funny as played by Jai Courtney). And it also helps that the trailer included “Bohemian Rhapsody” by Queen, besides “Don’t Stop Me Now“, this is one of the most popular of Queen songs and it was well interrogated into the trailer with specific scenes and moments. And while I don’t need famous songs in trailers, this was one of the better ones with the action cut to the music which amplified the visuals.

To conclude Suicide Squad looks like a lot of fun, and this new trailer only increases my excitement. Now It’s probably not in the high-end of my most anticipated films of 2016, but it’s very charismatic, colourful, action-packed and humourous. The film could be okay, but I’m hoping it’ll be much more than that and help launch the DC cinematic universe beyond Batman V Superman and the upcoming Justice League and Wonder Woman films.

So have you seen the second trailer for Suicide Squad and if so what do you think of it? Are you more or less excited than before? Be sure to drop me a comment and I’ll see ya on the next review! 🙂

 

RoboCop (2014) Review

So here we are in 2014 with the remake/reboot of RoboCop, a film that a lot of people haven’t been looking forward to. From the time the set pictures showed up with the new suit loads of fans freaked out in disgust. However since the trailers showed up, it’s changed some people’s opinions. Now I’ve bashed almost everything to do with this film prior to its release, but something told me I’d end up watching it for a review at some point. So is this film worth a watch or was this franchise better left off in the 80’s? Read on and find out!

The story is not necessarily new and those who are old enough to remember the original film know what the deal is, but for those not in the know he is a quick summary:

“In 2028 Detroit, when Alex Murphy – a loving husband, father and good cop – is critically injured in the line of duty, the multinational conglomerate OmniCorp sees their chance for a part-man, part-robot police officer.”

Even though things were changed, the story is very similar to the original 1987 film, and for what it is the story here is decent. The film basically takes the original source material and mixes up a few things, it really is a modern re-telling of the 80’s film and that has advantages and disadvantages. When it works, the film feels modern, interesting and the aspect that stood out the most was the tampering of human life and what it means to be human or a machine. But the disadvantages include the fact that this film also lacks the originality, over-the-violence and 80’s charisma that made the original it so fun. Also, the new focus on the human aspects of Alex Murphy especially when it comes to his family had too much focus, it just felt boring and any time the wife and kid were involved the film lost my interest and the pacing slowed down. All that being said, the film does have heart, good action, moral dilemmas and deception on both sides of the law.

As for the cast, they’re decent however the characters are a mixed bag with some solid people and some not so good ones. Joel Kinnaman does an okay job Alex Murphy, he’s a likeable enough person, if a bit bland, only after he become RoboCop does he become more interesting and even then it takes Kinnaman a little while to find his groove as the new cyborg, but when he’s serious and kicking ass he’s actually cool. Someone who is not boring is Gary Oldman who is awesome as Dr. Dennett Norton. In my opinion Oldman was the best character in this film. Norton is a scientist who clearly wishes to use his work for good, but when it comes to crafting RoboCop he is faced with a moral dilemma and from there he has to try balance the line between doing his role at OmniCorp and moral and ethical implications of his actions. He really is the Dr. Frankenstein of this film and I liked that complex they created for him. Another good performance comes Michael Keaton as Raymond Sellars, he is actively trying to get the robot in America ban reversed and trying to change public opinion with RoboCop. He is a man who has a way with words, he’s smart and yet crafty at the same time.

Not to be overlooked, Samuel L. Jackson as Patrick “Pat” Novak is amazing. Pat is the host of a notable TV show and he is very strong-willed, opinionated, charismatic and funny, and this role is really elevated thanks to the greatness that is Sam Jackson. There is one great moment with Jackson that channels his performance from Snakes On A Plane to great effect. Abbie Cornish was the weakest link as Clara Murphy (well besides the kid, no offence but I didn’t buy his performance at all). As Alex’s wife, Cornish just slowed down the film and while I understood her emotional scenes, I didn’t buy her acting like everyone else. Jackie Earle Haley was interesting, cool and funny as Rick Mattox. Michael K. Williams was cool as Alex’s former partner as Jack Lewis, Williams puts on his badass act and has some moments of humour too. Jennifer Ehle as Liz Kline and Jay Baruchel as Tom Pope are pretty good too, I especially liked the humour that came from Baruchel’s character.

When it comes to the presentation it is pretty good, the action sequences are good and were a little more inventive and aggressive than I thought they’d be, though nothing here was overly unique or memorable like the current set of superhero films that own the action genre when it come to creating memorable action set-pieces.

In conclusion RoboCop, as much as I hate to say it wasn’t that bad. I really wanted to leave the film saying I hated it, but I can’t deny that there were elements I did enjoy. The film still doesn’t hold a candle to the original, but it is one of the better reboots of recent years. If you need any more convincing let me leave you with this, I’ll take this film over the 2012 Total Recall remake any day.

Rating: 7/10 (I don’t give this rating lightly, but it was actually goof)

So what did you think of RoboCop? Did you think it was good or bad and how do you think it fared when compared to the original? Whatever your thoughts are drop them below and I’ll see ya on the next review yo! 😀