Hi guys, JR here. Before I hand you over to Arioch for the review, obligatory warning about spoilers and opinions. If you haven't seen the movie yet, probably not best to read the review first, but you already know that. So, without further ado, over to Arioch for the review.
Just saw suicide squad.
Good news: I had a good time. This is a much, much, much better movie that Serial Killer v Psychopath.
The fact that humour was injected after the fact shows, and is, IMO, a welcome addition to what could have been yet another grim-dark movie, and, while it ain't a comedy, there are fun moments and one-liners.
On the bad news front, sadly, some characters are under-developed and under-used. Most of the movie revolves around Deadshot (Will Smith), Harley Quinn (Margot Robbie), but they do their job well. Actually, I was pleasantly surprised by Will Smith: After a series of ***** roles and movies, I expected the same from him, but, overall, I think he was rather good.
But that much screen time on such characters (with a second row of Rick Flagg, El Diablo and Amanda Waller) means that less time for the third row of Katana, Captain Boomerang and, most notably, Killer Croc. The movie still tries to give them some spotlight and/or quirks, but there's just not enough time for it. This is not that different from most "team" movies, like "The Expandables", so I can't really fault them for it, despite it being a real drawback. Something which I loved on this front are the little character introductions at the start of the movie: Each character is presented by name, abilities, some character quirk, and gets a little introduction scene. This was a very good idea, and, if the rest of the movie wasn't up to the task, it at least served well to present the characters to people and make sure we know who's who and who does what.
Likewise, I was pleasantly surprised on the women front. Harley is much less a sex object that what the trailers had let me think. Likewise, if the women are still very outnumbered here, done are the days of "1 girl, a bunch of guys", with 4 girls getting more or less screen time, and even a bunch a female soldiers in the background.
There is, though, one big, big, drawback to this movie, and it ain't even a-hole Batman (because he is, sadly). It's the Joker. I have nothing against Leto or a new take, and was actually hopeful and ready for something new and different, but... no. The ring around the eyes and the dentures threw me off. I could have worked around them, but... This is just a thug. Gone are the whimsy or the madness. This is not the clown prince of crime, this is a rich kid criminal. And... While the movie shows him being kind of a jerk to past Harley, there's this very clear impression that it's a real love story, that he cares deeply for current Harley, without any abusive undertones. Maybe I remember wrongly B: TAS, but this felt wrong to me. I was with a friend who knows nothing about them, and she got the impression that they were a loving couple. Yuck.
So that's it. Overall as good and fun as could be expected, but with real drawbacks, of which some could have been avoided.
