THE SUICIDE SQUAD | August 6 2021 | James Gunn writing and directing

[Krissykins]

First two UK reviews from the TV spot:

 

Digital Spy 4/5

BBC Radio 1 “jaw dropping spectacle”

Edited July 19, 2021 by Krissykins

[RRA]

8 hours ago, Krissykins said:

First two UK reviews from the TV spot:

 

Digital Spy 4/5

BBC Radio 1 “jaw dropping spectacle”

Jaw dropping like Brightburn?

[ZattMurdock]

This is the single non MCU related movie I’m truly excited this year other than Dune, which is arguably my most anticipated, but here is one ugly fact about WB’s HBO Max strategy, and why it’s much dumber than Disney’s strategy and I don’t see the movie theater industry complaining as much as they should:

 

I’m 40 years old this year, I was 38 before the pandemic started. My last movie theater experience was Birds of Prey midnight premiere, my last trip before the pandemic was for a Brazilian music festival with more than 50k people all packed together back in February, 2020. It feels surreal that I spent the last one year and a half basically stuck at home but thankfully my job allows me to do that. Basically I traveled everywhere but North America, and my SDCC dreams will have to wait and are one of my big regrets when I think of travels and experiences I skipped before the pandemic hit us all.

 

I decided to preface with this to say that we are not talking about a frail person that is afraid to attend a movie theater. I lived an wild life prior to pandemic and have actually very few regrets (my @baumer’s infamous Amazing Spider-Man 2 bet being one of them). I live in a country where the current death toll is more than 543k people, and more specifically a city that is currently the epicenter of whatever variant is killing people younger and older than me left and right. I also live in a country where crazy politicians opened things up far too soon, including movie theaters. With that said, there is no absolute way in hell that despite my love for blockbuster cinema and traveling that I am going to risk the lives of my loved ones in order to attend a movie theater, not even a MCU one, despite not skipping one single movie premiere since Iron Man, back in 2008.
 

Black Widow was the first time that I skipped a Marvel Studios premiere, but I was incredibly pleased with Disney’s decision to give us a Premier Access option and I took it. It was a different experience than watching at an lIeMAX movie screen like I’ve been doing since The Avengers but I throughly love that film. It’s no secret that I also love James Gunn and I went on record around here how excited I was for this project. I’m very happy to see it’s getting glowing impressions and now reviews, and I look forward to see it as soon as possible.

 

@filmscholar said on this weekend’s thread that he is pleased that Disney and WB is giving the consumers options to see these big films for those in North America and worldwide that are still going through these tough times, and I largely agree with his point, but with that said, I have some huge peeves with WB’s approach (let’s blame AT&T, because goddamn it that HBO Max with an abysmal lack of 4K content is dumb and needs to get corrected ASAP, not sure if that’s the same situation in NA, but here the app is a bug mess with very little of the new content that is available elsewhere) to their "premier access" and I came with receipts to prove how incredibly stupid and not consumer friendly at all it truly is. It’s a mess: not only bad for the movie theater industry but bad for consumers around the globe that don’t happen to live in North America as well.

 

Get this: The Suicide Squad will be available on movie theaters and HBO Max in the USA coming next August 6th, right? It’s not tracking well and that’s a shame. You know what is also a shame? That film won’t be released day and date in our version of HBO Max here. Neither it will be available to purchase on iTunes or Google Play. My days of iJackSparrow are at least 20 years behind me, so piracy isn’t an option. Basically, WB gives the option for North Americans to watch the films they release however they please, but only give the option of waiting 35 days at the very least to be available on HBO Max (and you have to pray that their stuff will come in 4K, since most of their catalogue is puny HD) or if you are really a fan of these characters and movies, risk the lives of those you love in order to attend to a movie theater with a bunch of science deniers.

 

That’s why I love what Disney Plus is doing with their premier access and hope that despite the movie theater industry moans, we do get Shang-Chi and other new films via Premier Access. I will gladly pay it to consume content in the most safe manner possible, and even if you are living in North America, that’s clearly not what movie theaters are right now. As I type this wall of text, I hear ambulance sirens in the background. A noise that I grew used to, since I live like two blocks from my city’s hospital. I love cinema. I am very excited for this film. But I’m not rolling the dice and joining some kind of suicide squad attending movie theaters anytime soon. Here is hoping that Discovery Warner will be wise and change their worldwide model ASAP, because that’s the model that has glaring holes that more than welcome piracy and arent’t even truly consumer friendly with people outside North America to begin with.

[cax16]

Now I just read the embargo is up on the 28th which sounds more likely cause of release schedule so we’ll see. Maybe it’s just UK critics that can be review by this Wednesday cause it opens there earlier?  

[ZattMurdock]

21 minutes ago, cax16 said:

Now I just read the embargo is up on the 28th which sounds more likely cause of release schedule so we’ll see. Maybe it’s just UK critics that can be review by this Wednesday cause it opens there earlier?  

I think Gunn has another home run here. I also think that Gunn moving to WB for good after Vol. 3 is the biggest blow in Marvel Studios and that Alan Horn is a bonafide idiot, I just hope Gunn is trusted with spearheading not just The Suicide Squad, but the DC shared universe as well. Not sure what Flashpoint is trying to pull it off, but I could use some decent cape flicks from WB. I’m so ambivalent about Joker, The Batman and now JJ’s Superman’s. I mean, I’m all for representation and adapting Val Zod seems like an wild and great idea. But I feel like the MCU spoiled us so much with a shared universe and I am confident if there is one person that can pull that off incredibly well at WB right now, that’s James Gunn. There is a lot of DC stuff going on, and while I love the Harley Quinn animated show and I’d argue that it’s the best DC product outside the Justice League Unlimited cartoons in years, there is potential to be so much more. I just hope that Gunn is willing to do more than the Suicide Squad. Reboot Superman, make him Calvin Ellis, Clark Kent or Val Zod for all I care. But make it work in a shared universe. That’s why I’m kinda wary with this whole "different universe" takes but eh, let’s hope.

Edited July 20, 2021 by Alligator Zatt

[cax16]

4 minutes ago, Alligator Zatt said:

I think Gunn has another home run here. I also think that Gunn moving to WB for good after Vol. 3 is the biggest blow in Marvel Studios and that Alan Horn is a bonafide idiot, I just hope Gunn is trusted with spearheading not just The Suicide Squad, but the DC shared universe as well. Not sure what Flashpoint is trying to pull it off, but I could use some decent cape flicks from WB. I’m so ambivalent about Joker, The Batman and now JJ’s Superman’s. I mean, I’m all for representation and adapting Val Zod seems like an wild and great idea. But I feel like the MCU spoiled us so much with a shared universe and I am confident if there is one person that can pull that off incredibly well at WB right now, that’s James Gunn. There is a lot of DC stuff going on, and while I love the Harley Quinn animated show and I’d argue that it’s the best DC product outside the Justice League Unlimited cartoons in years, there is potential to be so much more. I just hope that Gunn is willing to do more than the Suicide Squad. Reboot Superman, make him Val Zod for all I care. But make it work in a shared universe. That’s why I’m kinda wary with this whole "different universe" takes but eh, let’s hope.

I agree in regards to Gunn, I hope he has more input in the larger DC universe if he does come back (which I think he does). But he still has to film gotg 3 and the holiday special and then he wants a short break.
 

We’ll see what happens but to me it looks like they at least finally have a plan and from what I’ve read things will be more connected then ever with character cross overs etc. Let’s see what  The Flash does to the universe. 

[ZattMurdock]

Just now, cax16 said:

I agree in regards to Gunn, I hope he has more input in the larger DC universe if he does come back (which I think he does). But he still has to film gotg 3 and the holiday special and then he wants a short break.
 

We’ll see what happens but to me it looks like they at least finally have a plan and from what I’ve read things will be more connected then ever with character cross overs etc. Let’s see what  The Flash does to the universe. 

Marvel is doing the heavy lifting explaining comic booky concepts with multiple realities, variants and what not. I just want a coherent and cohesive universe. I don’t need another Joker, in fact, I don’t even like that film that much. I like the idea of several Batman related projects coming to HBO Max, but make Pattinson the Batman of that shared universe then. The idea that these characters only work separated is silly and proved wrong for so long that is infuriating to me. Just flashpoint and soft reboot the whole thing. Keep the good, recast and reintroduce the bad.

[dudalb]

On 7/18/2021 at 10:02 AM, WittyUsername said:

I don’t think the Olympics will make much of a difference. The first movie opened during the Olympics too. 

Particulary since the Olympics  seem to be headed toward disaster with the Covid sprading like crazy through the teams.

Still concerned over the lack of buzz, though. You can't depend on a last minute push to get fannies in the seats. Warners should have begun some marketing a few weeks ago. Yes, it had to take second place to :Space Jam, but still you needed to make people aware it is out there which I question if WB has done in this case

of course the DC fanboys are gaga over it, but it's not the fanboys that make or break a film. It's he much despised GA who does that.

And in the US the sharp spike in the Covid numbers will not help.

[Saul Goodman]

Why hasn't Box Office Pro done a long range tracking article for this yet? It releases in 2 weeks!

[Krissykins]

I’ve seen people replying to WB tweets about a different cut of the original film. Do people really want to see that? 😅

 

I say people, but they all have cartoon display pictures so are most likely bots. 

[Napoleon]

30 minutes ago, Krissykins said:

I’ve seen people replying to WB tweets about a different cut of the original film. Do people really want to see that? 😅

 

I say people, but they all have cartoon display pictures so are most likely bots. 

David Ayer promises his cut is good.

 

And I would want to see it. From the details he has shared about what was changed by the studio, the worst offenses we've seen in the film doesn't seem to have been his choices. I don't know if it would be a good movie, but it would be a different movie for sure, and that would be interesting to see. After Justice League, I wouldn't be surprised if WB turned a perfectly good Suicide Squad into that incoherent mess we watched.

[Spidey Freak]

47 minutes ago, Krissykins said:

I’ve seen people replying to WB tweets about a different cut of the original film. Do people really want to see that? 😅

 

I say people, but they all have cartoon display pictures so are most likely bots. 

 

A decade from now when there will be an expose on Jared Leto's cult, there will be members saying they were required to start Twitter accounts asking for more of Leto Joker as part of the initiation. 

[RRA]

1 hour ago, Krissykins said:

I’ve seen people replying to WB tweets about a different cut of the original film. Do people really want to see that? 😅

 

I say people, but they all have cartoon display pictures so are most likely bots. 

I’m surprised the “Ayer Cut” hasn’t been done yet, even as just a Max exclusive. It’s not like it needs a fortune to complete unlike you know what, surely?

[Krissykins]

16 minutes ago, RRA said:

I’m surprised the “Ayer Cut” hasn’t been done yet, even as just a Max exclusive. It’s not like it needs a fortune to complete unlike you know what, surely?

I’d just imagine so few people care lol.
 

Although Snyder Cut is the second biggest selling film of the year here in the UK. 

[Lucas]

An Ayer Cut would be the only way to ever make me rewatch that movie, but even then it would be more so as an interesting artefact than an interest in the film itself.

[TMP]

23 hours ago, Alligator Zatt said:

There is a lot of DC stuff going on, and while I love the Harley Quinn animated show and I’d argue that it’s the best DC product outside the Justice League Unlimited cartoons in years

Quinn is a lot of fun, but I feel like it's pretty hard to argue that Watchmen on HBO wasn't the best thing DC's produced in the last 10 years

[SnokesLegs]

32 minutes ago, TMP said:

Quinn is a lot of fun, but I feel like it's pretty hard to argue that Watchmen on HBO wasn't the best thing DC's produced in the last 10 years

Agreed about Watchmen, but I recently got into Doom Patrol and that’s fantastic too. Very, very weird and oddball, but if you get it, it really lands.

[WittyUsername]

Certain people have been asking for an Ayer Cut ever since the Snyder Cut was officially announced last year. It doesn’t seem very likely to happen. 

[RRA]

6 minutes ago, WittyUsername said:

Certain people have been asking for an Ayer Cut ever since the Snyder Cut was officially announced last year. It doesn’t seem very likely to happen. 

Odd too since AC being done in synergy with TSS would’ve seemingly been a no-brainer move.

 

But once again class, this is WB…

[SnokesLegs]

6 minutes ago, RRA said:

Odd too since AC being done in synergy with TSS would’ve seemingly been a no-brainer move.

 

But once again class, this is WB…

They probably didn’t want to confuse people by having two Suicide Squad projects debuting so close to each other, especially considering the new one is basically a soft reboot. I doubt it would have worked for synergy outside the core DC fans.