Review: Suicide Squad (2016)

I have been looking forward to seeing this for so long, maybe too long.  However the combination of super hyped up excited for an age and the rumours of bad reviews put me on some sort of middle ground in terms of expectations.  I wasn't expecting the best film ever but I was still excited for what it was going to be.

Doesn't it just feel like we've building up to this movie for years now?! I don't know how I managed it but I watched the first trailer and stayed away from the rest, I didn't want to watch the entire movie after about a million trailers and 'TV spots' were released.

Does everyone already know the back story to Suicide Squad, who can have possibly not heard about it in the thousands of trailers floating around.  Anyway, short version is Amanda Waller (Viola Davis) assigns group of criminals to do the tasks that the Government cant be seen to be involved with.  With that shes pulls together Deadshot (Will Smith), El Diablo (Jay Hernandez), Boomerang (Jay Courtney), Killer Croc (Adewale Akinnuoye-Agbaje) and Harley Quinn (Margot Robbie) lead by Rick Flag (Joel Kinneman) to take down their latest enemy.  Funnily enough, that being someone they released into the world as part of their programme (but that's none of my business!)

The intro to the Squad was probably my favourite part, I liked how each character had their own theme song of sorts, and the graphic overlays were cool, especially in 3D. I'll stick up a spoiler alert now, but I did find it funny that the only Squad member to not have an introduction got killed off within seconds. Um. Way to make it obvious and not shocking in any way at all.

I do have issues with this so lets get them out of the way first, it was a little bit flat.  I was expecting something (a bad guy or plot line) to really peak my interest and it never happened, it never quite reached its peak in terms of story.  Also, does anyone understand why they all became friends, initially I got the idea that they came together to try to escape, then they bonded over having to save Waller or they would all die.  Why didn't Deadshot kill Harley Quin? Why did Boomerang come back after he had the chance to walk away? Why do they care when they are supposedly cold bloodied killers?!

That is all my rants for today, because with all it's faults I still loved it.  I actually liked the fact that they had all bonded and become friends (even if it didn't make sense).  I really liked all the characters particularly Harley Quinn, I cannot wait to see her in her own movie.  She absolutely stole every scene she was in even with Jared Leto's Joker on the loose. The story had its faults but it was entertaining, I didn't fidget at all and forgot all about my ice cream and let it melt :( RIP ice cream...

It was entertaining, but it was bloody exhausting at the same time. Why we had such little time introducing these characters and their backstories just to fill the rest with what felt like the longest finale ever is beyond me. Margot Robbie and Will Smith were amazing, sadly Jared Leto didn't have nearly enough screen time for me to have a proper opinion, and I honestly couldn't give a rats ass about the other characters. Captain Boomerang only gift was his never-ending coat pockets, Killer Croc was 'gangsta' and Diablo was just too busy feeling sorry for himself. Oh and who's side was the katana-wielding girl on?!They were pointless to the story! No, story is the wrong word here, because that was all over the place.

Shouldn't Suicide Squad have been all about trying to get these 'bad guys' to work together? They just fell into line and chummed up within an instant. Sorry for drawing comparisons but the Avengers had a harder time working together than these guys. Also, they're meant to be the worst of the worst, but Deadshot is an absolute sweetheart.

I loved the back stories for each of them as well, which is usually the bit I dislike but as I didn't know these characters as well as some others it was interesting to see where they had come from.  Plus with there being so many, they were short and sweet not half the bloody film showing one person being bitten by a bloody spider! (I thought you liked Spiderman! Sad face.) I did the first time I saw the origin story and then they just kept them coming!!

It was fun to watch, it was better than Batman V Superman, and it wasn't anywhere near as terrible as I had feared it would be, but dang it Warner Bros, you were given enough time to get this right! A popcorn flick at best, sadly.

All in all, I really did enjoy it despite its faults which is all that matters really.  Now I have written my review I can finally read some of these 'terrible' reviews, I have heard so much about!! You er, don't need to look far I'm afraid. I think we're the nice guys :)

Review: The Pursuit of Happyness (2006)

I’ve had a real hankering for feel-good movies recently whilst I’ve been feeling a bit down in the dumps, so when I spotted The Pursuit of Happyness in our draft list I tracked it down without giving it another thought. I remembered that Will Smith was in it, and I assumed with a title like that, it was bound to make me feel fuzzy inside. Perhaps I was expecting something more like Hector and the Search for Happiness…

The Pursuit of Happyness is based on the real life story of Chris Gardner (Will Smith) who invested heavily in a large supply of Bone Density Scanning machines. Unfortunately he’s had great difficulty in selling them, as they are only marginally better than existing equipment, at double the price. As Chris and his wife Linda (Thandie Newton) spiral into debt, tensions rise and Linda leaves, although Chris demands that their son Christopher (Jaden Smith) stays with him.

This is one of those films where just when you think things couldn’t get any worse, they do. Then they get even worse than that. It might just be the most depressing film I’ve ever seen. The scene in the subway bathroom broke my heart into a million pieces, and it’s without a doubt the best performance I’ve ever seen from Will Smith.  I cried the first time I saw that scene, it was just so heartbreaking.  I was just screaming at the screen for life to give him a break and let him succeed.  The fact that its based on a true story, just made it so much more emotional and it stuck with me for months after I first watched it.  I did however do some googling and Chris Gardner is extremely successful now as a motivational speaker!

Despite the gloom, it did make me laugh several times. If you’ve seen it, do you remember the scene in the elevator at the Stockbroker’s after Chris takes the intern exam? He tells a colleague how much he struggled with the essay question on the back of the exam, and the intern panics and runs back to the exam room. I still can’t work out if Chris was teasing and the essay never existed! I assumed it did exist, it just proved that Chris was so far ahead of everyone else he did it all and still finished early....

One thing I wanted to know was why 'happyness' was spelled the way it was. I thought the answer was simply because of the graffiti on the wall that featured quite heavily throughout the film, but there's a much deeper explanation to do with an essay written in 1776 that I just can't wrap my head around right now!  I assumed it was because of the graffiti as well, I might have to have a look into this further....

The Pursuit of Happyness is one of those rare films that I loved, but would never want to watch again. Maybe if I was in the right kind of mood, but I don’t think I would call this a ‘feel-good film’. That’s not a criticism by any means!  I watched this for the second time a few weeks ago, the first time I watched it was when it was released, it took me that long to forget how heartbreaking it was.  Once I started it again, I quickly remembered why I didn't watch it again!!

Review: Focus (2015)

I really wanted to see this at the cinema but didn't get around to it.  Finally got around to watching it on Sky Box Office over the weekend.

Nicky (Will Smith) is a veteran con artist who takes Jess (Margot Robbie) under his wing and his heart - until things get extremely complicated.  Years pass and they cross paths again on a con in the Formula 1 world in causing chaos and disaster.

I love a good con movie, I am a huge fan of Oceans Eleven and Catch me if you can.  I really love the great twist at the end that no one was expecting but this just didn't have it for me.  I didn't find Nicky at all likeable and although these types of movies are supposed to have twists and turns in the storyline, i'm not keen when the likability of the character goes up and down with it!  In fact, I got quite bored near the middle, got distracted by Facebook and missed a few important tricks in the football game and had to rewind the whole scene and try again.  The fact is, I should have been interested enough to not have to do that but alas I wasn't.

Will Smith was a disappointment, I am a fan and I think I always will be but the cocksure version of Nicky just didn't quite come across as well as it should and then I couldn't decide if the genuine version of him was real or not - it was oh so complicated.  Margot Robbie however was, amazing, stealing every scene she was in even over superstar Smith.  I knew after seeing her in Wolf of Wall Street that she was one to watch and she is continuing to impress and now I can't wait to see her in Suicide Squad next year.

Disappointing to be honest but I managed to watch until the end.  The twists and turns confused me more than excited me but fortunately Robbie saved the day.