Hey, Mom! Talking to My Mother #413 - Suicide Squad, a review

Hey, Mom! Talking to My Mother #413 - Suicide Squad, a review

Hi Mom,

So, as part of Liesel's birthday week, we went to see the new film Suicide Squad based on the DC Comic of the same name. Liesel loved it, mainly because it had a witch, dark magic, and Harley Quinn, who's delightful.

Seeing Liesel's reaction, I could acknowledge that it's a good movie for people that no NOTHING about the comic and its characters. It's a fun romp. There's great SFX. Plenty of violence and action. There's the witch, who is pretty terrifying. There are very strong women characters: Amanda Waller, Harley Quinn, Katana, the Enchantress. The movie zips along on a funny and exciting joyride. And then there's Jared Leto's Joker. Very well presented. There's a good mix of character-defining flashbacks and present day forward moving narrative.

And yet... For comic book fans, for fans of the Suicide Squad, this movie is not going to cut it. Sure, I can enjoy it as I just described. It's fun. But my comic book brain wants something else.

Why does every comic book movie have to feature some huge end of the world threat? Especially if the heroes (or in this case villains turned heroes) cannot possibly hope to defeat such a powerful threat?

The original Suicide Squad stories starting with issue #1 in 1987 by John Ostrander and Luke McDonnell were about a team of super villains used by the government for covert missions that net their skill set. The first story involved the Squad infiltrating the secret base of The Jihad, a Qurac terrorist group. Qurac is a fictional country created by DC Comics (see link). The second story continued this arc and the Squad defeats the Jihad. Granted in issue three, the Squad fights the minions of Darkseid, but this fits their power set and the world's survival is hardly at stake. But in issue #4, the story moves on to race riots. And issue #6 finishes up a good story featuring Deadshot on a mission to Moscow.

The cast seemed more appropriate to the stories as well. There's Bronze Tiger, Nightshade, and Nemesis. None of which appear in the film.

And then there's CAPTAIN BOOMERANG. I am not surprised that they ditched the traditional suit or anything resembling it, but there was very little character development of him. Also, when given the chance to ditch, he didn't take it, which is not the Boomer we know from the comics. Not even close.

I liked Katana. Nice look. But after telling us that her sword eats souls, it didn't.

Diablo's pacifist stand ended too easily.

And as tough as he tries to be, Will Smith is Will Smith. I like him, so I had less of a problem with it. But others, did not like him in this role.

Killer Croc was played for humor, but I am okay with that.

The visuals and depiction of the Enchantress were great, but it made the film too much of a revision of Ghostbusters and without the the particle accelerator guns to send the demons back to the other side. These Squadies have bats, boomerangs, and guns not magic wands. It didn't work for me.

Slipknot is introduced just to be killed, though in scenes that hit the cutting room floor it's established he's a serial rapist, so the audience will feel better about him getting his implant blown up.

Harley Quinn was a fun character but overly sexualized. If they wanted to make a movie about Harley and the Joker, then make a movie about Harley and the Joker without much or any of the Squad.

The Suicide Squad should be devoted to questionable black ops stuff for which their powers are unique fits. In fact, Waller (well cast as Viola Davis) had her pick of different villains with different powers.

I liked David Ayers' direction. Many of the visuals for the film were arresting, especially those involving the Joker.

But as a movie of the classic Suicide Squad or even its update, this one misses the mark. But for those who don't know the source material, it works well enough, at least if you're my wife and you like witches and dark magic.

Suicide Squad - volume 1 - COMIC VINE.

Charles Skaggs went deeper into the plot and his thoughts on characters than I did in his review through the link following from his blog, Damn Good Coffee and Hot!

CHARLES SKAGGS REVIEW

TOR.COM REVIEW

See these comics? Something more like this...

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Reflect and connect.

Have someone give you a kiss, and tell you that I love you.

I miss you so very much, Mom.

Talk to you tomorrow, Mom.

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- Days ago = 415 days ago

- Bloggery committed by chris tower - 1608.23 - 10:10

NOTE on time: When I post late, I had been posting at 7:10 a.m. because Google is on Pacific Time, and so this is really 10:10 EDT. However, it still shows up on the blog in Pacific time. So, I am going to start posting at 10:10 a.m. Pacific time, intending this to be 10:10 Eastern time. I know this only matters to me, and to you, Mom. But I am not going back and changing all the 7:10 a.m. times. But I will run this note for a while. Mom, you know that I am posting at 10:10 a.m. often because this is the time of your death.