Ty Watches "The Suicide Squad"

My wife and I watched "The Suicide Squad" on Sunday. I wanted to sit with my thoughts on this movie for a few days before I decided to write a review.

First things first, I enjoyed this movie. I am more of a Marvel fan. I have made that very apparent on this site and on the podcast. Wolverine is my favorite superhero, I like the shows they make, I like most of the movies they make and Marvel was my gateway into the whole superhero universe. I just like them more than DC. DC does have some good stuff. The original "Superman" movies are good. I like the old school "Batman" show. I love Christopher Nolan's versions of "Batman". I also like Tim Burton's "Batman". I enjoyed "Shazam" and the first "Wonder Woman" movie was fantastic. But, for me, DC is usually too dark in tone and color. I find it to be their crutch. And that was my main problem with the first "Suicide Squad" movie. It took itself way too seriously, especially for the source material, and that movie fell flat. Again, for me.

Then I saw that James Gunn was directing this new "Suicide Squad", and I enjoy his movies. I love his take on "Guardians of the Galaxy". They are perfect. I also like his early stuff. The movie "Super", with Rainn Wilson, is awesome. I liked "Sliver" a lot. "LolliLove" is quirky and fun and an ode to my hometown. And his early Troma stuff was my entry way to that very bizarre and sometimes terrifying genre of movies. Gunn knows what he is doing. I also appreciate that the only returning characters from the first movie were Harley Quinn, Rick Flag and Amanda Waller. The rest of the people, for the most part, are better actors than the people who portrayed some of the DC characters in the first "Suicide Squad".

That was another thing I liked about this movie. The new "Suicide Squad" let it be known that there are many Suicide Squads. There is not just the one from the first movie. This movie had two squads in it, and alluded to more. As for the actual movie, like I said up top, I liked it. I did not like it as much as I thought, but I still liked it. The stuff I wasn't so crazy about is little nit picking things. I thought the movie was a bit too long. I did not want to hear all of the main characters' backstories. I could have done away with some of the slower stuff. But again, this is me nitpicking little, unimportant details.

For the most part though this movie works. I love that we are introduced to an entirely different squad at the top of the movie. I'm going to be as spoiler free as possible, but do not expect to see too much Nathan Fillion, Pete Davidson, Michael Rooker or Flula Borg. They are not long for this movie. Only after the opening ten minutes do we get to the main squad we will be with for the duration of this movie. When we do meet them, I really enjoyed that montage scene. And as much as I like some of the actors in the original, this cast is much better. Idris Elba is an upgrade over Will Smith, and I like Will Smith. Margot Robbie seems to be having much more fun in this movie than the first one. She nails it. John Cena was my favorite part of this whole movie. He can act. He was hilarious and terrible. Steve Agee not only plays a worker for Waller in the movie, but he also does the motion capture for King Shark, and he is great. Daniela Melchior is so good, and I had never heard of her until this movie. She is the heart of this thing. David Dastmalchian, as Polka Dot Man, was so good. And Peter Capaldi, as Thinker, was perfectly cast. I also liked that they took the most ridiculous baddie I could think of, Starro, and somehow made it work in this movie. I also like that they shot a ton of the fight scenes, including the big one, in daylight. You could see everything. I also appreciate when directors and writers get to show how violent and gory these powers can be, be it a good guy or a bad guy. This movie takes full advantage of the R rating, and it works.

My thoughts? I like this movie. I recommend this movie. I think fans of both comic book worlds will enjoy it. I wish it were shorter, but for the most part "The Suicide Squad" is a solid movie and I think people should check it out.

Ty

Ty is the Pop Culture editor for SeedSing and the other host of the X Millennial Man Podcast.

Come and support Ty and the podcast on Patreon.

Follow Ty on instagram and twitter.

SeedSing is funded by a group of awesome people. Join them by donating to SeedSing.

Ty Rewatches "Super"

During this self isolation/quarantine/social distancing, besides catching up on book and TV shows, spending time with my family, playing games and being a teacher, I am also reconnecting myself with new and old movies. It may be something I saw, and was on the fence about, or it could be something I wanted to see, and now I have more than enough time to watch. One movie I have seen, kind of remember liking, but wanting to revisit was "Super", and luck be it, Showtime, or some movie channel, had it on the other night. I recorded it, and finished it over the weekend.

For those that may not know, "Super" is like the predecessor to a movie like "Kick Ass". It has a down on his luck guy, played excellently by Rainn Wilson I have to say, who decides he wants to be a real life super hero. But, unlike a super hero movie, he doesn't have any powers. He is a regular dude that works in a diner. He is a cook. He has no real fighting prowess or skill. He loses his wife to a drug dealer, and her getting back on drugs, was watching a TV show with a religious super hero, played by Nathan Fillion, has a vision that Jesus is telling him to be a crime fighter, and he pursues it from there.

Now, one of the first things I noticed on this re-watch, the movie wastes no time getting to the origin story, and how Rainn Wilson becomes Crimson Bolt. I liked that. No pomp and circumstance. Just one scene that was about five minutes long then boom, he's a "super hero". Another thing I noticed was how violent, and how real, the violence was in this movie. Since he doesn't have super powers, or much money, he sews together his own suit, and, at first, uses a pipe wrench to ward off criminals. And when he hits someone with the wrench, director James Gunn just lets you see in how violent that act can be. There is one particular scene where the Crimson Bolt decides to punish a guy for cutting in line, and when he whacks him across the face with the wrench, I flinched. I do want to say, I appreciate that though. It is why I like a movie like this, or a movie like "Logan" so much. They show you how much this type of action would really, truly hurt someone.

I also realized that Gunn directed this before he became the guy he is today. This was well before any "Guardians of the Galaxy", or "Brightburn", or when he could put his name on something as a producer, and people jumped. He was still relatively green when he directed this. I feel like "Super" really showed that he had the chops for the movies he is doing now.

As for the performances, Wilson was tremendous. This was during his "The Office" days, and he is still so ingrained in our minds as Dwight Schrute. But, in this movie, I forgot about that, and all I saw was Crimson Bolt. Ellen Page plays his sidekick, and she is wild and spontaneous and crazy and meets a grim end. Kevin Bacon, as the drug lord, was goofy and menacing, and I was pleased at how much I enjoyed him in this the second go round. Even people in smaller roles, like Liv Tyler, the ex wife of Wilson. She was believable in her role, and I thought she did great. Michael Rooker and Sean Gunn were really good as lower level thugs that work for Bacon. They both meet pretty grim demises as well. And Andre Royo, who was barely in it, as Wilson's co worker. He was funny and quippy and memorable.

I do want to point out again, this movie is incredibly violent. I forgot from the first time I saw. But, for this second viewing, it was at the forefront of my mind. I need you to know that going in if you are going to check it out. Gunn holds nothing back. He shows it all. And all the actors are in on it too. It is gruesome.

I definitely think this is a good movie to check out. I wish it hadn't taken a pandemic to get me to rewatch it. But still, silver lining, it did, and I enjoyed it so much more this time around. So, if you want to see Rainn Wilson do something different than Dwight, see James Gunn before he became an uber famous director, see Ellen Page going wild and see some real life seeming violence, I recommend "Super". It is a solid movie.

Ty

Ty is the Pop Culture editor for SeedSing and the other host of the X Millennial Man Podcast.

Come and support Ty and the podcast on Patreon.

Follow Ty on instagram and twitter.

SeedSing is funded by a group of awesome people. Join them by donating to SeedSing.