Spoiler free reviews

[Paul (ral)]

Give your view in the film but strictly no spoilers!

[Silver Nemesis]

IGN gave it a 5.9: http://uk.ign.com/articles/2016/08/02/suicide-squad-review

They're some of the biggest DC fans on the planet and usually always overrate comic book films. They gave positive reviews to the two previous DCEU films, but not SS. This is not looking good.

[johnnygobbs]

I linked this more positive review yesterday: http://www.independent.co.uk/arts-entertainment/films/news/suicide-squad-review-from-early-viewer-suggests-its-better-than-batman-v-superman-but-theres-not-a7166101.html

On its general quality:

"I really enjoyed it. There are some pacing issues but the actors cancel that out. Will Smith kills it and so does Margot Robbie. I'd give it an 8/10."

On the worst part of the movie:

"The worst part is just some of the pacing. And I feel like Croc could of had some more lines and back story since we got a lot more for Harley, Deadshot, and Enchantress. The best part is the team together. There's awesome jokes and great chemistry between them."

On the best scene:

"I loved that final fight sequence, Deadshot, Harley and Croc were so awesome in it."

On Jared Leto's Joker:

"To be honest he needs to grow on me more. He's cool but his role isn't huge but it is important in the film. I think once he has more screen time though he's going to be amazing...He comes off more as a mobster in SS than the Joker...He even owns a strip club. But I love his laugh it's so creepy."

On the size of The Flash's cameo:

"He's on screen for like 2 seconds."

On setting up future DC Universe films:

"This movie sets up a much better tone for the future of the DCU than BvS did. It's not as dark and depressing."

On Batman's involvement and whether you actually see Ben Affleck (as opposed to a stuntman):

He does get screen time in the first hour of the movie...It is Affleck you get to see him with out the mask."

On Scott Eastwood's cameo:

"I was so excited to find out and so disappointed to see he was just a random soldier."

On the mid-credits scene:

"That got me so excited. It's a good set up for one of the next movies."

[johnnygobbs]

Here's The Guardian's review: https://www.theguardian.com/film/2016/aug/02/suicide-squad-review-dc-comics-will-smith-margot-robbie-jared-leto

3/5 stars

The new DC Comics supervillain movie certainly brings the crazy with its team of psychopathic ex-convicts, a Dirty Half-Dozen Hannibal Lecters. It also brings the chaos and the surreal disorientation. It's undoubtedly an advance on that recent uneasy face-off, Batman v Superman: Dawn of Justice. But does it bring the funny? Not the way the Marvel movies do it, really: that ingredient of sympathetic humour hasn't quite worked its way into DC's mix yet – though I accept that writer-director David Ayer (who made Brad Pitt's second world war drama Fury, as well as End of Watch and Harsh Times) intended Suicide Squad to be darker, meaner and more violent than that – all of which has earned his film a 15 certificate in the UK.

There's plenty to like: Suicide Squad is about a secret US government project to release the country's imprisoned supervillains and, with a tiny remote-control bomb implanted in each of their necks to induce cooperation, train them to fight any threat from other uber-bad guys lurking beneath the narrative horizon. Margot Robbie is entertainingly over the top as the toxic-barbie Harley Quinn, formerly Dr Harleen Quinzel, the improbable prison psychiatrist who dressed in strippergram clothes even before her journey to the dark side. She fell in love with a patient, the Joker, now on the loose and played here by Jared Leto.

Robbie steals the movie from most of her co-stars, but the real scene-stealer is Viola Davis, playing soberly dressed federal apparatchik Amanda Waller: it's an excellent, coolly menacing performance. Waller has a duplicitous plan to use the Suicide Squad to cover up another plan. If only Davis were involved a bit more; if only we could scale down the inevitable FX-driven action finale involving slightly tiring supernatural forces, in order to beef up the dialogue and the chemistry. And maybe lose some of the more incidental appearances from B-list Squadders who are hardly used, and perhaps even cut the incidental franchise-signalling cameos, like the Flash (Ezra Miller).

As things stand, Superman is off the scene; America needs protection, so Waller dreams up a plan to recruit a top team of badder-than-bad guys and put them under the control of special forces hombre Rick Flag (Joel Kinnaman), who can exert authority over and above that neck-bomb. His girlfriend is archaeologist Dr June Moone, who regularly morphs into an ancient warrior, Enchantress (Cara Delevingne); she can keep the Squad in line, and as Waller has her heart in a special briefcase, she will have to keep Enchantress in line too. The Squad is made up of weapons fetishist Deadshot (Will Smith), fire-breathing hellraiser Diablo (Jay Hernandez), Harley Quinn (Robbie), Aussie tough guy Boomerang (Jai Courtney) and subterranean monster Killer Croc (Adewale Akinnuoye-Agbaje).

There is fun to be had as each Squadder's deplorable backstory is sketched out, and in seeing our mutinous antiheroes submitting with bad grace to some sort of training. Yet no sooner are they together, they find that the Joker has plans to spring Harley from the programme – which gives Harley first-among-equals plot status – and the dark forces they must combat have been somehow called into being by the Squad's very existence: caused, in fact, by the fraught presence of Enchantress. Clearly, Amanda Waller has a secret she is keeping from them.

It's a clotted and delirious film, with flashes of preposterous, operatic silliness. But it doesn't have much room to breathe; there are some dull bits, and Leto's Joker suffers in comparison with the late Heath Ledger. I was just settling into what promised to be an enjoyable jail-life montage to the accompaniment of Queen's Bohemian Rhapsody – a track featured very heavily in the trailer – when the song was just yanked, not even a third of the way through, and we cut to something else. (Another trailer promised us a blast of the Sweet's Ballroom Blitz, incidentally. Not forthcoming.) There were some funny touches, mainly from Harley, and from Ike Barinholtz's corrupt prison guard Griggs. (Held at gunpoint by Deadshot, he announces that should he die, his colleague has his permission to shoot Deadshot and then quickly delete Griggs's internet browser history.)

Suicide Squad promises madness, and a dense downpour of madness is what it delivers. I could have done with more fun and more lightness of touch.

[johnnygobbs]

Right-wing Tory newspaper, The Daily Telegraph, gave it, by contrast to The Guardian, a negative review:

Until the marketing onslaught for the latest DC Comics film began, drenching every bus stop and Twitter feed in the land in electric puce and eau-de-nil, few outside the comic book-reading fraternity had heard of the Suicide Squad. Even in Batmanland, this villainous strike force had always been something of an antic sideshow – at least until earlier this year, when the widely unloved Batman v Superman: Dawn of Justice threw Warner Bros.' super-heroic cinematic universe into a state of crisis.

Heartsore fans were reassured that the forthcoming Suicide Squad movie would be the emergency valve by which the studio would squirt some fun back into the enterprise. Warner Bros. even commissioned reshoots, reportedly as recently as April and costing in excess of $10 million, to add more action and humour.

Even by a generous count, that works out at a sum in the high six figures per memorable action sequence, or million bucks gross per gag that actually lands – although eardrum-puncturingly bad dialogue, scowling self-pity, covert pornography and scrappy CGI are apparently a lot more affordable.

For here we have a motion picture in which a new incarnation of the classic Batman villain the Joker – essayed by Jared Leto as a kind of Halloween-themed version of Rik Mayall's Richie, from the 1990s BBC sitcom Bottom – slurpingly offers up a sexual encounter with his girlfriend-stroke-protégé Harley Quinn (Margot Robbie) to a fellow career crook as a kind of underworld bargaining chip.

Here is a comic-book adaptation in which Batman (Ben Affleck) himself – one of the most universally beloved superheroes ever created – hauls Harley from the Gotham River, gives her creepily insistent mouth-to-mouth, then immediately pins her down by the throat, erotic asphyxia-style, when she comes around.

Here is a film in which model-turned-actress Cara Delevingne gives not only a personal worst performance, but something close to a former-profession-worst performance, as a gyrating, bikini-clad villainess called Enchantress, who kisses men full on the lips to turn them into her slaves (of course!) and talks like Vanessa Redgrave on rhinoceros tranquiliser.

Enchantress's human host is an archaeologist called June Moone, whose introductory sequence shows her walking into an ancient temple and immediately snapping the head off an ancient idol. This is more or less par for the course in terms of Suicide Squad's depiction of comprehensible human behaviour.

While it surely wasn't Warner Bros.' intention, Suicide Squad often feels like the film equivalent of a crumpled note passed to the anti-Ghostbusters trolls outside detention. "See?" it seems to say. "At least we haven't forgotten you. We've got tube tops and gussets and proud but tormented men, and a scene in which Will Smith (as Deadshot, the world's greatest marksman) shoots a wide range of deafening projectile weapons to a rousing pop music soundtrack."

The film begins with the Squad's who-knows-how-many members' origin stories rattled through in quick succession: this is mostly fun, not least because it involves plenty of Viola Davis as the secret-service hawk who recruits them.

Then comes their mission in central Midway City to take down Enchantress and her lychee-headed minions, while the Joker just sort of wanders in and out. This is very long and very rainy: somehow it even rains during the final battle, which takes place indoors.

What's doubly depressing about all this is that Suicide Squad was directed by David Ayer (Fury, End of Watch), a weathered specialist in gallows camaraderie and exactly the kind of filmmaker who might have been able to make a good fist of it.

Occasionally, the film feels like Ayer is trying to fight his way out from underneath an enormous, suffocating parachute. Flammable gang-banger El Diablo (Jay Hernandez) has a tough-tragic family history that's almost affecting, while Ike Barinholtz's cheerfully corrupt prison guard – a very Ayerish creation – makes more of an impression than official Squad members Boomerang (Jai Courtney), Killer Croc (Adewale Akinnuoye-Agbaje), Rick Flag (Joel Kinnaman) and Katana (Karen Fukuhara) put together.

Then there's Robbie, whose winking, collusive star-appeal remains mostly undimmed here despite everything, and under happier circumstances might have been (and still might be, with any luck) an ideal Ayer leading lady.

When you compare Suicide Squad to what James Gunn and Marvel Studios achieved in Guardians of the Galaxy – low-profile property, oddball characters, make-it-fun brief – the film makes you cringe so hard your teeth come loose. But it's a slog even on its own crushingly puerile terms.

Hmm, this is an interesting line: "While it surely wasn't Warner Bros.' intention, Suicide Squad often feels like the film equivalent of a crumpled note passed to the anti-Ghostbusters trolls outside detention."

But like I said, remember that the Telegraph or 'Torygraph' as it's popularly known in the UK, is a right-wing paper for posh people, unlike the liberal/left-wing Guardian which gave the film a decent review.

[johnnygobbs]

"Empire Magazine", which I have very high regard for, and only gave BvS 3/5 stars, has given Suicide Squad 4/5 stars.

Machiavellian government agent Amanda Waller (Viola Davis) has a plan to deal with the sudden, Superman-heralded "metahuman" threat to the world: coerce the globe's deadliest bad guys into an emergency super-team. And when Midway City becomes the ravaged heart of a plot to extinguish humanity, that's exactly what she does, with expectedly unexpected results.

If Marvel has the best superheroes, so the prevailing geek-logic goes, then DC has the coolest villains. So it's only sensible they're finally placed front, centre and in the firing line. Filling its entire super-team with previously unseen antagonists, Suicide Squad represents a Flash-speed sprint of a catch-up for the rapidly forming DC Cinematic Universe. And, on that front at least, it's a real hoot.

Deadshot, "the most wanted hitman in the world", is delivered with heat-of-the-action poise and a generous side order of sass by Will Smith, who couldn't look happier stepping back from his above-the-title dominance to join this motley ensemble and coolly put bullets in brains.

Then there's Harley Quinn, the Jokerette, if you like; though "crazier than him, and more dangerous", we're warned. Margot Robbie, skipping daintily about in pants hotter than hell's sauna, isn't quite allowed to completely steal this show — but she certainly borrows it from time to time, and repays you with enough interest to make that mooted Harley stand-alone an enticement.

Plus, among others, we have the tinnie-swigging, stick-hurling Captain Boomerang, which finally sees Jai Courtney flexing his rough charisma on screen; and flame-moulding gang-banger Diablo, the team's unlikely conscience in the impressively intense, tat-etched form of Jay Hernandez.

It's quite the roll call. And, despite the rich material, director David Ayer is a brave man to marshal this Dirty Half-ish-Dozen. Thinking he was making the "funny, smart-talking, cool little brother" to Batman v Superman, he found himself tasked with turning back the wave of negativity that smashed Zack Snyder's Dawn Of Justice.

More used to spelunking in the man-caves of the testosteronic psyche with the likes of End Of Watch and 2014's underrated war movie Fury, Ayer might seem an unlikely candidate to rescue a comic-book blockbuster series, but, like his unpredictable, mismatched characters, he pulls it off with gritty-flashy aplomb.

Well, for the most part. Whatever the truth behind the reasons for additional shooting (standard procedure, or last-minute Deadpool-style humour injection?) you can't help but inhale the sweaty waft of 11th-hour scrambling in what proves to be a scrappy final edit. False starts, oddly placed flashbacks, clunky cameos (Ben Affleck's Batman, Ezra Miller's Flash) and a muddled chronology detract from the grungy, kooky DayGlo-splashed fun, and it takes a good 45 minutes (plus the mystifyingly late introduction of what turns out to be one complete non-event of a character) for the set-up to stop flapping and the action proper to kick in. Also, in striving to find a threat deadly enough to warrant asking bad guys to save the world, the film's answer is less than satisfying. We get little more than just another posturing villain with vague plans for world domination via a big, swirling mass of CGI.

Still, at least elsewhere there's a proper bad guy to chew on. Though only a wild card, occasionally capering in and out of the main plot, Jared Leto's incarnation of the Joker is essential to its success. Where Heath Ledger's version was scarred, shabby and countercultural, Leto's has a smooth, blingy gangsta swagger; a modern take on the way the original comic-book creation riffed on '30s mobsters. But it's not his swish, purring style and elegant, slo-mo cackle that really hooks you, it's something we've never seen before: the Joker in love. Here's a fascinatingly jagged new angle (cinematically at least). It's unsettling and compelling — almost enough to make you wish it were more than a subplot.

But there's more to come, surely? Judging by what Ayer's pulled off here, you can bet there will be.

Like Avengers Assemble forced through a Deadpool mangle, Suicide Squad gives new life to DC's big-screen universe. So bad-to-the-bone it's good.

So maybe there is some hope after all.

[Paul (ral)]

I deleted the ComingSoon review. It said "potential spoilers" and this is a spoiler free thread.

[The Dark Knight]

Letting you know I will put in my review for the film by Monday. Hopefully it can be posted on the site!

[Paul (ral)]

Sure thing!

[The Laughing Fish]

This isn't specific to Suicide Squad, but rather an analysis on "Five things wrong with the DC Extended Universe":

http://www.cheatsheet.com/entertainment/things-wrong-dc-universe.html/?a=viewall

I'll comment the first four things in this list.

1. Lack of a consistent tone throughout

In Man of Steel and Batman v Superman, Snyder established a downbeat tone largely set by his dour, conflicted version of Superman. However, with gleefully over-the-top characters like Harley Quinn (Margot Robbie) and more laid-back heroes like the Flash (Ezra Miller) on the way, the DCEU will need to establish a consistent tone. This tone will need to be present throughout each individual film and will be central in the creation of a shared universe in which all the various characters coexist.

Think of how Marvel managed to sell moviegoers on the earnest Captain America and the arrogant Iron Man as individuals before perfectly meshing the two together in The Avengers. Fingers crossed that Justice League can pull off the same for its marquee heroes.

Look, I'm a big fan of the MCU, but to be honest, I don't find the tone to be that consistent either. The Winter Soldier was the best movie of Phase 2, and that was because it had a compelling plot where the heroes had to stop a corrupt government agency with a fairly serious tone in comparison to IM3, TTDW, GOTG, AOU and Ant-Man. It had its humour, but it wasn't overdone. As a matter of fact, TWS didn't feel like it belonged in the same universe as those other movies.

In Civil War, Spider-Man and Ant-Man drastically changed the tone in the second act of a film that was otherwise grim and dark. They rather felt out of place.

2. Rushed introductions to characters

Although Warner Bros. has plans to spin each Justice League character into solo movies, it remains unclear whether each of these will be origin stories or simply take place after the team is established. In the latter case, the DCEU runs the risk of introducing too many new characters that casual moviegoers are not intimately familiar with. This lack of sufficient development could hinder interest in a character's solo film and rob the epic team-up of some of its impact.

Take, for example, the way that the overstuffed Batman v Superman shoehorned Wonder Woman into a story centered on the two title characters. After decades of waiting for their own films, these characters deserve proper big-screen introductions.

Honestly, apart from the unnecessary return of Swanwick and his secretary from MOS, I didn't find BvS that overstuffed at all. The JL cameos were simply that, and nothing more.

Also, I don't buy the Wonder Woman example. Now sure, one may say she wasn't that integral to the plot, but A) she'll be helping Batman find the other metahumans to form the Justice League, and B) she is getting a proper big-screen introduction next year. Besides, I didn't find her role more forced than Spider-Man's involvement was in Captain America: Civil War. And before anyone accuses me of anything, I'm not trying to start some childish Marvel vs DC war here, I liked Civil War but I thought Spider-Man was superfluous.

3. Bombast and imagery over story focus

Perhaps the most popular issue moviegoers and critics have with the DCEU films to date is the emphasis on explosions and other computer generated mayhem rather than a more nuanced approach to storytelling. Both of Snyder's Superman films struggled to balance their stories against a desire for widespread destruction and shots that faithfully create visual callbacks to famous comic book images. As cool as it was to see the trinity of Superman, Batman, and Wonder Woman team up, the fact remains that the entire third act of Batman v Superman feels like an excuse to facilitate that short-lived and sadly underwhelming team-up.

One might say that's the case in MOS, (and even then I think it's a little unfair), but BvS had less action and destruction. It was story-focused, particularly the Ultimate Edition. So if there's any criticism against BvS from my part when it comes to action, it didn't have enough. But that's okay because the plot explored the characters, their motives and their struggles.

4. Choosing convoluted plots over complex characters

Speaking of story problems, the DCEU needs to recognize that fans come to these films to spend time with their beloved characters, not to endure a labored attempt to be dazzled with convoluted narrative threads. Batman v Superman was far more guilty of this than Man of Steel. It was to the point that one must sit through the film's supplemental three-hour "Ultimate Edition" in order to begin making sense of the various disconnected plot threads and Lex Luthor's absurdly far-fetched scheme to pit the heroes against each other.

Our suggestion? Create richer characters and put them first. They'll dictate the intricacies of the story. It shouldn't be the other way around.

Aside from the dark tone, another complaint which I find to be hypocritical is the convoluted stories aimed at these movies, when Nolan's trilogy were riddled with plot holes and messy plot points that don't hold up to scrutiny, but were forgiven anyway. The only part I don't get about Lex Luthor's plan was his involvement with Steppenwolf, as it was implied in the Ultimate Edition. But otherwise, I didn't find his plan to be any more far-fetched than TDK Joker's, with the nonsense about having no plans when he clearly does, or how he miraculously counters Gordon's non-plan to  capture him...and dumbing Harvey Dent down. Need I say more?