Jump to content

CJohn

Suicide Squad (2016)

Grade It  

116 members have voted

  1. 1. Grade It:

    • A
      10
    • B
      27
    • C
      27
    • D
      36
    • F
      16


Recommended Posts



From the main thread:
 

Yeah, it's bad.

 

First 30 min or so are somewhat fun, but then it becomes your standard, paint-by-numbers, dull and predictable superhero nonsense, and not a good one at that. Third act is horrible. The story is weak as hell, the action generic and the tone uneven. Big Will, Harley, Jai Courtney and Amanda Waller are great though, and I would have liked to have seen them in a much better movie. Also, Jared "Tony Montana" Leto is fun but got absolutely nothing on Jack Nicholson and Heath Ledger.

 

So, aside from an enjoyably first act, this is a patchy, overstuffed, uninspired and totally forgettable mess of a movie.

 

5,5/10
 

Edited by The Stingray
  • Like 6
Link to comment
Share on other sites

Maybe the closest any movie's ever gotten to being a literal garbage fire. That's what it looks like half the time, anyway.

 

Got a kick out of Viola Davis and Jai's Accent, but otherwise it's constantly tripping all over itself with regards to basically everything, and gives the impression that it was written not in six weeks but in six hours, by a posturing 13-year-old kid who has no idea how movies work. 

  • Like 7
Link to comment
Share on other sites



Don't know what the 2 above me are talking about, I fucking loved everything about this!! It's like most people are sheep and follow what other people(critics) are saying... I have no problem with the pacing they have to get some backstory in there somehow right? The Joker? I swear everyone is expecting Heath's joker.. sorry to break it to yall that man is dead (R.I.P) I loved Jared Leto take on it.. Cast for the most part had great chemistry.. Can't wait to see it again to dive even deeper into it.. PS. got a guardian feel to it and I think this one will be a Crowd pleaser. Can't wait for the numbers.

  • Like 5
Link to comment
Share on other sites

Reposting my review from the spoiler thread:

 

- The editing is what kills this movie. It's clearly been hacked to pieces and so many scenes feel missing. Many of the film's bigger moments feel unearned and there seems to be no real flow. Some scenes end so abrubtly I didn't even get a good grasp of what happened, and others scenes go on way too long.

 

- Will Smith was honestly the best part of the movie, mostly because he had an actual arc, however hard the editing tried to botch it. Margot Robbie was good too, even if they relied a bit too much on her hotness factor.

 

- The Joker was a complete waste. They devote a bunch of scenes setting him up and he ends up doing very little and then vanishes until the very end. Leto compares unfavorably to Ledger and even Nicholson, but it's not entirely his fault.

 

- Why was Captain Boomerang even in this movie? He does next to nothing besides quipping a few jokes and making oogly faces every now and then. Even the movie didn't seem to care about him since we learn next to nothing about him.

 

- The remaining cast was varying levels of okay. Hernandez was sympathetic enough, Kimmelman was a passable leader, Killer Croc was basically Drax The Destroyer albeit less funny and Katana was just kinda there. Enchantress didn't really excel beyond your average Marvel villain. Slipknot existed only to be killed off. Viola Davis was straightfaced the whole time and her character was a bit all over the place, but she did fine.

 

- There are way too many songs in a row in the first hour or so. It's almost like the composer quit halfway through scoring the film and the producers threw a whole bunch of songs in to desperately fill the gaps. It doesn't work as well as in Guardians of the Galaxy.

 

There's a good movie in here but the craptastic editing and messy characterization is what drags it down. It reeks of post-production interference.

 

5/10 for now.

Edited by cookie
  • Like 9
Link to comment
Share on other sites



Suicide Squad biggest problem, one that has been understated, is its general cowardness, something you wouldn't expect from a film with such title, even considering the big studio nature of it.

 

It positioned itself to deliver the much-needed breath of fresh air in the superhero land. Premise? the bad guys, worst of the worst, acting against their self-interest to fight another bad guy. It's a concept that sounds terrific on paper.

 

But the film doesn't have fucking balls to go for it, to do what's necessary. Merciless killer Will Smith has a heart of gold; Crazy Margot Robbie criticizes the idea of family (!!) but wants one of her own, plus she goes to save the world because, well, there's nothing else to do; El Gandhi Diablo is just a misunderstood dude who killed his family on accident, but preaches non-violence, you will also see him in the amidst of chaos standing there like no big deal once or twice doing nothing, cause it want us to know how integrous of a man he is; Archetype Courtney is the big and lovable bumbling fool, who occasionally looks sad for the camera.

 

Of course, that isn't the film's sole problem, in fact there are TONS of THEM, but in my opinion, it's the fundamental reason why this third-act-turned-into-a-film and sugar coated feature doesn't work, in any level. 00/100

Edited by Goffe
  • Like 9
Link to comment
Share on other sites



Yeah... This movie isn't good...

 

Dont get me wrong, there's some good stuff in it (mostly Deadshot and Harley Quinn), but it's not enough to save the movie from being a steaming mess of a movie.

 

I'll start with what I liked about the movie

 

1.I loved Will Smith as Deadshot, he was the highlight of the movie, and the most well-crafted character in the film.  He has charisma, clear motivation (which is lacking from every other character in the movie), and relatability for why he is how he is.  He made the movie worth seeing.

 

2.Harley Quinn is a fun character, you're given just enough insight to feel sympathetic for her, although her motivations can often times feel muddled. 

 

3.There were some fun action pieces, and the super villain gone hero team dynamic was fairly refreshing.

 

And now for the bad...

 

1.I felt as if this movie had no clear vision on what it was setting out to achieve.  It just kind of goes all over the place, it's paced terribly, and it continually contradicts itself and backtracks.  For example, the tone of the film is astonishingly inconsistent.  It feels jarring as it goes from being a dark redemption piece, to a sci-fi action fest, to Season of the Witch, to something failing to mimic Guardians of the Galaxy.  

 

2.The editing is choppy and you can tell David Ayer's film was hacked to pieces.  Things happen within the movie and it'll make no sense, because they've cut out various information points, either to keep the film shorter or to fill it with more jokes.  I was left scratching my head quite a number of times because of how poorly the film gave its audience information.  There was one character that I ended up thinking was dead, only to come back, only to randomly disappear (with me having to deduce she was probably dead), and then to come back again, out of the blue.  The editing made BvS seem like a coherent film.  If Humpty Dumpty post fall was a movie, it'd be this movie.

 

3.The villain (and thus the driving goal of the plot of the movie) was terrible.  She wasn't a Marvel villain type of bad by being bland and unforgettable, she was distinctly memorable for how awful in every way shape and form she was.  The concept behind her was ridiculous and silly.  Her mannerisms made me nearly bust out laughing at how ridiculous they were, her motivations were weak, and the lines that came out of her mouth reminded me of a filler boss from a filler dungeon in World of Warcraft.  Not to mention her design (and her brother's) were ugly AF.  I'd expect her to come out of the minds of a bad dungeon master for D&D, not one of the bright minds of Hollywood.

 

4.The script, for the most part, was incoherent and simply put, trash.  With the exception of Quinn and Deadshot, every line that was spoken in the movie made me cringe a little because it felt so forced.  Not to mention there are many character decisions throughout the movie that make no sense, and break whatever character it is they built.  The writing for this movie is a big underlying problem that causes everything else to fall apart.

 

5.I didn't like Jared Leto's joker, he kind of seemed like he was trying to hard to harness Nicholson and Ledger that he ended up falling flat for me.  Easily one of the worst versions of the Joker I've seen.

 

6.The greatest hits soundtrack was jarring for me.  It wasn't played into the film in a manner that would make the music work, and felt like it was a poor job at trying to copy Guardians of the Galaxy's success.  The music was mostly distracting and placed in scenes where it didn't work.

 

7.The exposition can often go off the wall in the film.  Instead of showing you information, it just randomly feeds it to you whenever it realizes it didn't explain something earlier.  It stopped me from truly being enamored by any of the characters, near the beginning especially.

 

I could go on, but you get the picture.  This movie isn't good.  At all.  Will Smith and Margot Robbie are the two things that are stopping me from giving it an F because I really enjoyed their characters.  I'd love to see something focusing on Smith exclusively.

 

Anyways, I didn't really passionately hate the movie.  I felt felt indifferent and unmoved.  Batman v Superman angered me for its treatment of the characters, this movie just felt like a big disappointment.  It's overall quality is probably worse than BvS, it just didn't make me angry like BvS did.

 

D-

  • Like 8
Link to comment
Share on other sites

Maybe I'll write a full review later but right on D-/F for me. Was in denial until it started.

It was fun watching Will Smith and Harley Quinn but they felt like they were in a different movie. Jai Courtneys few scenes were actually entertaining but his character went nowhere. El Diablo turned into Gods Of Egpyt CGI.
 

Worst Joker entrance ever. Worst The Joker ever. What was the point of him even being there?

You are supposed to buy the chemistry for him and Harley through a 3 minute flashback?! Yeah no. I did however love how Harley was very briefly shown in the classic costume there though.


And Cara....oh the less said about her the better. She was by far the worst part of this movie. Enchantress could have walked right out of a Ghost Rider movie. This role could be the end of her career in Hollywood.

 

Edited by somebody85
  • Like 2
Link to comment
Share on other sites



9 hours ago, Goffe said:

Suicide Squad biggest problem, one that has been understated, is its general cowardness, something you wouldn't expect from a film, even considering its big studio nature, with such a title. 

 

It positioned itself to deliver the much-needed breath of fresh air in the superhero land. Premise? the bad guys, worst of the worst, acting against their self-interest to fight another bad guy. It's a concept that sounds terrific on paper.

 

But the film doesn't have fucking balls to go for it, to do what's necessary. Merciless killer Will Smith has a heart of gold; Crazy Margot Robbie criticizes the idea of family (!!) but wants one of her own, plus she goes to save the world because, well, there's nothing else to do; El Gandhi Diablo is just a misunderstood dude who killed his family on accident, but preaches non-violence, you will also see him in the amidst of chaos standing there like not big deal once or twice, doing pretty much nothing, cause it want us to know how integrous man he is; Archetype Courtney  is the old big and loveable bumbling fool, who occasionally looks sad for the camera.

 

Of course, that isn't the film's sole problem, in fact there are TONS of THEM, but in my opinion, it's fundamentally the reason why this third-act-turned-into-a-film and sugar coated feature doesn't work, like at any level whatsoever. 00/100

 

I agree with everything you say, that it plays it safe and lacks balls, but I was expecting that. It is after all a PG-13 comic book movie in 2016.

 

I found it funny the way they kept reminding us "we're the bad guys", when they're all really, as you say, kinda lost and misguided and have huge hearts of gold. :lol:

Edited by The Stingray
  • Like 6
Link to comment
Share on other sites

Among the good ideas buried by everything else the one that stuck out to me was that The Joker and Harley's relationship seemed to be genuine, if however twisted, love, rather than a pathetic one-sided obsession. That could have made for a compelling storyline, if, y'know, someone actually bothered to try and do something with it. 

  • Like 6
Link to comment
Share on other sites



Full Review:

Suicide Squad makes me fear for the future of summer cinema. I don't understand how the final product of a great marketing campaign turned out so badly. Look I wanted to love this movie so much. Driving to the theater, I held out hope that maybe this would be one of those times where I would think "Eh it's not as terrible as I've heard."

But yeah...it actually is that terrible. This ranks down there with Warcraft as one of the worst movies of the year. The horrid editing is actually more noticeable then the theatrical cut of Batman V Superman. It's a complete mess. It's like WB was scared from the reception of Batman V Superman, saw the positive response to the trailers for Suicide Squad and decided to cut the actual movie just like them. The end result is somewhere between a music video and a video game.

The first half of the movie feels completely different in tone to the second half. None of the action is exciting or stands out once we leave the setup. Most of this movie is the characters walking down a deserted street and bashing in generic clay monsters. No one ever feels like they are in danger and The Enchantress sets herself (and I guess her brother?) up early in one of the most incoherent scenes I've seen this year.

The origin of each character comes in the form of flashbacks (some of them last a scene or two - that's it). One of these scenes introduces The Joker in the absolute lamest way possible. This flashback is designed to make you care about Harley Quinn and The Jokers relationship but the editing completely ruins it. This is a huge part of Harleys arc and it never feels developed.

The movie honestly feels like Deadshot, Harley Quinn....and everyone else. Those two characters get so much screen time that I felt like I'd seen them in other movies before this. Will Smith plays Will Smith. He's good yet he never feels like an actual villain. In fact none of these characters do. Most of the side characters have nothing to do but occupy space on the poster. Jai Courtney has a few funny lines but his character has no story. You don't find out what the mission even is until halfway into the movie.

Honestly, the plot is freaking all over the place. I found it hard to tell what the hell was going on half the time thanks to the horrendous editing mentioned above. This movie earns none of the chemistry the squad develops. Unlike something like Guardians Of The Galaxy it doesn't feel natural at all. It just happens because the writers need it to and everyone just suddenly becomes a family. I guess fighting clay monsters bonds you together?

But the worst part of the entire film is the actual antagonist. The Enchantress is so god awful that she could have stepped right out of Ghost Rider 2. I physically had to restrain myself from bursting out laughing from scenes that involved her and whatever the hell her brother was. It was unintentionally hilarious. Particularly that subbed voice over. 

So yeah...the finale draws comparisons to Fant4stic and Gods Of Egypt in all the worst ways. None of the characters motivations make any sense outside of Deadshot. They all decide to do this complete turn around and fight for the government because they have nothing better to do. That's seriously what it comes down to.

The Joker shows up for about 3 minutes of screen time. His only purpose in the whole movie is to be Harley's love interest and he doesn't have a single stand out scene. This reiteration of the character is so on the nose that "I'm a gangster" plays in the background of the scene where he dives into the vat of acid after Harley.

This movie just has too many issues that no extended cut could fix. The PG-13 rating really hurt it too. It wants to be bleak so badly but it doesn't come close. In the end, the only thing that sort of saves the squad from being unwatchable are the characters. Deadshot and Harley Quinn are both fun and interesting but the actual movie surrounding them is hot garbage. I don't know what the hell David Ayer and WB were thinking.

I can't convince you not to go (the team behind the marketing of Suicide Squad deserve an Oscar for making an atrocious movie look amazing) but I would strongly recommend downing a few strong drinks beforehand.  - D-

Edited by somebody85
  • Like 4
Link to comment
Share on other sites

1 hour ago, Jake Gittes said:

Among the good ideas buried by everything else the one that stuck out to me was that The Joker and Harley's relationship seemed to be genuine, if however twisted, love, rather than a pathetic one-sided obsession. That could have made for a compelling storyline, if, y'know, someone actually bothered to try and do something with it. 


Maybe if they didn't rush this very important relationship in about 3 minutes with that opening flash back. One second Harley is interrogating The Joker, the next he's standing over her torturing her and the next she's in the club pole dancing to the Skrillex & Rick Ross song on the soundtrack while The Joker watches.
 

It was so bad.

Edited by somebody85
  • Like 6
Link to comment
Share on other sites



So yeah it's no good at all. First 40-50 mins are quite entertaining but then I lost any interest. Smith and Robbie were two best aspects of this piece of c***. Leto as The Joker was simply awful. I love that character since I was 3 but this version is dreadful. And Cara is the worst CBM villain since Sharon Stone in Catwoman.

 

4.5/10 (D)

  • Like 1
Link to comment
Share on other sites



I'm glad I went in with rock bottom expectations.

 

although I disagree with popular opinion about Will Smith was not that great, he was Will Smith like he is in everything and his Father/Daughter character arch was easily one of the worst, most forced aspects of the film- it was cringe worthy.

 

Jared Leto's Joker was an abomination.

 

Jai Courtney and Margot Robbie were easily the best parts of the movie, becuase they were actually funny and had some character. I liked Viola Davis too.

 

for the most part the action was great. and I kind of liked the witch- she wa so campy and evil, that I enjoyed it.

 

The editing is a mess- I also seem to disagree the the first half was the best part- in fact I pretty much hated the movie until about 40 minutes in in fact I rather in enjoyed the last half. 

 

great songs- most of them extremely out of place. some of them coming literally in the next scene it was very jarring. I need time to process before giving it a rating though- it could have been so much better with a better script and better editing. if I were WB i would seriously considering recasting the Joker and also considering giving the DCEU to Disney.

 

forgive my writing right now I am getting over a massive head/sinus cold thing. 

  • Like 1
Link to comment
Share on other sites





I need to talk about the shit I just saw.

     

I just don't know what to say. The first 20 minutes play out like a puzzle where none of the pieces fit together, just random. The rest of movie is pretty much the characters walking about the city and shooting monsters, it was as engaging as somebody else play Call of Duty. The last half hour was SHOCKING. A guy just transformed into a monster out of nowhere and starts fighting with this other thing in a scene ripped straight out of God's of Egypt, horrible CGI and all. The final battle was clearly reshot, it takes place on one cheap set I wouldn't be surprised was borrowed from a TV show. The budget seemed to have disappeared too because that scene was COVERED in smog. You couldn't see shit. Shit looked like this in 144p:

     

    
             

     

The characters just seemed to be... there. The villain is horrible. She's just evil for the sake of being evil with an evil plan to destroy the world blah blah blah. You really don't care, she stands in the same spot doing a funny dance for most of the movie. Her dialogue seemed to be ripped out of something like Flash Gordon. Joker is the worst Joker I've seen outside of a comic book. He's just a thug with mental condition, that's pretty much it. The mystery is gone. He's covered in tat's that are full of personality, has a fashion sense that shows he actually cares about his fashion, drives a custom-made purple lambo which I wouldn't be surprised to find out he paid for instead of stole. Leto wasn't the problem, the Joker 'wannabe' characterization was. Diablo was cool as hell but they didn't spend enough time with him, and by time they do it feels like the movie is doing one of those TV talent show sob stories, and by the end of the movie he feels wasted because his character showed so much potential. I'd seriously watch a movie about him. Harley is just the annoying girl at Uni that everyone eventually has to tell is annoying when she finally goes too far: she's fun at the occasional party on a night out, but you don't want to deal with her shit during the day (the kind of girl that's gonna dress up like Harley Quinn on halloween). Deadshot was the best but the movie kept hammering on and on about his daughter, we fucking get it. I've pretty much forgotten who else was there. 

     

The film gets more and more jumbled, there's a part where the characters get angry at Rick Flag and I still don't know why. Their job was to stop some evil shit and they were ok with it, I don't know why they just decided to be upset. They got some info about how the villain got loose and started getting angry and i'm sitting there like "WHY DO YOU EVEN CARE?!?!" The music seemed to have been stolen from a 13 year old's Spotify playlist and is poorly implemented into scenes that I imagine were much darker and tense originally (the Kehlani song during Harley's 'birth', the Action Bronson song during Deadshot's flashback, the Eminem song comes out of fucking nowhere).

     

This is an appalling movie. It's just horribly put together. However I would love to have seen Ayer's original vision. There's so much stuff here that's on the cusp of working and the tampering is incredibly obvious.

     

I did not enjoy this movie. Frankly you're better off watching Assault on Arkham, an animated movie that's 10x more grounded than this tried to be and 10x less forced than this thing felt.

     

     

    I give it :sadben::sadben::sadben::sadben:/ 10.

     

    It also ranks on my list of the worst movies I've paid to see in a cinema

     

    1) Transformers 2

    2) POTC 3

    3) Sucker Punch

    4) Fant4stic

    5) XO: Wolverine

    6) Johnny English 2

    7) Warcraft

    8) 50 Shades of Grey

    9) Suicide Squad

    10) SharkBoy and Lava Girl.

  • Like 6
Link to comment
Share on other sites



Yeah, this isn't a good movie. Still it isn't the worst movie I saw this year. SS is a 2 hour long mess of a film. Enchantress is a laughable villain. Most of the cast is underutilized and their characters are pretty pointless. Will Smith was good though. 

Edited by Empire
  • Like 1
Link to comment
Share on other sites



Well, I went in with low expectations, and those were unfortunately met... What a mess. I enjoyed moments, especially with harley, but beyond a few moments, I already forgot everything that happened... except that horrible joke of a final fight. As most have said, there is a good movie in there, hell, probably a great one... unfortunately its totally not there. It could have been worse, I got some enjoyment out of it and I didn't feel like I wasted my money... (which I didnt because I got the T-Mobile ticket...) However, I wont scramble to see it again or promote it to anyone... its a "Meh" movie if there ever was one.

 

C

  • Like 1
Link to comment
Share on other sites



13 hours ago, somebody85 said:

And Cara....oh the less said about her the better. She was by far the worst part of this movie. Enchantress could have walked right out of a Ghost Rider movie. This role could be the end of her career in Hollywood.

 

One of my least favorite villainous tropes is the villain, who is really an evil spirit, inhabits the body of someone who is otherwise bland as fuck and the person playing that someone has to play villain for the majority of the movie to incredibly weak effect.

  • Like 1
Link to comment
Share on other sites



Join the conversation

You can post now and register later. If you have an account, sign in now to post with your account.

Guest
Reply to this topic...

×   Pasted as rich text.   Paste as plain text instead

  Only 75 emoji are allowed.

×   Your link has been automatically embedded.   Display as a link instead

×   Your previous content has been restored.   Clear editor

×   You cannot paste images directly. Upload or insert images from URL.



  • Recently Browsing   0 members

    • No registered users viewing this page.
×
×
  • Create New...

Important Information

By using this site, you agree to our Terms of Use and Guidelines. Feel free to read our Privacy Policy as well.