Suicide Squad

So you've probably heard by now that Suicide Squad hasn't been going down that well critically and a lot of audiences, including myself, went into the film knowing this and were interested in seeing why so many had disliked it. Now Suicide Squad is by no means a perfect movie but it isn't an awful one either. I came out of the cinema not hating it but realising that it had many a flaw and for the most part was quite disjointed. As an overall experience its a fun film with a dumb plot, it's not until you look a bit closer, a bit like The Amazing Spider-Man 2, that you realise that it just doesn't make that much sense.

Suicide Squad follows a team of super villains who are assembled by the government to clean up a supernatural disaster of their own making. The film boasts an impressive cast with the stand outs being Will Smith, Margot Robbie, Viola Davis and Jared Leto.

Now I went into this film most looking forward to seeing Margot Robbie's portrayal of Harley Quinn, a crazy character affiliated with The Joker. For the most part I was not disappointed, Robbie looked the part and sounded the part, bringing the crazy fun character to life on the big screen for the first time. She is easily the stand out of the film and one of the more interesting performances to watch. I'm not fully happy with how she was represented, I still had my problems, they're mainly linked to the way she is over sexualised in the film (even more so I believe than the Arkham games), not every character mentioned how hot Will Smith was! She has a lot more involved relationship with The Joker that didn't always feel right at times, though mainly from his side not hers but we'll get on to him later. There's a few dodgy dialogue moments in the third act but to be fair the third act ain't that great anyway. Margot Robbie does a great job and hopefully will be given a chance to add more depth to her character in another film.

Will Smith as Deadshot was a nice surprise. I've always liked Will Smith so it wasn't his acting ability I was surprised by but it was that his character was pretty much the heart of the film. He's given the more caring backstory and the film leans very heavily on him and Margot Robbie as the main characters, which works because they're the best actors but it's also a shame because it never really represented the ensemble cast like it should have done.

Viola Davis as Amanda Waller is perfect casting however, if you look into the nitty grity of the film then you realise that her ideas are very stupid and don't make much sense. I look forward to seeing her play a more well written version of the character in the future. A lot of the characters are similar in this way, nothing bad with the performances, it's just that they aren't fleshed out enough or add to the story. There were times when Killer Croc and Katana turned up and I had completely forgotten they were in the film. And poor Cara Delevingne who plays The Enchantress, has still yet to have been given a role to show off any acting chops. On the plus side Jai Courtney is fine as Captain Boomerang.

Now onto the character that most people wanted to see, The Joker. What you've heard is true, he isn't in it a whole bunch (remember it's not his film), but the biggest shame is that he doesn't add a lot, if anything, either. Now Jared Leto's performance is cool and different but it never felt like 'my' Joker. He never fully resembled my interpretation of the character. His take is interesting enough to make me want to see more but I'd be lying if I didn't say I was a little disappointed if this is the Joker we're getting for the DC universe. He's very touchy-feely as well, very different to anything we've seen before and his character definitely seems to have fallen for Harley Quinn rather than just using her like in the comics. I can't help but feel that we should have met a Harley Quinn who was over The Joker and his abusive ways and more of her own independent character.

There's still fun to be had though, although a bit disjointed, the montage at the start showcasing the characters is cool and fun. There's some great action set pieces up until the video game feel of the third act. There are some jokes which is a relief and the small scenes with Batman showcase his badass-ness whilst leaving his murderous streak from Batman V Superman behind.

There's glimmers of a good film here and for the most part it's good fun, which should hopefully be enough to satisfy a summer audience, those of us hoping for more from our beloved comic book characters will probably be a bit disappointed but will also be thankful that it's not the complete train wreck that Batman V Superman was. I'm giving Suicide Squad a rating of 2.5/5.

I think this film just wasn't quite sure what it wanted to be, or maybe it did at one point but the higher ups then got involved. It's a weird time for Warner Bros and DC as their recent films haven't gone down as well as they were hoping for and I for one won't be rushing out to see Justice League when it releases next year. They still have a chance with Wonder Woman, I'm excited for that, I really hope they don't mess it up, the trailer looked great and there's some definite talent involved in front of and behind the camera.

What were your thoughts on the film? Was it as bad as you'd been hearing or a everything you had been hoping for? Let me know in the comments below.

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Fury

When I watched the very underrated End Of Watch last year, I thought that David Ayer would have been a great choice to make a war film, because the relationship he created between two police officers would have worked just as well with a group of soldiers. When I heard he was directing Fury I thought he was a perfect choice. I did however worry a little bit when his earlier film Sabotage came out and was pretty awful. Maybe I should have worried more because I saw Fury last night and I was not a fan.

I went into this film thinking that it would be a realistic portrayal of war centred on the friendships created from a five man tank crew. I was wrong. This film is is heightened macho war film made for a Call of Duty audience that focuses on Norman, a young soldier who has to endure a tank trip with a bunch of American bullies. Yes the actors were good in their roles, played by Brad Pitt, Shia LaBeouf, Jon Berthnal and Michael Pena but they are horrible people and completely unlikeable, apart from Logan Lerman's character, Norman, who you feel sorry for, but even his character by the end of the film is rushed into becoming a bit of douchebag like the rest of them.

I'm not saying that this isn't a realistic portrayal of war because the characters weren't nice, but the writing would always contradict itself. The crew like to say how Brad Pitt's 'War Daddy' character is the only reason they are still alive, but continue to try and anger him throughout. War Daddy himself proclaims that the controversial decisions he makes are to keep his crew alive but he continues to make reckless decisions that put them in harms way.

Norman is forced to live with these people who pick on him and hit him and force him to do things, but only because 'they're keeping him and themselves alive'. I didn't buy it, they just came across as macho American bullies who I had no affection for. The script attempted to justify their behaviour, but the odd half hearted apology to poor Norman didn't work for me. These guys never came across as friends, more just like guys who had to put up with each other. There was no bonding and the brother's in arms attitude that comes in by the end of the film just feels forced.

There are some good scenes in the film, I particularly liked one that is set in house with two women, but again by the end it is flawed because Ayer writes every female character in this film as easy, and would happily sleep with his characters if they gave them food or showed any kind of affection towards them. This was Ayer's problem in Sabotage as well, the women were so badly written that they just all sounded the same.

The film itself looks great, the cinematography is very good and there are hardly any special effects, unfortunately this is let down by the writing and the storyline. The action looks good and is really well done but once you've seen one set piece then you've seen them all, it all got a bit boring by the end. And be warned, because of the use of tracers in the guns the action will sometimes look like the crew are fighting Hydra rather than The SS.

As you can tell, I was pretty disappointed by this film, I wanted so much more from it. I enjoyed watching Logan Lerman and I think he was definitely the best thing about the film but I wish some thought had been put into the other characters so I could have cared for them, no matter whether they were good or bad people. If you want a dumb Call of Duty like action film then go see Fury. If you want a unrealistic pulpy but fun portrayal of Nazi killing then go watch Inglorious Basterds instead. If you want a seriously good World War Two film then go watch Saving Private Ryan. I am rating Fury a 2/5.

I know a lot of people liked this film, so feel free to let me know what you think in the comments below.

Thanks for reading!