Suicide Squad

Intelligence operative Amanda Waller assembles a team of criminals including Harley Quinn, Deadshot, Boomerang, El Diablo, Killer Croc, Slipknot, and the Enchantress to combat inhuman foes. The Enchantress is more powerful than she imagined and manages to escape, free her brother, and start building a machine to take over the world. Can this rag tag team of criminals band together to stop the world from ending?

I had a lot of doubts going into to seeing Suicide Squad, especially in the way the women were portrayed. However, the film had a lot of problems but managed to be enjoyable. I'll start with the things it did well. The female characters are surprisingly well rendered for the most part. Viola Davis as Amanda Waller knocks it out of the park. She's kind of an antihero herself, just on the other side of the law as the criminals she commands. Not afraid to get her hands dirty, she threatens and carries out those threats herself. She does whatever is needed to carry out her goals for the greater good. Almost everyone hated her, but she undeniably got shit done and didn't flinch even in the most dire situations. Katana is also an interesting character whose ultimate goal is to take revenge for her husband's death. His soul lies in her sword and she steals the souls of those she kills. I wish she had more to do with the film, but what little she did was intriguing.

Harley Quinn is one of my favorite DC characters ever since I saw her in Batman: The Animated Series. This is the first major live action rendering of her and, save for her poorly chosen outfit, it's a decent debut. Her origin and history with the Joke, her Puddin', are shown in flashbacks. Although the Joker drove her mad and made her jump into a vat of chemicals, she's crazy and tough on her own. One of my favorite scenes of her was when she was drowning, trapped in a car underwater and still lashed out at Batman with a knife when he tried to save her. Margot Robbie spoke in a toned down version of Harley's Brooklyn accent and brightened up every scene she was in. Her manic energy, ever changing loyalties, and always present smile made her one of the most interesting DC women to date. The only problems I had with her was the depiction of her heart's desire and the presence of the Joker holding her back.

Suicide Squad suffered from a lot of problems including way too many characters, too many flashbacks, poor villains, and odd musical choices. So many characters didn't need to be there and their removal would have streamlined the bloated film. Slipknot was barely there, but he needed to be to show the Battle Royal-esque way the villains could be killed. Katana, while a good character, did almost nothing. She could have been saved for another film.. Boomerang and Killer Croc also had very little impact on the film. El Diablo was just along for the ride for the first half of the film and could have been more developed had there been less characters. As a result of basically absent characters, the team had no chemistry which is needed for an ensemble film. The Joker also didn't need to be there at all. I appreciated Jared Leto's approach. Heath Ledger is a hard act to follow and he made the role his own with unpredictable behavior, odd mannerisms, and a creepy laugh. However, he kept Harley his throughout the film. She was defined by her relationship with him throughout instead of being able to stand on her own. He was only really needed in the final scene which could have provided some suspense to see his full character in a future film.

Since all of these characters are brand new to film, each of them had to be introduced. They chose to do it lengthy flashbacks for each character (except for Slipknot which is why no on cared when he was killed). Marvel accomplished this well in Guardians of the Galaxy with short impressions of each character and then getting to know them more through dialog and interactions. The flashbacks (that were present throughout the film and featured even more unnecessary characters) slowed the pacing to a crawl. It's another case of DC trying to throw way too much into a film without knowing how to handle it. The choice of music would have been fine if the songs hadn't been so obvious for the scene and sometimes so close together. They were trying to replicate the success of Guardians of the Galaxy's use of pop music, but there was a reason for it and it fit into the film well without overpowering it. The choices didn't really have anything to do with each other and some seemed out of place.

The villain had such potential, but ended up falling flat. The Enchantress shares a body with a mild manner archaeologist and completely changes appearance when transforming between characters. The first transformation was well done and fluid, but later special effects with her looked cheap and at least a decade old. The minions she sent out were kind of like Putties from Power Rangers and didn't really pose much of a threat. It seemed like they were only there so the majority of the Suicide Squad had something to do. Weapons were proven ineffectual against her and the only one who had any real chance against her was El Diablo with his power over fire. Everyone else wielded conventional weapons. Although the stakes were high as she wanted to take over the world, it didn't feel like it. She chose to fight them hand to hand when she could have either teleported around or used her power against them. So much felt off about the Enchantress especially when she seemed to be weirdly dancing in the climax of the film.

Suicide Squad is a fun film, but it suffers from too many characters, a lame villain, and a soundtrack that tries too hard. Some individual characters stood out, but others didn't have any effect on the film at all. I'm looking forward to more films with Harley, the Joker, Katana, and Amanda Waller, but the rest of the characters weren't particularly memorable. Some moments could have been emotional, but it was ruined by the pacing or a line or another explosion. This film gives me hope for the DC universe and we'll see how the Wonder Woman and Justice League films turn out. I hope they figure out how to make a film with memorable characters without too many things jumbling it up.

My rating: 2.5/5 fishmuffins

The Killing Joke: Comic vs. Film

* spoilers *

The Killing Joke comic book is a streamlined, disturbing story about the relationship between Batman and the Joker. Batman realizes that it can only end in one of their deaths and wants to make amends, but the Joker is already off trying to hurt him in more and more extreme ways. A criticism of the comic is that the Joker's violent attack on Barbara Gordon resulting in her paralysis was used to hurt Batman without any thought to the victim. This is completely true, but I don't find it misogynistic in itself because it was planned through the eyes of the Joker, a villain. He literally objectifies her and refers to her as an undesirable book with a broken spine and a torn jacket. His view of Barbara Gordon is not the view of the writers or of Batman, as seen in the hospital scene. I don't find the comic as amazing as others do, but it's a good, very dark Batman story.

The filmmakers claimed to try to empower Barbara and give her a bigger part in the story in the film version of The Killing Joke. While the thought is a nice one, the execution is simply awful. The first half hour of the film is dedicated to her while she goes to school during the day and fights crime under Batman's tutelage. He is horribly controlling and refuses to hear any other perspectives. I enjoyed Batgirl's journey as she navigates a dicey situation by herself while challenging Batman's authority and makes some mistakes. I rooted for her to stand up to him, but I was disappointed to see the culmination of that scene led to her sleeping with him. Before that scene, she is enamored by him, but it could have easily been dismissed as a crush. He refuses to communicate with her afterwards. Later, she pathetically begs him to continue as before and then quits being Batgirl altogether, which I thought was completely moronic.

I'm not sure if the filmmakers thought defining her by her relationship with Batman was "empowering," but the result is even worse than The Killing Joke on its own. This new story only made the Joker's attack on Barbara more devastating to Batman as it added more drama and emotion. Batman was so flat in the first half hour that he was practically a caricature of himself. It's fine in The Killing Joke comic, but felt out of place and weird compared to Barbara's nuanced characterization. The tone of the added story also didn't match the rest of the film. It is also woefully out of place in almost every way.  A scene was also added at the end of the film to show her wonderful life post-paralysis and her start as Oracle. This was probably the most empowering thing they made about her to show that her life didn't end with this violence.

The rest of the film is a faithful adaptation of the comic book with small changes here and there. The plot of the Joker's revenge has his origin story mixed in which illuminates why he truly hates Batman so much. His plan is so incredibly cruel and disturbing. The end in comparison isn't the big explosive fight that was expected, but it was a perfect, slightly awkward scene. The animation throughout is disappointing. The backgrounds tend to be beautiful, but everything in the foreground is flat and not very detailed. The art from the Batman Animated Series is better than this film. The performances are amazing, particularly Mark Hammill as the Joker. He captures just the right amount of madness and sinister glee. Tara Strong does a great job of infusing emotion into her performance as Barbara, but the material she worked with was lacking. Overall, the parts from the source material are well done (except the animation) and everything else could have been completely removed.

My rating for the film: 2.5/5 fishmuffins

My rating for the comic: 4/5 fishmuffins

SDCC 2016: Panels Part 2: Bunches of Them!

Because Luke Cage was in Ballroom 20, I got to see quite a few panels that I wasn't super interested in. So I will smoosh them all into one post and talk briefly about each of them.

* Teen Wolf

I'm barely getting my hearing back after all of the high pitched squealing and screaming from this panel. I've never seen the show and I had no idea it had such a big following. It was announced that this next season would be their last, so there were some tears as well. The panel as a whole was fun even though I had no idea who anyone was. The cast gave some surprises, joked around, and fondly talked about their time together. The plot of some of the seasons seems kind of ridiculous. I'm not sure how ghostriders that steal souls figure into it all.

* The Strain

I've read all the books of The Strain series and have seen none of the show. They debuted a cute video with the stars dancing and singing a rap song called Vamps BOOM. Then a clip was shown of the new season with a brand new opening. I don't recognize much of the characters and it seems like the show has deviated a lot from the book. The clip itself was way more overdramatic than I expected. It was cool to see David Bradley who I know as Filch from Harry Potter or Walder Frey from Game of Thrones. It's interesting to actually see him as a good guy. The only really intriguing part of the show was Richard Sammel who plays a villain on the show and how they depict the Master.

* MacGuyver

I remember enjoying this show as a kid and I didn't think it would translate well as a modern show. First, the new MacGuyver is super young, portrayed by Lucas Till (who honestly seemed pretty bored throughout the panel). I think it made sense that he was older in the original show because his knowledge of solutions to impossible tasks comes from experience. This new guy just seems to be a genius which just feels a bit cheap and of course his youth is supposed to draw in a younger crowd. Second, the scenes shown of the show are pretty cheesy and more akin to James Bond than MacGuyver. I was surprised to see that James Wan, director of Saw and The Conjuring, is executive producer and the director for the first episode. I personally won't be watching, but those who like the CSI shows will probably love it.

* Batman Unlimited: Mechs vs. Mutants

This is an animated Batman movie that has the Penguin and Mr. Freeze amassing other villains (Bane and Killer Croc) to make them Godzilla size and take over Gotham. Of course Batman and Green Arrow just happen to have mechs already made to combat them. The dialogue is cheesy and the plot isn't the most coherent. I'm sure kids would love it. The only really funny part is when Batman is asked if he had fun on a theme park planet (???), he says in a super serious voice "It was entertaining.) I had no idea there would actual be people to talk about it but John DiMaggio (who I LOVE) and Roger Craig Smith spoke about the film and gave away merchandise and signed posters.

* DC All Access: No Boundaries

This panel was an overview of the DC comics coming out in their Rebirth series following the Batman vs. Superman film. Some of them seemed interesting like the Batgirl series, which is continuing in the same vein as the previous one, and the Supergirl series, which is being rebooted after years. Others seemed kind of awful (Harley Quinn). The Cyborg comic had some pretty cool art in it. The writers and artists were fun to listen to and even talked about their heroes' hobbies.

More posts to come!

SDCC 2016: DC and Women

Although this post is not exclusively about a panel, it was inspired by one. I attended the DC All Access: No Boundaries where comic book artists and writers from DC talked about the new Rebirth series. Some series seemed great like the Supergirl series and the Batgirl series. Both wear fairly reasonable, practical clothing, but Harley Quinn wears similar clothing to her live action Suicide Squad counter part. I also had a problem with the Harley Quinn cover below, where it's obviously and weirdly sexualized totally counter to what's actually going on in the scene. Full disclosure: I don't read many superhero comics and this is mostly based on the film versions of characters.

DC has a problem portraying female characters especially in film. It would be nice to have films that appeal to a wide audience rather than just men. Wonder Woman's portrayal was fine in Batman vs. Superman expect for the one upskirt shot the creators just had to include when she was knocked down. She was the best part of that very bloated and confused film and I thought it boded well for future DC films. The Wonder Woman trailer came out at Comic Con and it does look pretty awesome and feminist, but the poster that came out has her face in shadow and her head cut off. Two very conflicting messages. The Suicide Squad film looks infuriating based on two female characters' dress and treatment in the commercials and marketing.

First is Harley Quinn. Her origin was in the Batman Animated Series that I grew up with where she chose to follow the Joker in a weird love/hate unhealthy relationship with the Joker after being his psychiatrist in Arkham Asylum. The key to her character was that she chose to follow the Joker rather than being forced to. The Suicide Squad version of events seems to have the Joker throwing her into a vat of chemicals and creating his sidekick. She's completely passive in this version and has no control over being made into someone completely different. We'll see how the scene is fleshed out in the film and I will amend my opinion if it's different than I expect.

Harley's outfit of underwear, high heels, and a baseball T is pretty infuriating. I understand the Debbie Harry reference, but it's not practical in the least for what she's going to be doing. Even having flat shoes or shorts would have been pretty revolutionary for them at this point. I understand her original outfit wouldn't translate to film well, but so many other designs would have been better. To get into this outfit, she's changes in front of ogling men and an ogling camera. Sigh. It also doesn't help that all the male characters in the Suicide Squad are completely clothed, even Killer Croc who is usually portrayed only wearing torn shorts a la the Hulk. Even El Diablo, who could showcase his extensive tattoos by being shirtless and could burn up his own clothing with his power, is shown dressed in tank tops, sports jackets, and T shirts as far as I can see.

The Enchantress is the other character who seems shortchanged by her portrayal. Unlike Harley, we get practically no impression of her personality. She seems mysterious and has smoke around her like a shroud.. I didn't see exactly what she was wearing until I saw the full size poster in my local theater shown below. Not only was I disappointed that she is wearing a bikini, but also the way she was posed in the poster: legs spread, crouched down while everyone else in the photo stood normally. The comic version of Enchantress is shown above next to her live action counterpart. Not only has the outfit been changed for the film to be much more revealing, but also shares almost nothing. Ignoring the taste level of the garment on the left, the vibe it gives me is more of a necromancer. It boggles the mind why her outfit was changed so unless it was only to appeal to the male dominated audience that is rapidly becoming about half women.

Another symptom of their portrayal of women is in The Killing Joke. According to the io9 article on The Killing Joke panel, an effort was made to make Batgirl a more major character. However, they way they chose to do that was to dumb her down to a woman only crimefighting to procure the attention of Batman, a man she has had a father-daughter relationship with in the past (as she is around Robin's age). They have sex and he stops communicating with her, then the rest of the Killing Joke comic plot happens. When challenged by a heckling Jeremy Konrad from Bleeding Cool that Batgirl is reduced to a jilted lover, screenwriter Brian Azzarello said, "Say that again, pussy." It sounds like a trainwreck from the panel to "empowering" Batgirl by making her whole career center around attracting a man. I am going to watch The Killing Joke for myself and compare it to the comic in a separate post.

DC has a lot of problems, including keeping their TV shows in separate universes to the films, throwing together a bunch of characters we've never seen in Batman vs. Superman, and in the horrible portrayal of women that seems to be consistent in some of their comics (Batgirl and Supergirl look decent) and all of their films. I hope DC changes in the coming years, but Suicide Squad doesn't seem to be making any steps forward. I hope this treatment is reflected in their box office numbers and I hope they take a page from Marvel, who has tons of strong female characters with interesting development and logical clothing choices and a unified universe that is both adult and gritty on Netflix and more family friendly in the theater.

SDCC 2012: Panels Part 4: DC, Buffy, and more Buffy

I didn't have tickets to Saturday of Comic Con, so no panels that day. :( I came back on Sunday with a plan and a vengeance. The plan went to crap anyway, but I still managed to go to 2 panels and a screening.

1) DC Nation

I sat in on this panel primarily to make sure I got to see the next one, but it turned out to be really awesome. The panel consisted of animation producers: Glen Murakami, Mitch Watson, Michael Jelenic, Aaron Horvath, and Jeff Prezenkowski, who were moderated by the always hilarious and foul mouthed Kevin Smith. He restrained himself and only cursed about 10 or 15 times. They revealed new DC cartoons that would air on TV and they sound fantastic!

Beware the Batman sounds like an awesome new show. Unlike previous animated Batman shows, this one is made completely with CGI. Just the processes to get the lighting were very complex and surprisingly realistic.  This new show offers a different Batman than in series past. He is 5 or 6 years into his career as Batman and in his early 30's. I liked that they talked about how his demeanor changes from Bruce Wayne to Batman. Batman has a clipped, efficient way of speaking while public Bruce Wayne doesn't. Private Bruce is very introspective, a little obsessive, and very particular about things. I was surprised to see a younger Alfred wielding guns beside Batman in this poster.

Alfred is never a major player in the action, but supports Bruce behind the scenes. It will be nice to see him in a different role than usual. His sidekick will not be Robin as usually, but instead Katana, who I had never even heard of before that day. It will be interesting to see how her role will differ from Robin's. The villains will be very different as well. Instead of recognizable villains like the Joker or the Penguin, they have chosen to go with more obscure villains that aren't well known, like Mr. Toad. I haven't watched a Batman show since Batman the Animated Series, but I would definitely watch this show.

The other show that looks crazy awesome is Teen Titans GO. It takes the Teen Titans characters and puts them in much more light hearted, cartoony situations. All of the original voice actors from Teen Titans will return to voice their respective characters. I only saw the original show here and there, but what I did see was impressive. I will definitely keep my eye out for this one.

2) Buffy the Vampire Slayer 20th Anniversary

When I heard about this panel, I wasn't very impressed because big names like Joss Whedon or Sarah Michelle Gellar weren't going to be there. I decided to go because I met Nicholas Brendon that day and I really wanted to see what he had to say about being on the show and seeing what he was doing currently. There were some surprises from the beginning. The panelists were listed to be Kirsty Swanson (Buffy from the film), Jane Espenson (writer), Scott Allie (Dark Horse editor), Clare Kramer (Glory on the TV show), Nicholas Brendon (Xander from the TV show), and Georges Jeanty (illustrator for the comic book). Kristy Swanson wasn't there, but Randall Batinkoff, who played Buffy's boyfriend in the movie and broke up with her answering machine, was there instead. Also surprise guest and fan favorite James Marsters was there was well.


Nicholas Brendon was hilarious throughout the panel and made everyone laugh. He almost didn't even get the role as Xander, but I am thankful he did. Even though his character never had special powers or abilities, he was a significant character in the Scooby gang. James Marsters didn't even want to do the show at first. He was desperate for work to support his new family, but he was reluctant to work on Buffy. He watched one episode and he was sold. He also talked about Spike's changing role on the show. He started as a villain who could have just left with one episode, but then returned as the Big Bad in the following season. Later, he became the annoying neighbor after he was chipped and stayed with Giles and Xander. He failed as a Cordelia replacement and thought he was going to be fired, but the writers always molded his character in an organic way to fit the show. Marsters was surprised that the character had such longevity and how he was constantly surprised and challenged as an actor on the show.

Scott Allie talked about the evolution of the comics over time. When the show was still running, the show and the comics didn't interact much until Fray, which Whedon wrote. It built a relationship between the two and made it possible to continue the show in comic book form for seaon 8 and 9. The actors were happy that the story continued in comics. James Marsters mentioned that his time with that character is over and it's great that Spike can live on in comics. The panel ended with a quiz with comics signed by the panel as prizes.  I consider myself a hard core Buffy fan, but I would never remember Buffy's home address or know how many total vampires she killed over 7 seasons (133).

This panel was wonderful and it's nice to see that the Buffy fandom is still alive and well. I hope more of the cast will come together at later Comic Cons like Firefly's cast did this year.

3) Buffy the Vampire Slayer screening: Once More with Feeling

After this panel was the singalong screening of the awesome Buffy musical episode, Once of More with Feeling. It was wonderful to see it on the big screen among other fans of the show. My boyfriend even agreed to watch at least the first 2 seasons of the show with me because of it. Yay! I hope to see this again next year.