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Batbrony

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Let's state this off first and foremost: I DON'T CARE IF YOU LIKE OR DISLIKE THIS FILM! Like what you like, dislike what you dislike, it doesn't matter to me as everyone has their own tastes. That's not to say that things aren't objectively good or bad, but you're not a worse person even if you like something like some of Adam Sandler's worst fare. I might think you have poor taste, but it won't judge what I think of you as a person. So yeah, this is a no-flame war zone.

 

So that out of the way, here's my review of Suicide Squad. I liked it a whole lot! I really did, I really really did. I came in wanting a fun time with a story that I figured wouldn't leave a huge impact on the DCEU, and that's what I got. Was it perfect? No, heck no, but I got what I wanted. A great cast having fun in some crazy roles which I would like to see more of in the future, along with some cool action, cool worldbuilding here and there, and a rocking soundtrack.

 

Will Smith and Margot Robbie (as Deadshot and Harley Quinn, respectively) deserve the lions share of praise, though major props to Jai Courtney, I would really love to see more of his Captain Boomerang in the future. Viola Davis was PERFECT as Amanda Waller, she just WAS that character through and through and definitely did her homework. Killer Croc didn't talk much but he had a few good one-liners here and there and his character shouldn't talk much anyways, Killer Croc isn't smart and doesn't have many thought-provoking things to say. Katana could use more development for sure, but I think there's a good chance she could show up in something like a Birds of Prey movie. El Diablo was a cool character all in all and I really enjoyed his character arc, and Joel Kinnaman was solid as Rick Flagg, as was Cara Delevigne as Enchantress. I can't really judge Jared Leto's Joker at this point, I think people are gonna be split on the performance, but for me it felt like I was watching his audition for the role. I did leave wanting to see more of him, and I think if he has a better writer for his role (it felt like Ayer was afraid of giving him too much to do at risk that the Joker might steal attention from the other characters) in a far expanded role, say in a Batman-solo flick, that he'll really get to shine and polish his performance.

 

The villain I would say was average, but I didn't need a great villain in this film, not when the film focuses on a team of villains already. I'd say she was on par with Ronan in Guardians of the Galaxy, he's not a very good villain either, but he works for that film's needs. The plot doesn't really matter, and there aren't really too many character arcs going on, but I didn't expect these villains to really redeem themselves or anything. And yeah, the editing was shoddy in many places but I was having so much fun that I didn't care. The action was very cool, particularly one of Deadshot's set-pieces and getting to see all these characters with these different powers and styles of fighting fighting alongside each other.

 

After the film, I was chatting on Twitter with a good pal of mine who's a huge DC fan herself. The thing we both loved most is that this was definitely the first DCEU movie that felt like it was happening in a comic book world. There's this whole bevy of crazy characters who exist alongside each other, but the world just accepts that they exist, and I loved that. Magic is now canon in this universe, and not the Marvel tech-magic that they've developed in the MCU, actual, honest-to-gosh magic, which means things like JL Dark can happen! We finally have hope that the DCEU will start embracing the inherently fun-loving nature of comic books, and I think they're on their way to righting the DCEU ship. The mid-credits sequence was very good, and I can't wait for Wonder Woman and Justice League.

 

'Suicide Squad' is a blast, but reviews are a dumpster fire of hyperbole

 

Do I think this movie deserves to be criticized? Sure, it's hardly perfect, and definitely has flaws. But a Forbes review which I've posted above best explains what's going on right now with this film, particularly with critics. I don't think there's a conspiracy or anything, but it's biggest sin to the critics who just seem dead set on destroying Suicide Squad is really that it's not a Marvel film. Not because it's not distributed by Disney, but because the Marvel formula exists already. Heaven help your superhero film if it doesn't follow that formula these days, and with DC, that's impossible, their characters and world are different in nature from Marvel's. There is something unfair going on here, and I think while the fanboy backlash has been too much, many critics are taking an elitist attitude about this movie. They think that people who like it have poor taste, or that their opinion matters more than others. One of the weakest defenses I've heard this week from critics is that "they just want to make sure people don't see movies they shouldn't and would go see if they didn't speak up." That's a terribly elitist thing to say! People are more than capable of determining for themselves what they like on their own. If someone listens to your opinion or shares it, you should be thankful they took the time to listen and follow your advice. You shouldn't simply assume that your opinion matters more than others and that audiences are obligated to share your opinion. Does that mean people always go to movies they should? Of course not, plenty of films that are bad are successful at the box office. But it's up to people to decide what they want to see, and there is no obligation for someone not to buy a movie because the critics didn't dig it, because critics are just as likely to be wrong as they are right. We've seen plenty of times where critics take very forgiving attitudes to films either because of who is pushing out the films (Disney in particular has gotten some softball reviews this year, I mean, The Jungle Book remake getting 100%, Pete's Dragon getting over 80%, come on!), or because of who directed them. This is not always the case of course, but critics are just as human as the rest of us, their word and opinions are not gospel truth, and neither is mine. Also, I should say that I have some problems with the Rotten Tomatoes formula in general; for one, it can't take into account when one movie gets far more reviews than another (like 5 or 30 vs 200+), but for another, it seems odd to try to mathematically measure the merit of a film in such a manner. Film is art, and art is to some extent subjective in the nature of how it is received. So while it may seem natural trying to quantify the merit of a film, I am starting to realize just what a weird system that is, especially how RT does it, and increasingly find myself not buying it given that there's many variables RT can't take into account.

 

I can't guarantee you'll like this film, I can just tell you what I thought. As a DC fan, I had fun and left hopeful for the DCEU going forward. Not even the critics can damper the blast I had here. If you don't like it, I understand if the editing is too bad for you or if it's just not a superhero movie you like. Everyone's different, but for me, this spells good things going forward and if DC can just continue to do more worldbuilding like they did here, we might get increasingly special projects going forward. We need a foundation for the DCEU, and this was the first very comic-booky foundation it's gotten, that alone made it worthwhile for me, and if it's just as fun and worthwhile for you, I'm happy for ya! I think you should check it out as soon as you can, maybe bring some friends, and look forward to what will probably be a good time for ya. Have a nice one ya'll, and hope this review helps. :muffins:

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