The Modern Superhero, Part 3: RYMS Reviews “Suicide Squad”

On August 5, 2016, Warner Bros. and DC Comics released Suicide Squad. The film is the third in the DC Extended Universe (DCEU), and picks up where Batman v Superman: Dawn of Justice (BvS) left off. Based on the comic series of the same name, Suicide Squad brings together a ragtag group of super-criminals — gathered by Amanda Waller (Viola Davis) — to be used as covert operatives for the government. Rick Flagg (Joel Kinnaman) leads Deadshot (Will Smith), Harley Quinn (Margot Robbie) and more in this summer anti-hero action flick. But could it shake the criticism of its predecessors and produce the first well-liked film in the series?

Inspired by FiveThirtyEight, Brandon Kesselly (bkesso) had a roundtable discussion about the film via Slack chat with fellow RYMS editors Chris Walker (cwlkr20) and Tim Lewis (obi-don-ginobili) between August 17 and 21. The three of them have varying levels of comic book knowledge and fandom and we decided to give the film a look from both audience and comic fan perspectives.

Note: This review contains full spoilers for the film. Please read at your own risk (or if you just don’t give a f–k).

August 17, 2016

bkesso: Ok all, the purpose of this chat is to discuss the recent film Suicide Squad. As usual, I would like to focus on a few key areas:

• Plot & Theme(s)
• Characters
• Music/Score
• Visuals

So! Let’s begin with Characters. Who did you like? Who did you dislike? Who were you surprised to like/dislike? Why?

cwlkr20: I had a real problem with Joker looking back on it. Since there isn’t enough of him, he’s useless in a way. Like a 2 line feature, he’s there a bit but doesn’t contribute even though his major significant other is in the film. The ads made him look like a real foil to the team but he just pops up, fucks with Ike Barinholtz (who’s kinda blowing up) and is there for a flashback or 2, almost dies, and surprise is back for the end. Honestly that says a lot about the movie on the whole but they should have either doubled down or cut it because it’s useless to half ass when you can full ass instead.

bkesso: While I was weirdly fine with Jared Leto, I agree that Joker was pretty pointless in the film. It also made little sense that they tried to romanticize the relationship between him and Harley considering the hints of abuse in her flashbacks. Deadshot and Harley were the definite focus of the movie. Though given the lack of romance between them the film Focus makes so much more sense…

cwlkr20: Haha true. Will Smith is a movie star. A shitty movie with Will Smith is still a shitty movie but the review will still talk about him being great.

bkesso: Deadshot was “Will Smith with guns”. He got the same characterization as Will Smith does in other Will Smith movies.

cwlkr20: He oozes charm everywhere.

obi-don-ginobili: The whole movie sucked. Except Will Smith. Margot Robbie was pretty good too. Jared Leto disappointed and I’m glad they cut his parts out. The worst parts were flame guy (El Diablo) and Enchantress. Awful, awful presentation of those characters. Oh, Killer Croc was a piece of shit as well. The plot was garbage. I found myself struggling to pay attention. Never saw a movie with so much action that was so boring. Scratch that. Amazing Spider-Man 2 might have been on par. That’s a bad place to be.

bkesso: DC managed to mess up all of their star characters except Wonder Woman within the span of 6 months. That takes a particular kind of talent. And this is coming from someone who managed to like the movie.

obi-don-ginobili: Jeez, you’re a saint among men if you found Suicide Squad to be even palatable. I could throw up on a purple suit on a homeless man and it would make a better Joker than Jared Leto. Then again I could take a dump on a blank sheet of paper and have a better script. And that isn’t to say I think highly of my bodily functions.

cwlkr20: Slipknot was the worst. Captain Boomerang was witty. Kinda charming but also points out a plot hole. Also I agree with @obi-don-ginobili on the “action being boring” except X-Men: Apocalypse is worse. The worst. Also to note–Boomerang is supposed to be creepier. Like half of DC’s villains are rapists, right?

bkesso: I thought the Enchantress was really cool. Until the third act, then she was really stupid.

obi-don-ginobili: I preferred X-Men tbh. Thought it could have ended better, but I liked their portrayal of Apocalypse far more than SS’s portrayal of the Joker.

bkesso: Since we didn’t review that, I’ll leave this here: Apocalypse was BORING. The best part of that movie was the younger cast who got shafted harder than first-timers without lube.

obi-don-ginobili: Damn that’s raw. No pun intended.

cwlkr20: The ending killed it for me. Just like this one–it ends. It just ends how we think it will. No big surprises. As a side note Viola Davis as Amanda Waller is really smart casting.

bkesso: @cwlkr20, Viola Davis can still get away with murder.

obi-don-ginobili: She was good, Viola Davis. True to form. Enchantress did seem cool at first (when she was the scary witch-thing). The third act was god awful. All CGI, no substance, and no real sense of peril. I was not impressed with Cara Delevinge.

What I’m trying to figure out is, where did it all go wrong? The casting didn’t seem to be at fault, but the movie seemed more interested in song-induced transitions and “witty” sound bites than it did character development and a cohesive story. I feel as if the actors can only shoulder so much blame for that.

bkesso: It felt like a poor attempt at replicating Guardians of the Galaxy. And that’s sad considering the Suicide Squad has an arguably larger following.

obi-don-ginobili: YES.

bkesso: Visually, the Enchantress and El Diablo were awesome in my book. I liked the idea of a Scarface-inspired Joker with some Lil Wayne in him, but the scenes and transitions didn’t really sell me on him being anything more than a modern gangster with a paint job. Harley was MUCH crazier than he was. And Joker isn’t a static character, but he wasn’t a threat, either.

obi-don-ginobili: Killer Croc was supposed to be Groot but turned out sounding like the old guy trying to keep up with the kid’s slang, while also being a reptile person. Will Smith was supposed to be Peter Quill, I think. Harley was Gamora. But GOTG actually developed their characters and didn’t spend half the movie in flashbacks.

cwlkr20: Joker=Die Antwood

obi-don-ginobili: @bkesso: I was excited for this interpretation of the Joker, but I agree, it seemed like the average maniacal gangster with some makeup; As if the character was TRYING to be crazy instead of actually being clinically insane.

cwlkr20: At the same time, this movie doesn’t develop all of its characters. Maybe just Deadshot. You get peeks really but nothing fully rises so it leads to plot stagnation.

bkesso: @obi-don-ginobili: That’s because GOTG had structure, something that seems to fall flat so far for the DCEU outside of Man of Steel (which has managed to become retroactively better TWICE).

obi-don-ginobili: YES. Man of Steel seemed mediocre until all this other garbage. Now I reflect fondly.

bkesso: Also, yes, he didn’t seem to be crazy. More quiet. It’s like…Kingpin in the Netflix Daredevil series. You know that something’s lurking, but you still seem like you can chill with them if you approach the right way.

cwlkr20: He’s a hood wannabe mob boss.

bkesso: @cwlkr20: That works, too.

cwlkr20: Except he’s also a terrorist. Technically speaking.

bkesso: And some kind of criminal mastermind. He’s a jack of all trades Joker. But he seems to love that grill.

obi-don-ginobili: @cwlkr20: Deadshot was certainly the most developed character. The only one I felt any real attachment to. I thought El Diablo was really corny as well. When he said “BYE” in flames I started cracking up because of how lame it was. People in the theatre were looking at me. And then he turns into some fire creature and saves the day. Garbage character, lousy setup.

bkesso: Honestly, I really liked how understated he was @obi-don-ginobili.

cwlkr20: @obi-don-ginobili: the end in the bar when we find out about his life could have been moved up and I would have at least understood him some more. Like a little.

bkesso: He had a good character arc. Honestly, I think the film should have started in the bar and then flashed back to beforehand.

cwlkr20: @bkesso: Yup. Could have worked a little better. Also not enough Common. RIP Scott Eastwood.

bkesso: Because there was very little attachment to the characters. If I hadn’t seen it twice, I also wouldn’t believe that they cared about each other at all. There were subtle nonverbal cues but otherwise they’d be missed because you can’t sit through and enjoy it. Also, yes: Common got shafted worse than the X-Men: Apocalypse younger cast.

cwlkr20: What? Nooooooooo. At least Common has been in like 2 movies I can think of. I can’t name none of those kids except Sansa Stark-Lancester.

bkesso: True.

cwlkr20: Also Scott Eastwood got too much press for dying in this one.

obi-don-ginobili: I didn’t mind El Diablo in appearance, but he was too much of a pussy for me. How are you a crime lord turned emo man child? Boo.

In hindsight, we should have listed the characters individually and then deliberate on each. Would make things easier to follow.

cwlkr20: That’s a good point.

bkesso:

• Harley Quinn –
• Joker –
• Amanda Waller –
• Batman –
• Flash –
• Deadshot –
• Rick Flagg –
• Captain Boomerang –
• Slipknot –
• Killer Croc –
• El Diablo –
• Enchantress –
• Incubus –
• Katana –

cwlkr20: Barinholtz was witty. The Batman cameo was within reason. Flash, too. Both probs made $500k for a pop up.

obi-don-ginobili: Slipknot was my favorite just because they gave him no intro so you knew he would die. But I laughed when it happened, so I consider him a positive.

cwlkr20: I respect that logic

bkesso: xD.

obi-don-ginobili: Who was the soldier dude? He sucked.

bkesso: Rick Flagg. I’m used to Joel Kinnaman from The Killing and House of Cards at this point. Also Robocop ‘14.

obi-don-ginobili: Rick can Flagg deez nuts because he was terrible. What a little shit. I don’t know why but I wanted him to die the whole movie. Like, bro, you are boning a witch. Stop putting your problems on other people.

bkesso: I thought he was…okay? I’m not as familiar with the Squad as I am individual characters, so he’s not someone I cared about to begin with.

cwlkr20: He was a bitch.

obi-don-ginobili: Well said @cwlkr20. Who the hell is Incubus? A band?

cwlkr20: I think it’s the other demon that’s the brother of Enchantress? @bkesso?

obi-don-ginobili: Ah. He was lame as fuck. And what about Samurai jawn? She was cool. Her sword eats souls and she uses it to talk to her dead husband or whatever. Pretty neat.

cwlkr20: I liked that they had her talk to the sword at some point. That’s a major part of that character

obi-don-ginobili: I don’t know her, or much of the suicide squad, but she stood out as a solid but not overblown character.

cwlkr20: @obi-don-ginobili: that’s a good way to describe her

bkesso: OMG I FORGOT KATANA. So did the writers.

cwlkr20: Haha.

bkesso: She’d be better served in Birds of Prey or Outsiders. Be real.

obi-don-ginobili: Ha! Probably didn’t want to bring too much attention to the fact that the only Asian character has a samurai sword and is named Katana (seriously though?)

cwlkr20: Outsiders would be lit.

bkesso: She’s pretty heavily featured in Arrow, though. Well, she was. But that’s neither here, nor there.

cwlkr20: You’ve shat on it too much for me to watch it now, you realize that @bkesso?

bkesso: It’s a cold day in Hell when Arrow did a better job with the Suicide Squad than the actual movie. If you put Viola Davis on Arrow it would have been pretty spot on.

obi-don-ginobili: Yeah, I liked her. What did y’all think of Killer Croc?

bkesso: I didn’t.

cwlkr20: He didn’t make any sense.

obi-don-ginobili: I thought he was cringe-worthy to be honest. Didn’t understand the direction of the character at all.

bkesso: He’s clearly from Louisiana. And clearly a black guy turned metahuman.

cwlkr20: WHAT IF HE JUST LOVES B.E.T.? B.E.T. IS FOR EVERYONE @bkesso.

obi-don-ginobili: That’s racist. WHAT IF HE LOVES B.E.T.!?!?

bkesso: I think that, despite being largely forgettable, he had the arguably “best” line in the film (out of a lot of shite lines).

obi-don-ginobili: And that was?

bkesso: “Not me, Shawty! I’m beautiful!” That was one of a few moments that got a genuine laugh out of me.

cwlkr20: …I laughed I have to be honest.

obi-don-ginobili: Hmm I suppose our sense of humor is just different. I thought they were reaching. Would have appreciated it more if they developed his character/personality, maybe. One of the few times a flashback would have been helpful.

bkesso: That’s one of the things that was actually cut. He had more screen time apparently. Especially setup time. But I don’t think they wanted Batman capturing three villains in the span of 10 minutes when they’re not all together.

obi-don-ginobili: Good point. The movie would have been better if Katana killed everybody but Will Smith and then they had to fight Batman and the government or something. I would pay to see that.

bkesso: It already exists in some form. See Assault on Arkham. Which is what many probably expected out of the plot. Which oddly focused a lot on Enchantress. Once we saw it happening, it really stayed there. Totally different direction than one would expect given the characters involved. Too large a scale. Soundtrack was tight, but didn’t match most of the scenes

obi-don-ginobili: So, in my humble opinion:

• Harley Quinn — Enjoyable.
• Joker — Jared Leto is a punk bitch.
• Amanda Waller — Badass.
• Batman — Cool while it lasted.
• Flash — Neat cameo
• Deadshot — Best character (Will Smith FTW)
• Rick Flagg — Bitch boy.
• Captain Boomerang — Witty, but also corny.
• Slipknot — Limited but worthwhile (boom!)
• Killer Croc — Underdeveloped, lame interpretation.
• El Diablo — Corniest bad guy I’ve ever seen. (“BYE”)
• Enchantress — Started off neat, got progressively shitty.
• Incubus — Whatever.
• Katana — Underutilized but cool.

@bkesso I’ll have to watch that later. There was a BvS animated film that the theatre film totally ripped off. Funny enough, the animated one was probably better. More ruthless. I’ll touch on the soundtrack later.

bkesso:

• Harley Quinn — Margot Robbie is oversexualized but her acting was enjoyable

• Joker — Oddly enjoyable, but highly unnecessary and overexposed
• Amanda Waller — Viola Davis still knows how to get away with murder
• Batman — Well utilized
• Flash — Hate the costume, loved the cameo
• Deadshot — Literally Will Smith with guns.
• Rick Flagg — Still don’t really care
• Captain Boomerang — Drunk Aussie with boomerangs. Should’ve had more to do
• Slipknot — BOOM!
• Killer Croc — “Not me, Shawty! I’m beautiful!”
• El Diablo — I honestly enjoyed his story
• Enchantress — Initially cool; then CGI nightmare (why?)
• Incubus — …also why?
• Katana — Badass but otherwise forgettable

obi-don-ginobili: @cwlkr20: Your turn.

bkesso: @obi-don-ginobili: I think we’re equating “criminal” with “villain”, something the film also tries to shove down our throats. I don’t think El Diablo was a “villain”, but he was definitely a “criminal”, ya dig?

obi-don-ginobili: Yeah I got you. They wanted to make the bad guys relatable. I just didn’t vibe with him after he said “BYE” with the flames. It was hard for me to take him seriously after that.

cwlkr20:

• Harley Quinn — Interesting but wanted more real depth
• Joker — Not necessary b/c of scene cuts but also because kinda wack
• Amanda Waller — Viola Davis does no wrong here
• Batman — cool cameo the first time
• Flash — cool cameo; does he get a better costume after becoming friends with Batman?
• Deadshot — charismatic, charming, kinda deep. Keeps you there.
• Rick Flagg — Bitch. Everyone’s bitch.
• Captain Boomerang — Not terrible. Actually 3rd favorite character for the wit. (More on this in plot)
• Slipknot — Who?
• Killer Croc — Could have been better; couldn’t identify with him as much as I wanted
• El Diablo — I wish I knew his story earlier so I could understand him through out the movie
• Enchantress — Went from interesting to Hey Dr. Doom from FF 2015 I didn’t know you’d be here
• Incubus — Um yeah that’s a thing
• Katana — Underutilized; either a Birds of Prey or Outsiders movie better serves her

bkesso: Pretty much, yes.

August 21, 2016

bkesso: Plot/Script. How did you feel about the story? Did the themes feel natural or forced? Did the characters act believably within the context of the plot? How did you feel about the dialogue? Did you like the ending?

cwlkr20: It’s a really straightforward plot, but there were sooooo many holes.

bkesso: What did you catch?

cwlkr20: There’s this weird cut where you see Capt. Boomerang walk away from the group and then 2 secs later he’s back.

bkesso: True.

cwlkr20: Just out the blue, sitting with the crew at the bar, no motivation necessary

bkesso: And then he leaves the bar.

cwlkr20: RIGHT?? For a guy who actively wants to leave.

bkesso: In terms of motivations, Deadshot and Flagg were the only ones who really had any in my opinion. Even Enchantress was kinda all over the place. What you think, @obi-don-ginobili?

obi-don-ginobili: The story was garbage. The themes felt forced. The characters had no development, and as such their actions carried no sense of realism or weight. The dialog, for the most part, was uninspired, better suited for one-liners in previews than for a conversation between characters. The ending, along with the supposed climax, were tasteless and CGI driven, descending into a void of mind numbing awfulness.

bkesso: But please, tell us how you really feel, @obi-don-ginobili lol.

obi-don-ginobili: I loved Enchantress at the beginning. Very creepy. Seemed to have a lot of potential. However, she lost all of that upon her evolution back into Cara Delevingne. From there, it was just a bunch of lousy dancing and purposeless plotting. A movie like this needs a good bad guy to rally against. Suicide Squad instead opted for… Well, I don’t know. I’m not sure anybody knows what they were going for.

cwlkr20: I agree with that antagonist choice changes everything. At the same time, I felt like this was the bland version of a make your own adventure book at times except this time with villains fighting a villain! I was following the story and it all felt a little too predictable

obi-don-ginobili: It didn’t feel like the people that made the movie really loved what they were doing. Like they weren’t DC enthusiasts. They could have taken this anywhere and instead decided to exchange creativity for computer graphics.

cwlkr20: They should have called Geoff Johns. Or any DC writer of note to write this. Also, this

bkesso: Story of DC. That’s been a huge issue, actually. WB has all but refused to include actual DC writers in their films so far. Meanwhile, Marvel is literally run by Marvel comic writers and former editors and such.

obi-don-ginobili: It’s why DC’s animated films are far better than their big screen productions

bkesso: The films have had so much potential but WB is reluctant to let their actual writers do their thing.

cwlkr20: The animated film version of this movie should have been the backbone of this movie

bkesso: Right? Assault on Arkham was a good template

obi-don-ginobili: Just watched it today. Was quite good.

obi-don-ginobili: It also was rather gory, which is a necessity if the goal is to use the bad guys as the centerpiece.

bkesso: Again: darker, edgier….Guardians of the Galaxy. Complete with the magical bad guy who lacks motivation.

obi-don-ginobili: Not having the film rated R really took away from its potential.

cwlkr20: AoA had a great feel for characters, very balanced. Right amount of Joker.

obi-don-ginobili: The animated film for BvS was also much better than its Hollywood counterpart.

bkesso: The one from like 2001? Yeahhhhh. It was the TV movie, right? Right before Justice League debuted on Cartoon Network?

cwlkr20: Oh yeah I want to bring this back up–they needed to either double down on Joker or cut it the fuck out because I’m alright with Jared Leto but shit man you did too much to be in this movie for 10 min

obi-don-ginobili: All of his parts were in the previews

cwlkr20: Exactly.

bkesso: Literally.

obi-don-ginobili: I was hoping he’d be better than he was in the previews. Unfortunately not.

cwlkr20: Like he could have actually been a solid side villain, actively trying to disrupt the team. But then, you know he just turns in a Scarface look, almost dies, and comes back for 5.

bkesso: At least they didn’t rely too heavily on Batman this time?

cwlkr20: True.

bkesso: Just….a quarter of his rogue’s gallery.

obi-don-ginobili: They should have. Batman and the Joker should have been integral.

cwlkr20: Is Deadshot a Bat Family villain? And @obi-don-ginobili yup yup sir.

bkesso: Technically, yes.

obi-don-ginobili: What’s a “Bat family”?

bkesso: @obi-don-ginobili: Batman, Robin, Nightwing, Batgirl, etc. The full team is known as the “Bat[man] Family”.

obi-don-ginobili: I see

bkesso: Hahaha! I see somebody has finally finished Young Justice.

obi-don-ginobili: Nope lol.

bkesso: BRUHHHHH.

obi-don-ginobili: Yeah it’s on Netflix too. I’m a bad person.

bkesso: Both seasons, too! But we digress. Are we done with plot — or lack thereof?

obi-don-ginobili: Lol yeah I’m done.

bkesso: Sound/Score: Did you like the score? Did the music fit the scenes or characters? Which music was your favorite? Did you like the sound effects and mixing? What sounds worked for you? What did not?

obi-don-ginobili: The music was pretty good, but I didn’t like how it was used for the sole purpose of moving us from one scene to the next.

cwlkr20: Ummmmmmmmmmmmmm yeah. Same.

bkesso: I want to reiterate my earlier point that Cara Delevigne’s Enchantress voice at the end was extremely annoying.

cwlkr20: That “Gangsta” song by Kehlani is cool.

obi-don-ginobili: Lol.

bkesso: The music was fire. Though I’m with you, @obi-don-ginobili.

obi-don-ginobili: It got me ready for whatever was about to happen, but it also gave the feeling that the movie didn’t have a flow to it.

bkesso: Yeah. Half the time it didn’t fit the scenes at all. Even though I was jamming out to “Without Me”, I was like “Do they really need this song over something else?” Like, that could have been playing during the Joker/Harley chase sequence. It would have been super meta, too!

obi-don-ginobili: Introductory song — -> Something happens — -> Time lapse → Introductory song → Something else happens → Repeat → End.

bkesso: Was it mixed by an intern?

cwlkr20: Basically. You can’t have Hans Zimmer do all the movies. He’s expensive. Oscars change ppl.

obi-don-ginobili: However, I did find the soundtrack to be a strength. They just relied on it too heavily. Kind of like the Great Gatsby movie.

bkesso: @cwlkr20 So that’s where the BvS budget went!

cwlkr20: All of it.

bkesso: @obi-don-ginobili Hey! I happened to like the Great Gatsby movie lol. Despite its flaws.

obi-don-ginobili: Idk the intro music DC uses when the Justice League people enter the scene is badass. The jawn with the electric guitar.. Gets me so pumped. Usually only to be let down, sadly.

bkesso: I think that was the Wonder Woman theme, actually xD.

obi-don-ginobili: Great Gasby: Starring Toby McGuire’s bitchass stalking a rich dude and getting 0 buns.

bkesso: The movie’s about Leo anyways! Who cares about Tobey?

cwlkr20: No one.

bkesso: Exactly! He’s just the narrator! LMAO.

cwlkr20: In a post Spider-Man world, I haven’t seen him do anything much

obi-don-ginobili: Whatever. She’s dope and the music is dope. That’s the only DC movie I’m excited for. Gal Gadot is SO BAD.

cwlkr20: #facts.

bkesso: I actually have some trepidation for that now that Suicide Squad happened.

obi-don-ginobili: He’s in like every scene. Leo cries the whole time. That movie was a letdown.

bkesso: @obi-don-ginobili Remember the book. Tobey’s the narrator character. He had to be in every scene lol.

cwlkr20: Uggggggghhhh.

bkesso: Anywho.

obi-don-ginobili: I know. But he was more of a bitch in the movie than in the book. Fucking Tobey. But I think I’m getting off topic.

cwlkr20: BUT WHY WOULD I WANT MORE TOBEY. WHY!?

obi-don-ginobili:

bkesso:I’m all for Gal Gadot. But this movie gives me concerns for Wonder Woman and that movie is not allowed to suck. If that movie is garbage WB will be burned by fans the world over. I really hope the Geoff Johns rumors are true. And I hope Patty Jenkins has wrestled control away from the Snyders.

obi-don-ginobili: If that movie sucks, WB better sell DC comics movie rights

bkesso: Maybe they could sell it to Viacom or CBS?

cwlkr20: AHAHAHAHAHA.

obi-don-ginobili: Lmao! I get it.

cwlkr20: I see what you did there

bkesso: ?

obi-don-ginobili: I think we are ready to discuss visuals.

bkesso: Yes.

Visuals: Did you like the visual effects in the film? Did the action seem believable? How about the super-powers and/or super-tech? Did those seem real enough to suspend your disbelief? Was the filtering too bright to watch? Too dark?

cwlkr20: I stand by my earlier statement of “when did Doom from FF 2015 show up at the end of the movie?” Did the budget run out?

bkesso: We’ve said it already, but [the] Enchantress transformation at the beginning was gorgeous.

obi-don-ginobili: I did not like the visual effects for this film. The CGI was booty. The no-face people who don’t bleed made me feel like I was watching a movie for children. The scene with fire guy and demon dude at the end was the corniest shit I’ve ever seen.

cwlkr20: Did they go, “fuck I forgot how much a Lil Wayne feature costs” and made cuts accordingly

obi-don-ginobili: Some sequences were good, like when Deadshot took out that whole army by himself. Badass.

cwlkr20: Oh yeah. That scene had great timing, cut the right way.

bkesso: You mean “Will Smith with Guns”, right? Yeah that was a great scene all jokes aside.

obi-don-ginobili: Some of the scenes seemed like they had artistic intentions, but just didn’t quite fit. For example, the scene where the Joker lies back surrounded by the knives. It looked cool, but it didn’t seem to have any flow or purpose and therefore appeared forced.

YES! WILL SMITH WITH GUNS.

bkesso: I actually liked the scene at Ace Chemicals. Though I had to laugh when they used their one F-bomb in a song in passing.

cwlkr20: They played themselves.

obi-don-ginobili: I thought the scene at Ace Chemicals was quite good as well. The way he nonchalantly decided to free fall after he tossed her in actually embodied who I feel the Joker to be. A rare gem.

bkesso: And that was one of the few times the dialogue they gave him seemed to fit the character we remember. I think that’s part of the problem, but we’ll get back to that later.

obi-don-ginobili: Exactly. “Would you live for me?”

bkesso: Once again: THE FLASH COSTUME SUCKED

obi-don-ginobili: Yeah wtf. He’s like power ranger Iron Man. Looked so childish.

bkesso: Great cameo, but the costume…..ugh. Also, the lightning effects are waaaaaaaaay over the top. It feels like he’s using too much of the Speed Force. Can’t control it. Maybe that’s the point?

obi-don-ginobili: A bit exaggerated.

cwlkr20: Now he’s cool with Batman so he’ll get the hook up like he’s Spider-Man hanging with Iron Man.

obi-don-ginobili: Might be. But I think DC is just a bit CGI happy.

bkesso: @cwlkr20 You’re not wrong. You’re also the second person to make that comparison to me haha.

cwlkr20: Hmmmmmm yeah @obi-don-ginobili a bit too much.

obi-don-ginobili: I thought the fire visuals for El Diablo were solid, but it was super lame and completely random when he turned into the skeleton monster. It didn’t even classify as a plot twist. Was just kind of like “oh hey, flame guy is also a devil monster who is going to beat up the bad guy.”

bkesso: I….actually thought that was going to happen. And I had no idea who he was from a comic perspective.

cwlkr20: Same here. Also, it didn’t look good.

obi-don-ginobili: Looked like shit.

bkesso: He just seemed too OP to not be related in some way, shape or form. But I agree: It looked booty

obi-don-ginobili: If that’s part of his powers, that’s one thing. But the movie from top to bottom was made for casual viewers and not hardcore fans, so it was odd for that to happen out of nowhere.

bkesso: True.

cwlkr20: Yeah.

bkesso: I just thought it was random how they never explained how he got his abilities despite explaining it for literally everyone else. They had to have been hiding it for a reason, right? Like any other metahuman they went out of their way to explain. But him? They cut it short.

cwlkr20: For the big CGI event at the end duh

bkesso: Maybe it was bad editing. Maybe it was intentional.

obi-don-ginobili: @cwlkr20 Which is super sad considering how anticlimactic and poorly constructed that sequence was

bkesso: And it still looked better than Doomsday!

obi-don-ginobili: Idk, I think I preferred Doomsday.

cwlkr20: @obi-don-ginobili: it was kinda this “take this L right now” moment.

obi-don-ginobili: Actually, yes. I definitely preferred Doomsday. He wasn’t great, but at least he had some build up and carried some weight as a bad guy

bkesso: Yeah. Physical weight. But did he have the “gravitas”, tho?

obi-don-ginobili: Lmao well neither was really worth the hype. But I’ve got to skidaddle.

bkesso: It’s ok.

obi-don-ginobili: Think we covered everything.

bkesso: Can you throw out a final score for the film?

obi-don-ginobili: Thanks guys!

bkesso: Thank you, @obi-don-ginobili!

obi-don-ginobili: 3.5/10.

bkesso: DAMNNNNN.

obi-don-ginobili: Lol. Have you not read my review? I think that’s generous.

bkesso: LMFAO.

cwlkr20: Word. Stay blessed. I got magical sleeping stuff to take. Whatever I gave BvS, just add .5 or .75.

bkesso: Despite roasting the ever-living shit out of this film, I actually give it 6.5/10. For me, that’s a full 1.5 higher than BvS.

@cwlkr20 That would put you at 4.75/10 max. I think?

cwlkr20: Yeah.

obi-don-ginobili: Lol see ya later guys.

bkesso: Peace. And thanks, gentlemen!

Reviewer Scores

Brandon: 6.5/10

Tim: 3.5/10

Chris: 4.75/10

Average: 4.92/10

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