#*deep exhale* FINALLY FINISHED TYPIN IT UP

[dyketectivecomics]

ALRIGHT, Suicide Squad (2021) Initial Thoughts!

(under a cut and Obvious Spoiler Warning! turn Back if You Dont Want To Be Spoiled)

okay overall i absolutely loved the movie! i can def see myself regularly revisiting this one & i'm excited to watch it again! original plan was to stream it w/ my dad but I ended up streaming at a friends house instead and that helped paint the experience a tad differently bc we're both annoying so we were commentating the entire time fjdakl;

The plot is VERY solid and very strong/tightly threaded. Something that I enjoyed w/ BoP ofc was that non-linear narrative, so coming back to something that kept the timeline very clear w/ only a couple sidetracks to catch up w/ other characters or to bring the audience back up to speed was *chefs kiss*. I was half expecting the initial beach sequence to be a Tone-setter for the audience & for a smash-cut the mission proper/as a "here's what a Mission Gone Wrong Looks Like" and was pleasantly surprised when it was very much Part Of the Current Mission!!! they really rolled out strong and then kept that momentum going!

Getting right away into spoiler territory now (again, srsly, you've had your chance to turn back lmao) I was a LITTLE surprised to see Boomerang as one of the casualties right at the start fdjlka; could be bc i do still have the '87 run on the brain, and Boomer feels like one of the Main Stays to me now?

God tho, having 90% of Who you Think are going to be part of the team get taken out so quick and brutally? Varying the deaths from recklessness to attempted desertion & the consequences spelled out so quickly just!!!! We'd been told over and over how Gunn wanted to pay homage to war films and it def shows! Both in that scene, and esp while the Squad is attacking Jotunheim (there were several moments that even my friend mac made some comments, pointing out lighting/camera decisions that just *chefs kiss* it rlly shows Vision)

There's so much I want to gush abt and my hearts rlly full for! The fight sequences! The soundtrack and score and SOUND DESIGN ESP!!! fading songs in & out and making most of them diegetic!!!! Or hell, the transitions being so fun & placed within the environments/scenes themselves!!! all these things that feel like homage to the Medium of Comics, while also being enhanced by the medium film!

To transition over to the plot itself again & esp to focus in on the characters:

Everyone had rlly solid arcs!!! They took that time to let some key players bond! Cleo & Robert's surrogate dad n daughter thing and Cleo & Nanaue's friendship esp being endearing to me ahh! contrast that against Chris vs Robert's rivalry set-up and confrontation pay-off!!! I loved that they did include a Twist of Peacemaker working a submission for Waller in the midst of the Main Objective bc while I don't 100% love that they've stuck w/ Waller seeing the Squad as Expendable (bc that damn well wasn't the OG squad but c'est la vie), Waller having a contingency/secret objective absolutely tracks with her character.

while we're on slight negatives, I did feel very disappointed by Polka-Dot Man not having... closure. I was kind of hoping that he would be our Floyd/Werner stand-in, as a character who gets to move past his suicide wish... And I suppose for a brief moment, he had but... It was still a little sad to see the moment undercut (but I can appreciate that others will like the Joke in that Gallows Humor sense). Just made me personally a lil sad to see *shrug*

To circle back around to '87 Squad comparisons, I really loved seeing more of the support team and even seeing some of those familiar names (Flo!!! Briscoe!!!), and the fact that they got to help at key points just!!! I can't remember the 2016 film as much (its been ages since I thought abt it and I don't remember ever rewatching it after the initial time tbh), but i vaguely remember Waller Disposing of her support team there and... idk, it felt cathartic to see more of them here and for them to feel like a weird coworking unit & even to see them go against her and give the Squad their help when they Knew it was the Right thing to do like!!!!

Again, I dont remember much of the first film, except that it felt like a passable popcorn movie. But this? This felt like something more. More cohesion btwn the characters, more synergy with what the director & cast wanted to bring and what WB was finally willing to let them do, more of what fans like me want to see from superhero movies.

Something that takes care to look at the source, give those gentle nods and acknowledgements, and still come out w/ something that feels Fresh and New. DC movies feel like they've been on a bit of an upswing, and I rlly do hope they keep that going.