Film Review- Suicide Squad (No spoilers)

Suicide Squad: possibly the biggest DC film to come out in 2016 with a brilliant cast consisting of Margot Robbie, Will Smith and Jared Leto, it was sure to be a big hit. It grossed $465 million world wide. However it received a huge backlash of negative reviews.

Rotten Tomatoes gave it a whopping rating of 27% and IMDb gave it a much better (but not great) rating of 6.9/10. One of the reviews said that it didn’t have a plot and another simply said it was “plain bad”. However the overall audience score was 70% so it seems an enjoyable film to those who don’t know much about the comic book villians or film making. Some huge DC fans started a petition to ban Rotten Tomatoes which got over 7000 signatures. 

My opinions: I am not a huge comic book fan but I do love a good superhero/villain movie. For me, this film had potential to be brilliant as I love films and books that show you the perspective of the villain. This film does show us why the villains are in prison and how they got there. Well for most of them any way. The flash backs were minimal and sometimes not in existence for some characters for example Slip Knot had no back story at all. The director explained that this was because they filmed WAY too many scenes and it simply didn’t make the final cut. 

The Joker, played by Jared Leto, was advertised as one of the most prominent and important characters in the film. However he only had around fifteen minutes of screen time. Leto expressed his frustration over this as he says he filmed many more scenes that just weren’t included, especially more with Harley Quinn. Leto and the rest of the cast went through a horrible process to get fully into their character and to understand the depth of their mental illnesses. This doesn’t seem necessary as he was hardly featured in the film. 

Another problem I have with this film is how Harley and the Joker abusive relationship is romanticised. Again the scenes showing the more serious abuse were cut leaving us with very few scenes explaining Harley’s traumatic transformation from physiatrist Dr Harleen Quinzel to the joker’s girlfriend Harley Quinn. For the viewers who are being introduced to these characters and their relationship it seems they are truly in love despites their troubling mental illnesses when in fact this is not the case.

I feel the film’s anticipated release was extremely rushed as the director had to write the script in six weeks which simply isn’t enough time to write a movie script. This led to plot holes, lack of character development and an unexplainable ending. The cutting of scenes and moments in the movie led to very messy looking editing in parts, which personally distracted me from the action.

Even though I have expressed many disappointments within this film, I did enjoy it thoroughly. The sound track was great, featuring artists like Panic! at the Disco and 21 Pilots. It was funny, emotional, dramatic and made you emphasise with the bad guys, which I feel was what they were aiming for. If they had given the director longer time to write the script so all the details needed were included, there would have been no need to cut important scenes. Also the cast was absolutely perfect. They all nailed their characters personalities and there was obvious chemistry between the whole cast.

I would recommend that you watch this movie as it is highly entertaining and is possibly one of my favourite DC or Marvel film, just don’t look into the script too much! 
Jamie x

Changes and Beginnings

Things don’t have to change the world to be important- Steve Jobs 

Changes are what makes history. Whether that be a big change or small, it matters. Only you can change your life and only I can change mine. Only I can decide to change my style, my habits or how I live. I’ve already started changing my life and so far it feels great and it will only keep getting better. Sure there will be ups and downs but in the long run, small changes that seem insignificant to begin with will turn into something massive

I’ve always wanted to write so now I am. I’m going for it. I’m changing my life. Yes, it’s a very small change but it’s an important one. You never know what could come from it, probably nothing, but there is a possibility for something phenomenal. And that possibility is something I cannot risk to give up.

This is my beginning. I’m going to be writing about things that interest me and hopefully you too, gaining experience in writing as I do so. 

Tips for change: 

1. Start now- Never say “I’ll start it tomorrow”, that is a never ending ‘promise’ or should I say never starting? Whether that be a promise to eat healthier or a promise to take up a new hobby, start now not later!
2. Keep motivated- Set reminders to do what you are introducing into your life so you don’t forget and loose interest in it.
3. One at a time- Don’t jampack your life with everything at once, you will soon get overwhelmed and give up. When you have started something new, stick at it until it is fully integrated into your life, then start another change.

So that’s it. My first blog post and certainly not my last. This is only a small introduction of all the ideas I have buzzing around in my brain of mine, so hopefully you’ll find something you like.

Bye for now – Jamie x