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Suicide Squad Wasn’t That Bad
Mild Spoilers Ahead
It’s no secret that DC movies haven’t been doing well lately. So when I saw that Rotten Tomatoes gave “Suicide Squad” at 27% fresh rating, and after witnessing the monstrous trainwreck that was “Batman v Superman,” I wasn’t exactly jumping out of my seat to see it. But I had a DC comic-lover friend that really wanted to go and I was bored that day. I also thoroughly enjoyed the trailer music soundtrack.
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Here’s what I have to say to some common criticisms of the movie:
There wasn’t enough Joker.
This is the main critique I’ve been seeing all over the place. Jared Leto’s name is on the poster but he wasn’t in the film. Well, I saw the film from beginning to end and felt there was plenty of Leto’s Joker in it, considering the focus of the film was about, dur, the Suicide Squad.
This is not a Batman movie. It was never marketed as a Batman movie. Yes, Batman makes a cameo, but he doesn’t fight the Joker nor should he. The Joker isn’t a member of the Suicide Squad, so it makes entire sense for him to be relegated to a secondary character.
There was an introductory scene with him and Harley Quinn in Arkham Asylum. There was a weird bar scene that illustrated the Joker’s cruel and mercurial nature. And there were a couple more scenes with him and Harley Quinn that highlighted their twisted, co-dependent relationship. Quinn is the main character and I felt the amount of appearances for the Joker was just the right amount so as to not overshadow her.
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The music sucked.
“We haven’t even gotten to the distracting use of on-the-nose musical selections to introduce each character… Each song inspires a groan and takes you right out of the action.” –Rogerebert.com
Oh, shut the fuck up. If having appropriate music is “distracting” to you, you should watch a Tarantino flick and then shoot yourself in the head.
The soundtrack had everything from Skrillex to a Panic! at the Disco cover of “Bohemian Rhapsody.” They are upbeat, catchy songs to compliment sarcastic, quirky characters. I don’t feel like covers of classic songs create a cliché, rather they set the tone for a new rendition of old comic book characters.
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The film jumped around too much.
Yes, there were extensive uses of flashbacks in the film. There were, after all, between six and seven members of the Suicide Squad at one time. I don’t see a more efficient way to introduce and characterize them all.
As for the editing, I rather liked it. I don’t think it was sloppy or choppy. I felt like it created a fast-paced, yet still digestible, narrative that made for a solid action film plot. There was a lot going on, but I feel like I was able to distinguish all the characters and keep their personalities in mind without getting too muddled.
The film was two hours, but it was well enough paced that time flew by smoothly.
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The villain was stupid or lame.
“She couldn’t arrange better special effects for herself, however; at the height of her powers, the threat she creates looks hilariously cheesy.” -Rogerebert.com
Yes, there’s a supervillian who hates humanity and wants a combination of domination and destruction. But what superhero movie isn’t that?
The Enchantress is an ancient witch with various dark powers. She can summon zombie-like minions, teleport, and manipulate the movement of matter and energy. I, for one, was just happy to see a female supervillian. She does bring her equally supernatural brother along for the evil ride, but it was nice to see a supervillian family working together for once.
I saw nothing out of the ordinary with the special effects. When she transforms from her possessed alter ego June Moone into The Enchantress, black fingers slip out from her own and then take her over, casting a smoky-like shadow around her body.
Sure she wears practically a bikini, but this is a relatively minor feminist sin. She is still a powerful, evil figure and a convincing antagonist in a movie full of anti-heroes.
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So overall…
I came into the theater with really low expectations and was pleasantly surprised. “Suicide Squad” was pretty on par with what the trailers advertised, was well-cast, decently-acted, and delivered entertaining action sequences. There was a certain amount of chaos I’ll admit, but this seemed entirely appropriate for the themes the movie was trying to present. If I was the filmmaker and somebody called “Suicide Squad” “messy,” I would take it as a compliment.
Ten Intriguing Documentaries to Stream on Netflix
Top 10 Documentaries Streaming on Netflix
I made this button myself, because Suite101 was hardcore about not stealing images. Just wanted to pitch my basic graphic design skills.
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This is a re-post from Suite101. My 1-year exclusivity contract with them has expired, so I might be re-blogging some of my old articles here now.
As of the date this article was written (3/25/13), all the following documentaries are available for streaming for Netflix. But contracts change and sometimes movies will become DVD-only without warning, so watch instantly while you can!
I’ll strikeout the ones that are no longer available. Which, goddamn, are a lot. Netflix is apparently not doing so hot with the goal of turning everything digital. I will write another post with a couple more current documentary suggestions soon and link here to the updated list when I do.
10. e² Design
Director: Beth Levison
Narrated by Brad Pitt and Morgan Freeman, this excellent PBS documentary series is riddled with interesting facts for the environmentally conscious. (Did you know that New York City, per capita, is one of the greener emitters of air pollution in the US?)
e² was produced by Kontentreal, a documentary and strategic entertainment company seeking creative, innovative, and market-ready solutions for world problems. Six episodes are available for streaming on Netflix.
9. Trouble the Water
Director: Carl Deal and Tia Lessin
From the producers of Fahrenheit 9/11, Trouble the Water is the gripping tale of a couple surviving failed levees of Hurricane Katrina, the ensuing bureaucracy in trying to obtain aid, and their the story of their own past of poverty. While When the Levees Broke is considered the quintessential New Orleans flood story, this film takes a smaller, more personal perspective of the 2004 tragedy. An extremely moving piece of work.
8. Radio Bikini
Director: Robert Stone
This one hour long, 1987 film uses declassified footage to tell the story of the US Government’s atomic bomb tests on the Island of Bikini Atoll at the start of the Cold War. Known as “Operation Crossroads,” the tests left the Marshall Islanders unable to safely return home, and the area remained dangerously radioactive for decades.
Director: Jamie Johnson
Johnson & Johnson heir Jamie Johnson uses his influential heritage to get coveted interviews, such as Milton Friedman, and get into esoteric places known only by the top 1% of the income-earners in the US. Touching the issues surrounding growing wealth inequality, it also probes the culture of the upper-class, and the efforts the rich take to maintain family wealth.
6. God Grew Tired of Us: The Story of Lost Boys of Sudan
Director: Christopher Dillon Quinn
This movie is the inspirational story of three lucky immigrants of the “Lost Boys of Sudan,” a group of some 25,000 young men displaced during the Second Sudanese Civil War,and the culture shock they experience when they move to the United States. For the first time, these men encounter aspects of life we take for granted, such as running water, supermarkets, and television. An emotional reunion with one of the subjects and his mother after 17 years of separation makes this film a bona fide tear-jerker.
5. 8: The Mormon Proposition
Director: Reed Cowan
“The only way you can win any ballot measure in California is money. That is the number one thing that you need. The second thing you need is volunteers. And the final thing you need–a message that resonates.” –Kate Kendell, executive director of NCLR, interviewed in 8: The Mormon Proposition.
This emotional and insightful documentary describes how The Church of Jesus Christ of the Latter-day Saints organized itself to bring the downfall of California’s 2008 Proposition 8, a piece of legislation that led to the legal banning same-sex marriage in the state.
Director: Kirby Dick
This Film is Not Yet Rated is a thorough, investigative film about the NC-17,R ,PG-13, PG, G movie ratings system America is very familiar with. This picture looks into how the MPAA rates movies and the secrecy that surrounds their tactics. This Film is Not Yet Rated was rated NC-17 for some graphic sexual content by the MPAA.
Director: Banksy
Academy award-nominated Exit Through the Gift Shop is a fascinating look into the underground world of graffiti art and the people who make it. The artist lifestyle is vesseled through the amusing story of an eccentric, amateur filmmaker’s attempts to befriend street art legend Banksy and then establish a name for himself as an artist.
2. Encounters at the End of the World
Director: Werner Herzog
Directed and narrated by Grizzly Man’s Werner Herzog, this documentary continues the German filmmaker’s style of finding and highlighting the stories of some of the most absurd and arguably lonely individuals of the human race. Filmed in Antarctica over a course of seven weeks, Herzog interviews those who would deign to leave their homes and families to work in the most isolated place on the earth. Here is a film clip on youtube of what Herzog calls “a deranged penguin,” running from its herd.
Director: Daniel Gordon
Considering the tightly controlled outside media access to North Korea, A State of Mind is a gem of a social and cultural documentary. The British film follows the of two North Korean schoolgirls in a world so very far away and culturally diametrically opposed to the United States.
The film crew follows the daily lives of the adolescent girls as they watch their state-sponsored television, learn about Kim Jong-il in school, sing about being good communists, and spend hours in gymnastics practice, preparing to perform in the North Korean Mass Games. The two month-long gymnastics festival is a tribute to communist North Korean founder Kim il-sung, and participation as a performer in the Games is highly competitive.
A State of Mind is not a film about the oppressive horrors so well heard of in the West in the poverty-ridden country nor is it a politically charged piece. The girls featured lead strict but relatively comfortable lives, possibly only allowed by the government to be filmed for propaganda purposes. Anyone with a sense of individualism will find A State of Mind a mind-bending and slightly unsettling film, a definite must-see for anyone interested in international affairs or the psychology of group mindset.
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