Suicide Squad Sequel

The Phantom Pain

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/117723069#Comment_117723069

It's funny because a lot of the things she disliked I liked. Like she said the killing competition made Peacemaker irredeemable but I mean, they're bad guys and that scene was fun. The violence was so comical that it was hard to take seriously. She said the sex slave thing was problematic but seems to forget that Harley is deranged so her reaction was very in character and I kind of like how Harley always manages to get herself out of scrapes and best those who underestimate her. I do agree with her concerning the flippant killing of impoverished brown folk and have to wonder whether the shot of the little black girl walking around during the Starro event would have even made it into the film if it was a little white girl instead.

silverharp

The off screen events about Superman was a bit of a tease, does it not come across as lazy writing to throw that in? another thing was the conroller lady not wanting them to finish the job, it didnt make any sense , they had to finish the job or it would cause a global problem, seemed a bit contrived just o set up other things

Sudden Valley

seemed like any movie in which Harley Quinn is in does badly. Pity I would love to see a sequel to this with the possibility of Will Smith and Idris Elba in the next one and sharkboy and Ratcatcher also returning but I assume this in the end of the series with the poor box office and no positive news about HBO max viewership figures.

The Phantom Pain

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/117726071#Comment_117726071

The goal was to destroy evidence of the US involvement in the starro project (Project Jotunheim). Once the evidence was destroyed/obtained the job was done. Though, I agree - didn't Waller think that Starro might travel to the US eventually could eventually and with that many people zombified it could be a world war Z situation. Maybe she planned to nuke it or maybe thought the JL would show up to take care of it at some point.

The Phantom Pain

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/117726189#Comment_117726189

The first Suicide Squad made over 700 million dollars though.

CastorTroy

Poor Sebastian just wanted to be friends with people.

Spoiler Warning

That liquid could not have been good for Harley's eyes.

Really enjoyed it overall. For the first credits scene

Spoiler Warning

When we saw Weasel, I was half expecting him to find TDK still alive

cdgalwegian

Although a bit too long, this was much better than the first outing - Gunn's tongue-in-cheekedness making it very enjoyable. It did feel though that the choice of anti-heros by Waller for the mission was less to do with her nous in matching their abilities for the mission, than how their abilities would slot in with the storyboard. Still though, it was great fun.

silverharp

its officially a flop by the looks of things. Might there be the start of super hero fatigue?

Penn

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/117731779#Comment_117731779

Possibly, but also even though it's James Gunn, people will still have the previous film in their minds, and that was awful. Combined with streaming figures, and streaming increases availability of high-quality piracy downloads. It's too hard to judge. Plus covid cases rising a lot too, obviously.

There'll definitely be a dip in upcoming superhero film numbers though. Even considering the next few Marvel films are largely unknown characters (Shang-Chi, The Eternals), and Spider-Man being at Xmas which might affect numbers too.

johnny_ultimate

Don't think there's much to be read into the box office of any given film at the moment beyond 'people still aren't going back in large numbers' and 'Disney and Warner are cannibalising their own market by releasing these films online'.

I'd love nothing more than for audiences to get bored by superhero films, as that'd be a much-needed correction to years of extreme oversaturation. But really things are too chaotic at the moment to draw that sort of conclusion.

pixelburp

As do-overs go, the two films will act as great examples of the difference between accidental and deliberate stupidity. This was a fun and breezy "stupid" film, and something only James Gunn's macabre mind could have conjured; it really leant into the chaotic insanity of the whole pop-anarchic, fatalist concept of the comics. It happily embraced that kernel of ludicrousness all superhero stories have, but cinematic adaptations rarely touch - and frequently mishandle. The cartoon violence will absolutely alienate some, but this was gore used as a punchline, not for its own sake.

But like pop-anarchy, there was a certain shallowness to it all, not least the realisation after the credits rolled that it cheated. It set itself with the bold promise that nobody was safe - highlighted by that fantastic, gutsy opening sequence - but! When I sat and thought about it ... 

Spoiler Warning

None of the stars died. The big names: Elba, Robbie and Cena were safe, because of course they were. Open to correction there.

Meanwhile, any complaint about runtime feels so redundant these days, now that blockbusters simply default to 2+ hours now; yet still, it could have done with a tighter edit as a few patches sagged and robbed the film of the otherwise constant, manic energy. Just this once the runtime really worked against the film in spots.

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/117731779#Comment_117731779

Penn covered the bases here, but doubt, coming so soon after the first film was a mistake - heck just the name being so similar was a bad move IMO. It just made the whole enterprise more confusing than it needed and for once, a colon'ised title would have worked better. It would have worked with the tone of the film if it was called something like Suicide Squad: The Re-Do.

Penn

Suicide Squad: Cara Delevingne isn't in this one

pixelburp

Suicide Squad: Weasel Origins.

pjohnson

Suicide Squad: Polka Dot Man Rises

Sudden Valley

Is there any blockbuster that hasn't flopped during COVID? I see Jungle Cruise also is doing badly after a positive opening weekend. I think the film studios thought that piracy was not a big thing anymore. I think the Suicide Squad poor performance is nothing to do with the audiences love for Superhero movies.

silverharp

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/117731850#Comment_117731850

Shang-Chi and The Eternals are in the $150-$200m before marketing so they really need to be doing north of $500m on release , that's not going to happen. At least Spider Man is something that might get people off the sofas though its the type of film best seen as a summer "blockbuster"?

pixelburp

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/117732271#Comment_117732271

While not hitting the same heights as pre-CoVid numbers, Fast & Furious 9 managed to pull $660 million worldwide; but then IIRC this was before Delta came along so perhaps this specific strain has rattled folks, coupled with some localised lockdowns. With Suicide Squad, it's possible the well was just too poisoned by that infamously bad first film to try again so soon.

silverharp

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/117732305#Comment_117732305

as outings go, I'd say cinema would be at the low end of concern, compared to last summer people are back on planes and enjoying normal summer stuff. The audience for bigger summer films are under 40's - 50's , either the offerings or poor or there arent enough of them so going to the cinema has drifted out of people's heads, or because people have been cooped up they aint going to the cinema during this particular summer

Potatoeman

The ratings for this are a bit overblown.

rotten tomatoes 91% critic and 84 % audience.

IMDB 76%

It’s enjoyable enough though anything over 70% is pushing it. Is it just me or is this guardians of the galaxy meets dead pool?

johnny_ultimate

Rotten Tomatoes isn't a weighted score though.

All '91%' means is 91% of critics gave it a positive review. Every single one of those could have given it an alright three-star review and it'd still be 91%.

silverharp

if things line up for a film, then the audience or reviewers want to will it to be good, most of the reviews I saw acknowledged that there were things wrong with the film but they leaned into saying go see it its a fun film

CastorTroy

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/117732305#Comment_117732305

With F9, it wasn't released online at or near release so I guess there is some truth to online releases/piracy putting a dent in the box office. Also that series is seen as one that people prefer to watch on the big screen. Then wasn't it the first blockbuster release after the latest lockdown? So likely people used it to test the waters of going back to the cinema.

I think Gunn's involvement at least made reviewers go in with an open mind and let themselves be entertained rather than be really critical of plotholes. Of course the risk was there of constant GotG comparisons.

The Phantom Pain

Every single time a superhero film does less than amazing you get the usual (optimistic) confirmation biases regarding "superhero fatigue" and then its often proven wrong one box office smash later. People were calling superhero fatigue around Iron Man 3 lol. Superhero movies are here to stay and I for one could not be more glad. I would kindly suggest that rather than wishing people get bored of them, that one focuses one's efforts on films that one enjoys. There are more original, non superhero movies than ever so when you're calling for its demise what you're really calling for is for people who do enjoy it to no longer have access to what they love which isn't cool. It doesn't have to be an either/or. We can all enjoy the swimming pool together. :)

As for the performance of The Suicide Squad, it's tough to know how it would have got on in another time as the first one was so hated but the pandemic and the delta variant is undoubtedly the main reason for its flops. There are other factors but in any other time this movie would have done reasonably well. I think Robert Meyer Burnett and Grace Randolph have some balanced theories as to why. I do think the film's best asset may also be its biggest turn-off for general audiences which is James Gunn, himself.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NE0de4L49H0

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5pRQ-lVubAU

Movie financing is a zero sum game.

The money pool goes to one film or the other film.

Or in the case of a Marvel / DC film - to one of those films versus 3, 4 or 5 decent mid-sized budget ($50 / 60 million) more original / indie films.

There are lots of low-end budget films being made now but the mid-size to big original IP ones not so much.

Also there are only so many release slots in the cinema calendar and any big Marvel / DC film will dominate the calendar with big knock-on effects both for original big-budget IP (less made) or indie films.

silverharp

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/117733226#Comment_117733226

looking at this year a financier couldnt help but notice that smaller films like A Quiet Place can easily turn a decent profit but spending $200m on a B lister Superhero flick isnt that smart. They might work better on the small screen ag Superman and Lois where the costs are a fraction.

johnny_ultimate

TBH, if the pandemic puts an end to ‘too big to fail’ $200m blockbusters as the norm… that’s not a bad thing. More smaller, cheaper, riskier films is exactly what mainstream cinema needs, not endless Disney and superhero films.

We can live in hope that something good comes out of this debacle.

pixelburp

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/117733584#Comment_117733584

Doesn't even need to be a question of "riskier" film, if we're talking artistic riskiness... we are discussing blockbusters after all. There is a formula to make good, entertaining mainstream movies. Even reboots and sequels TBH. The Jumanji reboot made nearly a billion dollars off of a $90 million dollar budget. All because, IMO and this is speculation ... it wasn't interfered with at the executive level (to get that Four Quadrant blandness); while word of mouth ensured a very entertaining, characterful adventure film kept its legs at the box-office.

Even picking something really niche, as blockbusters go; 2018's Escape Room made $150 million worldwide off of a $9 million dollar budget. That's a crazy profit margin. Joker of course broke that billion-dollar barrier, albeit off the back of the weird, cultural pearl-clutching that went on around it. So there are examples of smaller mainstream films that do well.

Penn

Well I love big-budget superhero films*, and I hope they keep going for years to come**!

*not Suicide Squad

**including The Suicide Squad

pixelburp

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/117733685#Comment_117733685

I love them too, but I do get a little impatient at how lazy they can be sometimes, how half-hearted and afraid of their own properties the studios act. Like, it's crazy just how many tonal or structural variants of Batman there are in the comics themselves (including particularly outlandish ones like Vampire Batman, or Samurai Batman) - yet we have never got anything except glowering, depressed Batman; heroism a burden rather than a calling.