Movies Suicide Squad...

[Husky_Khan]

New trailer for the new Suicide Squad film... directed by JAMES GUNN who directed GUARDIANS OF THE GALAXY (as not so subtly plastered in the trailer) debuted.



"Each of these people was chosen for his or her completely unique set of abilities." - Amanda Waller

The film then shows a montage of uniquely powered and capable supervillains... and Harley Quinn. 🤔

Is she uniquely skilled because of the baseball bat? Because I mean... there's like Sportsmaster... just saying.

Also Amanda Waller...

"I wouldn't take such extreme measures (threatening some villains daughter) if this mission wasn't more important then you could possibly imagine."

Like when you casually executed your own support staff for some nebulous reason in the last movie? How is she still employed to be honest? Wasn't she kinda responsible for the last fuckup? Anyways... enough nitpicking.

King Shark is a Shark in this film. And Starro looks bigly. Yuuuuge even.

According to Wikipedia the current Suicide Squad is:

> Margot Robbie as Harley Quinn (I wasn't even sure why she was brought around the first time tbh but whatever. She's getting star billing this time around as well)
> Idris Elba as Bloodsport (I have no idea who Bloodsport is, looks like a D - Level Supervillain with generic strength and weapon skills. Idris will do fine I'm sure)
> John Cena as Peacemaker (Gunn wanted him portrayed as a douchey Captain America so... I think Cena's got this covered. Maybe he'll betray the team to China as a plot twist)
> Joel Kinnaman as Captain Flagg, the Special Forces guy.
> Sylvester Stallone as King Shark
> Jai Courtney as Boomerang
> David Dastmalchian as Polka-Dot Man (looks like a comedy relief character in a movie that clearly has plenty of that already)
> Daniela Melchior as Ratcatcher

There's other villains but I'm assuming they're just there to die ignominously. We got a guy named Javelin... you can guess his utility on a team with a guy named Boomerang and two elite mercenaries. Pete Davidson, the SNL guy as Blackguard and Blackguard seems to be another supervillain mercenary type and Nathan Fillion as TDK whose power is he can detach his arms to some effect... oh and James Gunn is an anthropomorphic Weasel whose killed twenty seven kids. 🤷‍♀️

It sounds ridiculous because it is and that's clearly what James Gunn and DC want, especially with how the first Suicide Squad trailers generated such interest with the tone and everything and then what was released was something far darker and less humorous. Here at least they aren't looking to be confused about things. This'll be an action-comedy type of superhero movie which is what James Gunn was all about with Guardians.

Definitely in the wait and see category though.

 

[prinCZess]

I was mostly unaware of this and never really thought about it, so...reboot? Reimagining? Please-ignore-our-last-transmission? Sequel (that ignores the previous entry in the series)? I can't quite tell what the tack being taken here is. I suppose the bright-side is they don't look like they're trying to shoehorn in a Joker for character-recognition (even if they're trying to do something similar with Robbie's Harley Quinn which...uh...yeah, not really a draw I don't think), but that also means I don't really know anyone--I'm reasonably nerdy and at least the last go-round had Deadshot and even Croc as recognizable names. This time? 'Boomerang' is apparently getting reused (somehow) but I'm only familiar with that one because of the previous movie, and other than that the only recognizable character is Quinn, and with what the DC movies have used her for that's more of a reason NOT to go than anything.

Maybe Gunn and the new writer(s) (hurriedly googles--AH, Gunn is writing as well) can pull off something better than the previous. And at least it seems like the rest of the current flaming bin the DC Film Universe is will be left out for the most part. It would be nice to see someone besides the Mouse getting the gobs of superhero-movie money, and Idris Elba is at least usually fun to watch on-screen. But...I'd agree on the 'wait and see'.

 

[LindyAF]

Is she uniquely skilled because of the baseball bat? Because I mean... there's like Sportsmaster... just saying.

Uniquely skilled as being a comic book character in the suicide squad the general public is actually aware of.

 

[KilroywasNOTHere]

I'd bye it a lot better if Harley quinn was more like this.

 

[Husky_Khan]

I was mostly unaware of this and never really thought about it, so...reboot? Reimagining? Please-ignore-our-last-transmission? Sequel (that ignores the previous entry in the series)? I can't quite tell what the tack being taken here is. I suppose the bright-side is they don't look like they're trying to shoehorn in a Joker for character-recognition (even if they're trying to do something similar with Robbie's Harley Quinn which...uh...yeah, not really a draw I don't think), but that also means I don't really know anyone--I'm reasonably nerdy and at least the last go-round had Deadshot and even Croc as recognizable names. This time? 'Boomerang' is apparently getting reused (somehow) but I'm only familiar with that one because of the previous movie, and other than that the only recognizable character is Quinn, and with what the DC movies have used her for that's more of a reason NOT to go than anything.

Maybe Gunn and the new writer(s) (hurriedly googles--AH, Gunn is writing as well) can pull off something better than the previous. And at least it seems like the rest of the current flaming bin the DC Film Universe is will be left out for the most part. It would be nice to see someone besides the Mouse getting the gobs of superhero-movie money, and Idris Elba is at least usually fun to watch on-screen. But...I'd agree on the 'wait and see'.

Yes I'm not extremely familiar with DC but yeah, almost all of these Suicide Squad characters, I've never heard of. Like sure, Boomerang. I heard of him before, plus he was in the previous movie. I've heard of Harley Quinn obviously. And I've heard of King Shark... mainly because he's pretty hard to not recognize. And I randomly heard of Captain Flagg waaaaay before, but it was like... oh he was in this comic and that comic and got in a close fight with Batman one time type of deal.

And oddly enough, buried in the cast is Michael Rooker as Savant, who I only know of because I remember him appearing in a Birds of Prey comic. But Bloodsport? Peacemaker? Blackguard? No idea.

I feel like I have heard of Polka Dot Man and Ratcatcher... but have I or am I just tricking my own memory and thinking I did? Like did I see a rat themed or polka dot themed villain somewhere or in some backissue? About as good as unknown to me.

This looks to be a Idris Elba and Harley Quinn/Margot Robbie film. The comic characters are almost just window dressing to the actors. Jai Courtney gets to act like a total wacko in his native accent, so that's nice. I'm assuming its close to his comic book character. John Cena gets to be a Captain America dweeb instead of... whatever Peacemaker is.

Maybe it'll work out. Most of the cast seems likable I guess.

 

[Zachowon]

Bloodsport is basically Nuke from Marvel comics.
Like literally.
Peacemaker is a knock of Cap. Like horribly knocked off so badly they tried to make it a diffrent character.
King shark is actually a cool character in comics. Fun to see in comics. He just kills and eats people
polka dot man is basically the gadget guy as his dots are his gadgets and turn into things.
Ratcatcher is basically squirrel girl...but with rats and not as cool.

Who's Who in The Suicide Squad (and How Likely They Are to Survive) | DC

During DC FanDome: Hall of Heroes, writer-director James Gunn introduced fans to the cast of his 2021 film The Suicide Squad.

www.dccomics.com

Some info on everyone brought up.

Mongral is there so I am guessing the Villain and again a Superman level threat

 

[Battlegrinder]

Mongral is there so I am guessing the Villain and again a Superman level threat

One of thier members is a chick with a bat. A chick that weight like 100 lbs soaking wet. Is the plan to sic her on Montreal and hope he laughs himself to death?

 

[Zachowon]

One of thier members is a chick with a bat. A chick that weight like 100 lbs soaking wet. Is the plan to sic her on Montreal and hope he laughs himself to death?

Yes.
Almost like what they did last time

 

[Zachowon]

The big bad is starro

 

[Bear Ribs]

One of thier members is a chick with a bat. A chick that weight like 100 lbs soaking wet. Is the plan to sic her on Montreal and hope he laughs himself to death?

It's DC. You pretty much just have to turn that part of your brain off when Batman and Green Arrow are shown to be as useful in a fight as Superman and Wonder Woman, or Harley Quinn and Riddler are somehow just as dangerous and effective as Killer Croc and Solomon Grundy. Humans with no powers but sufficient will/training/crazy/A Gimmick are just as effective as people who can fly and bench press an airliner, that's just how the DC universe rolls. You might as well complain that Gundams shouldn't really be as effective as tanks or fighters, much less better.

 

[Husky_Khan]

The new Suicide Squad... sorry... THE Suicide Squad, as directed by James Gunn, is getting positive critical reviews.

Meanwhile... five years after the fact, Suicide Squad has been officially "disowned" by its own Director, David Ayer in a lengthy Twitter thread. This has invigorated calls for the release of the 'Ayer Cut' much in the same manner there was a demand for the release of the Snyder Cut of the Justice League movie. Recently however Warner Bros. said they had no plans on releasing said Ayer Cut.

David Ayer has officially washed his hands of Warner's Suicide Squad cut

David Ayer has hit back at critics of 2016's Suicide Squad again

www.techradar.com

 

[LTR]

I saw the movie and I went in with low expectations, but saw the reviews were pretty good and furthermore so were the reviews on RedLetterMedia and other contrarian YouTubers so had to give it a chance.

Overall it was a decent movie. Above average. Thoroughly entertaining. Like every other superhero movie out there, the acting was perfectly fine because all of the actors they chose were pretty good and competent. The special effects were fine. Looked great. The action scenes... were good but not great. It was a bit disjointed in parts and never approached the quality of grit you'd see in like Winter Soldier or epicness you might see in Avengers or Justass League.

There were parts of the movie where I laughed, and one where I caught myself laughing out loud, because it took me by surprise. There were emotional moments as well, which gave me some feels. But the issue was... there was a lot of humor and a lot of emotional, character beats and only... half of them maybe landed? There were jokes... and looong comedic bits that just fell flat. There were emotional moments that other critics said really affected them and for me it was like... "Saw it coming." or "Meh."

I think one of the biggest flaws of this movie is James Gunn's directing. His humor, his character banter, the way he makes his movies in general... I feel like it's getting more and more thin to the point it's actually predictable now and that predictability ruins his trademark humor and emotional beats and other gimmicks. It's like there's a VERY shallow downward slope from him making that low budget, indie superhero movie Super a decade ago, through the Guardians of the Galaxy films down to this, The Suicide Squad. It's still good... but it ain't as good as his previous films.

Most importantly though, the movie was entertaining. It was fun to watch and there is something clever that went on here.

Other people mentioned this so it might've biased me to this POV but it did feel like a Comic Book as a Movie. Not a Comic Book adapted to a movie. Like you write a comic, and then film it straight, this is what it would look like. There's no way to take a film with as much silliness, implied camp, plotholes, leaps of narrative, wacky characters, plot twists and subversions, predictability and just general character and narrative structure and say... this is a great film or even a great Superhero movie. But it does feel like a film version of an actual comic and with that in mind, I think I enjoyed the movie a lot more then I would've if I was comparing this to some better MCU film.

But making a comic book into a movie won't create a perfect movie. You lose a lot of stuff because the mediums are different. It's like how comic book adaptions of movies tend to be kinda low effort trash. Well this is a higher effort inverse of that.

But the fact this is a Live Action Comic Book Movie helps mitigate a lot of its flaws overall.

The R rating was pretty much unnecessary in my opinion. It adds a lot of gore and people using naughty words, but I think you could've made the movie just as impactful without the excessive gore. I mean even with King Shark munching on people I still think they could've gotten away with a PG-13 rating. And they should've. Teenagers and older kids would've LOVED this movie. John Cena is in it and he's great and hilarious. They'd love Polka Dot Man and that gnarly Weasel and King Shark being a fan favorite supervillain is almost a given since this is the Director that gave us Groot and Rocket Raccoon after all.

So overall, I'd recommend giving the movie a watch. It's not great. It's barely good. But it's funny, it's entertaining, and despite James Gunn being really stale I feel by now, he did bring something new to the film in that it feels like a straight Comic Book as a movie. Not just an adaption. Having that in your mind helps you reconcile with the inherent ridiculous of having Javelin expertise and Shark people and rat whisperers and a trio of super soldiers battling a Starfish Kaiju who is planning on conquering Tropico.

 

[Zachowon]

Still wondering why was Starro the bad guy

 

[LTR]

Still wondering why was Starro the bad guy

That would be spoilers. Actually I guess I do have a lot of spoilers to ramble about...

Spoiler: The Suicide Squad

- The Suicide Squad did a great job detailing backstories for a lot of the characters and actually generating sympathy or just likability for characters and even took its time to flesh out even minor side characters which I actually did appreciate.
- The Suicide Squad's main quibble which is the same as in the previous film is that the whole operation could've been done by some Hollywoodized Special Forces team. I don't think there's anything in this film that required the Suicide Squad to be able to handle it. Except for the Ratcatcher... her powers are exceptionally useful.
- Like in most superhero movies, the villains were criminally (teehee) underdeveloped. Starro especially. There are some flashes of character development with Starro but despite his/her/its adorable design and genuine menacing buildup, I never really got any real impact with the character. Despite Starro being so unique, there wasn't much done to development that crazy giant alien.
- Amanda Waller is still stupid, incompetent and too thin. There was a subversion in this movie where I was thinking about how stupid and dumb Amanda Waller is trying to be all pragmatic and dispassionate and then the movie kinda surprised me/but kinda didn't because again, James Gunn is kinda predictable now, by having someone finally get rid of the dumb Boss lady. Also... make her fat again FFS.
- John Cena's Peacemaker was amazing and I loved his entire character concept and ethos and everything. It was a great setup and really liked his arc as a character and motivations and everything. And John Cena was hilarious. As was his rivalry with Bloodsport.
- Bloodsport was fine. Idris Elba is always good. But he's basically Deadshot again. Same powers, same attitude. Same estranged daughter.
- Ratcatcher was good and she was fun and likable and there were some genuinely sweet and emotional moments with her.
- Polka Dot Man was good. I think they tried to generate the same amount of likability and sympathy with him that they did with Ratcatcher but it didn't really land for me, a lot of times it was ruined because James Gunn was trying to be profound or funny and he failed a fair bit in both.
- I saw the Milton gag from a mile away. Again... James Gunn... your getting predictable.
- Rick Flag was there... I dunno. He was fine.
- Harley Quinn is actually useful here instead of the thug with a baseball bat she was in the last movie. This is probably the first movie where she's actually a character and portrayal I find she was good in? Margot Robbie finally got to shine as her and she was able to do stuff and not make it feel forced or tryhard. It showed off her psychosis she was actually able to display and apply her actual skills as a super-criminal thief and acrobat and deranged killer without it looking all forced or whatever.
- There's a lot of semi-decent banter scenes, especially in the initial plane flight over to Corto Maltese with Javelin, Boomerang, Harley Quinn, Weasel and everybody. Or in the initial briefing. There are other ones as well sprinkled throughout the film and most of them worked.
- Best gag was when the Suicide Squad brutally took out an enemy camp only to find out at the end of the scene it was actually filled with sympathetic Rebels.
- King Shark is automatically a fan favorite like I said. He was extremely fun character. But it doesn't seem like it'd be hard to make King Shark a likable character to be honest. King Shark was great and so was Sylvester Stallone.
- The Corto Maltese enemies were pretty blah as was the entire Civil War subplot going on. And even the weird subplot that didn't really go anywhere that involved one of the Suicide Squad members and President Luna... like... it wasn't a bad scene but you could've cut it out completely.
- The plot twist was bleh... and you could see it coming but at least it lead to some interesting plot and character beats in regards to Colonel Rick Flagg and Peacemaker.

 

[Zachowon]

I'm gonna watch it when I get back to my room.
But just more...
It is a HUGR villain, and why the fuck did the have MONGAL there...

 

[Zachowon]

That would be spoilers. Actually I guess I do have a lot of spoilers to ramble about...

Spoiler: The Suicide Squad

- The Suicide Squad did a great job detailing backstories for a lot of the characters and actually generating sympathy or just likability for characters and even took its time to flesh out even minor side characters which I actually did appreciate.
- The Suicide Squad's main quibble which is the same as in the previous film is that the whole operation could've been done by some Hollywoodized Special Forces team. I don't think there's anything in this film that required the Suicide Squad to be able to handle it. Except for the Ratcatcher... her powers are exceptionally useful.
- Like in most superhero movies, the villains were criminally (teehee) underdeveloped. Starro especially. There are some flashes of character development with Starro but despite his/her/its adorable design and genuine menacing buildup, I never really got any real impact with the character. Despite Starro being so unique, there wasn't much done to development that crazy giant alien.
- Amanda Waller is still stupid, incompetent and too thin. There was a subversion in this movie where I was thinking about how stupid and dumb Amanda Waller is trying to be all pragmatic and dispassionate and then the movie kinda surprised me/but kinda didn't because again, James Gunn is kinda predictable now, by having someone finally get rid of the dumb Boss lady. Also... make her fat again FFS.
- John Cena's Peacemaker was amazing and I loved his entire character concept and ethos and everything. It was a great setup and really liked his arc as a character and motivations and everything. And John Cena was hilarious. As was his rivalry with Bloodsport.
- Bloodsport was fine. Idris Elba is always good. But he's basically Deadshot again. Same powers, same attitude. Same estranged daughter.
- Ratcatcher was good and she was fun and likable and there were some genuinely sweet and emotional moments with her.
- Polka Dot Man was good. I think they tried to generate the same amount of likability and sympathy with him that they did with Ratcatcher but it didn't really land for me, a lot of times it was ruined because James Gunn was trying to be profound or funny and he failed a fair bit in both.
- I saw the Milton gag from a mile away. Again... James Gunn... your getting predictable.
- Rick Flag was there... I dunno. He was fine.
- Harley Quinn is actually useful here instead of the thug with a baseball bat she was in the last movie. This is probably the first movie where she's actually a character and portrayal I find she was good in? Margot Robbie finally got to shine as her and she was able to do stuff and not make it feel forced or tryhard. It showed off her psychosis she was actually able to display and apply her actual skills as a super-criminal thief and acrobat and deranged killer without it looking all forced or whatever.
- There's a lot of semi-decent banter scenes, especially in the initial plane flight over to Corto Maltese with Javelin, Boomerang, Harley Quinn, Weasel and everybody. Or in the initial briefing. There are other ones as well sprinkled throughout the film and most of them worked.
- Best gag was when the Suicide Squad brutally took out an enemy camp only to find out at the end of the scene it was actually filled with sympathetic Rebels.
- King Shark is automatically a fan favorite like I said. He was extremely fun character. But it doesn't seem like it'd be hard to make King Shark a likable character to be honest. King Shark was great and so was Sylvester Stallone.
- The Corto Maltese enemies were pretty blah as was the entire Civil War subplot going on. And even the weird subplot that didn't really go anywhere that involved one of the Suicide Squad members and President Luna... like... it wasn't a bad scene but you could've cut it out completely.
- The plot twist was bleh... and you could see it coming but at least it lead to some interesting plot and character beats in regards to Colonel Rick Flagg and Peacemaker.

So far I have seen the first 30 so far.

Spoiler

I am kinda made about the intro with team 1 dying horribly and Mongal, who would have been nice to see, as would have Boomerang not dying horribly at the start.
Kinda sad Nathiom Filliom died early as well....

I miss the old Rick Flagg actor

 

[LTR]

So far I have seen the first 30 so far.

Spoiler

I am kinda made about the intro with team 1 dying horribly and Mongal, who would have been nice to see, as would have Boomerang not dying horribly at the start.
Kinda sad Nathiom Filliom died early as well....

I miss the old Rick Flagg actor

Ummm...

That is the same actor. He does look different I suppose. Either way, he did fine but never really stood out to me all that much, at least compared to all of the more quirky characters. I liked his scenes but he just felt kind of prosaic.

 

[Zachowon]

Ummm...

That is the same actor. He does look different I suppose. Either way, he did fine but never really stood out to me all that much, at least compared to all of the more quirky characters. I liked his scenes but he just felt kind of prosaic.

He seems diffrent. He seems skinner and I guess no facial hair hurts his look

 

[Zachowon]

Not gonna lie, would love to be that henchmen who gets his neck snapped by Quinns legs.
They picked a good actress for Quinn

 

[Husky_Khan]

Not gonna lie, would love to be that henchmen who gets his neck snapped by Quinns legs.
They picked a good actress for Quinn

Just took three movies to finally get her to shine in the role!