Okay, so the movie has been out a short while now and in that time, it has managed to amass a serious amount of negative reviews. Sure, it has had some positive ones as well and it seemed the fans have stayed divided. I finally got a chance to see it, so let’s take a look at what I, Tango, thought of David Ayer’s Suicide Squad.
First off, I have to talk a bit about the casting. Every single one was spot on, in my opinion. Will Smith’s Deadshot was amazing, Viola Davis’ Amanda Waller was fantastic, Joel Kinnaman’s Rick Flag was brilliant and Margot Robbie’s Harley Quinn was phenomenal, hell, even Jay Hernandez’s Diablo was great. But what about Jared Leto’s Joker? Don’t worry, we’ll get to that later on. Karen Fukuhara’s Katana was not in the slightest bad, but I actually prefer Fukushima’s version in the Arrow-verse. But, and this is a big but, the one that really surprised me was Jai Courtney’s Captain Boomerang. Fuck, I never thought I’d say this but the guy wasn’t half bad. I actually liked him in this, which came as a haymaker out of left field.
But, on to the Joker now. I have seen comments about his performance online where they put his performance through the dirt and I have seen comments rising him to almost Ledger-like status. Me, I am one of those that loved the shit out of it. It was lunacy incarnate in a way that felt new but at the same time familiar. Sadly, his screen-time was cut down to a miniscule part, but given the way the movie itself played out, I’m having a hard time figuring out where he could’ve been for it to work for the better. His part was small but efficient and I am anxious to see where he pops up next. Kudos to Leto for bringing us a fantastic take on an iconic villain.
Onwards we go to the story of the film, and this is where it gets a bit wonky. The story of a group of bad guys coming together to fight an even bigger threat is not something new, nor is it groundbreaking, but for us comic book fans, it was a pure delight. It did feel a bit all over the place, but the red thread was there (which you all know was something that was severely missing from BvS) and I’m kinda leaning towards blaming that on the editing. Some cuts felt off and out of place and the pacing suffered a bit for it. We had flashbacks thrown at us at random and we had flashbacks that came right when it should, so yeah, I blame the state of wonky on the editing.
David Ayer managed to bring together a group of rag tag villains, known to lesser known, in a funny, action packed and sometimes even heartfelt way and even though the movie had its flaws (which they all do, even The Lion King), I left the theater with a faster than usual heartbeat and one of the biggest, nerdiest smiles I’ve had in a while, so to end this first impressions-post, I’m giving the Suicide Squad a ‘Platinum Stamp of Approval’. Yeah, that’s right. Fuck everyone downvoting it, ’cause this movie was spectacular!
I’m leaving you now in a quandry, as I’m not sure if I’m gonna watch Assault on Arkham or revisit Batman v Superman, but rest assured, there will be more reviews (of sorts) coming your way again soon, but until then….
The first thing I’m gonna have to talk about here is the Tarzan we get in the film. When we first meet him, he’s living with his wife Jane in London under the name John Clayton the 3rd, as he would have had his family not been shipwrecked in the Congo when he was a baby, and he has seemingly left “Tarzan” behind but due to a collaboration between old foe and new, he heads back to Africa, with wife Jane and George Washington Williams, played by Margot Robbie and Samuel L. Jackson respectively. As the story progresses, we see the now civilized John Clayton slowly revert back to his old self, peeling off layer after layer until there’s only Tarzan left. This was a very fun take on the character to watch, and I have to say,Skarsgård did a great job. Any and all doubts I might have had was flushed away, because not only did Skarsgård bring a “Tarzan of the apes”-worthy physique, but he brought a depth to the character that I was not expecting. Truly a happy surprise. Kudos on this particular casting. This performance shows many a good thing in Alexander Skarsgård’s future.
Sergeant David Waters (Wood) and Lieutenant Jim Stone (Cage) are both bored and desillusioned with their jobs at the Evidence Management unit for the Las Vegas police department, so when the opportunity of a lifetime reveals itself, they decide to break bad. Not the most original of plots, but the way the film is shot accompanied with a fantastic scoring makes it work in ways I wouldn’t think possible before. It had a sense of Ocean’s 11 style heist movie in Juno type indie film pace. It sounds awkward and weird, I know, but it absolutely works. The cinematography is gorgeous and the overall tone of the film is just pleasant.
Tango's Thoughts 