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I Am Loving This Modern Orc Cop Movie!
I love the premise of the movie Bright, coming out soon on Netflix. It’s a premise I’ve actually given some thought to writing in the past: put the conventions of medieval fantasy into a modern day setting. So here we have Will Smith teaming up with a rookie orc cop investigating some eleven mysteries. Just see for yourself.
Brilliant! Orcs, elves, magic wands in a real world, Training Day-esque setting. Sign me up! Make this movie happen and come out soon! Sadly, December is not soon enough.
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Movie Review: Suicide Squad
Suicide Squad is a studio executive’s attempt to recreate the magic of Guardians of the Galaxy without understanding why or how that magic worked. Warner Bros. clearly wanted a cast of wacky, troubled characters, a bunch of witty one-liners, and a heaping of bouncy, familiar pop music. Director David Ayer delivers on all those things, but not nearly enough to make a really good film. He gets a little too distracted by the flash bang of generic gun violence.
Suicide Squad is like an Avengers movie if you dial down the entertaining character interactions and dial up the fights against endless, faceless minions.
Movie Rating: 6/10 – Pretty Good.
There is the potential for a great movie buried deep beneath the mindless, humdrum action of Suicide Squad, and overall, I’m pretty sure I mostly enjoyed the experience. I was mildly entertained, in a bland ‘I don’t hate this’ sort of way. There were enough good notes in the movie to keep me humming along.
For the most part, the characters and the actors playing them are actually really great. Will Smith as Deadshot and Margot Robbie as Harley Quinn are fantastic, and even secondary characters like Rick Flag, El Diablo and Captain Boomerang show a lot of potential. This could have been a great movie.
Instead, these great characters are simply walked through a bland, generic shoot’em up flick with a crummy plot, an overload of unnecessary characters and a severe lack of anything truly noteworthy. Despite being primarily an action movie, there are no awesome, exciting set pieces or interesting fight choreography. There are no big moments that will have people on the edge of their seats or talking about forever. And all the best jokes and one-liners were in the trailers.
Not to mention more than a few weird plotholes that undermine the entire point of the movie.
Join me after the jump for my full review! Expect FULL SPOILERS for Suicide Squad!
First Suicide Squad Trailer Looks to Impress
After it leaked on a crappy cell phone recording after Comic-Con, the folks at DC and Warner Bros. have just decided to go ahead and release the full Suicide Squad trailer online!
I like it, it’s pretty cool. Lot of action, the characters look neat, and it seems generally good. I liked Harley and Will Smith. Not sure how I feel about the Joker yet. Those fake teeth make him sound ridiculous, and not in a good Joker way. It sounds like he has some fake teeth in his mouth. But overall, I think I’m OK with it. And it was a smart decision to just release the trailer to the larger public. You’ve got the darn thing, why sit on it when crappy cell phone versions are flitting around the web?
Though this might convince companies not to screen trailers at Comic-Con anymore…
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And Just Like That, Here’s the Suicide Squad!
Sunday had a big surprise for everybody: the first cast pic of the Suicide Squad! Everybody’s in costume!
From left, we’ve got Slipknot, Captain Boomerang, Enchantress, Katana, Rick Flagg, Harley Quinn, Deadshot, Killer Croc and El Diablo. They’re also all played by cool actors, but I’ve only got so many fingers for typing.
My initial reaction was shock, because there’s a whole lot to take in when you first see this picture. Then once you start looking it over, there’s a lot to like. Katana, Killer Croc, Boomerang and especially Deadshot look great. Slipknot and Diablo are clearly just there as cannon fodder. And Harley Quinn looks…OK, she looks OK.
Speaking of Deadshot, played by Will Smith, here we have a solo shot with the mask and everything!
I am definitely down for Will Smith to kick all kinds of butt in this movie.
Though I’m disappointed that Joker isn’t in this picture. I’ve been hoping beyond hope that Joker was actually a member of Task Force X and not some Hannibal Lecter guy in a cell. But we’ll see!
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I’m Not Sure How I Feel About the Suicide Squad Movie
Am I the only person who’s a little confused that DC Comics seems to be rushing into a movie about the Suicide Squad for no good reason? Don’t get me wrong, the concept has legs. The Suicide Squad has so far made for a great episode of Justice League Unlimited and an OK episode of Arrow. And the basic concept is pretty solid too: super-villains forced to go on dangerous missions for the government. But Suicide Squad is hardly a big name, and they don’t yet even know if Batman v. Superman: Dawn of Justice is going to succeed.
Why is Suicide Squad, of all possible franchises, the next one to hit theaters?
Whatever the plan is, Variety is reporting that DC has nailed down the cast. One part of the plan is clearly to use big name actors to bring in the audience.
Jared Leto as the Joker
Will Smith as Deadshot
Tom Hardy as Rick Flagg
Margot Robbie as Harley Quinn
Jai Courtney as Boomerang
Cara Delevingne as Enchantress
The film will be directed by David Ayer, and will begin shooting in April for a planned Aug. 5, 2016 release date.
That’s definitely a pretty solid list of actors. I think they’ll all do fine in those roles. Having both the Joker and Harley Quinn in this movie is a strong move. Everybody is pretty familiar with both characters, and there’s probably no other way they could make a solo film starring the Joker. So let the Clown Prince of Crime take center stage in Suicide Squad. I bet audiences will eat that up. And it’ll be neat to see the character interact with people who aren’t Batman. I’m sure Jared Leto will bring the same unexpected, manic energy as Heath Ledger did.
Will Smith as Deadshot should be pretty awesome. I can see him being a fan favorite, as Deadshot usually is, and Smith is pretty popular too, from what I understand. Leto and Smith should carry this film easily, with the Joker’s zany madness offset by Deadshot’s brutal pragmatism.
I’m assuming Boomerang is just short for Captain Boomerang (who’s also appearing on both Arrow and The Flash this week), and Enchantress is a really weird choice. Of all the lady bad guys they could have chosen, why Enchantress, someone nobody has heard of? She’s a magical character, and that brings a lot to the table, but they could have had so much more fun if they’d picked, say, Poison Ivy. Everybody knows Poison Ivy, and it would give you a pretty amazing love triangle with Harley and Joker.
But I’m sure Warner Bros. knows what they’re doing. I’m sure they think they have a solid script in place, and this will make one heck of a fun Ocean’s 11-style masterpiece. We shall see. I’m going to be cautiously optimistic, but I’m still just not sure why they’re going with the Suicide Squad. Maybe they know something we don’t.
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Henchman-4-Hire 