Dadgum! I went to go see Suicide Squad! Let me tell you about Neverending Story II (not as much a non-sequitur as it sounds; this review is "technically tangent-free." The body copy itself; if you like tangents, you need look no further than the footnotes.0)
Neverending Story II is, in some regards, a better movie than even the first. It isn't regarded very fondly, but seeing it the way I do1, it's fantastic. And let's face it: Jonathan Brandis is a way better actor than Barret Oliver.2 Who played Victor in the original Tim Burton Frankenweenie, apparently (isn't IMDb the greatest?) which reminds me I also wanted to talk about Tim Burton.
Ignore all the stuff, getting back to NeS2 now, where Bastian has to get back to Fantasia, and he goes to the city, and meets the weird puppet things on the pirate ship or whatever, and precisely none of that is ever mentioned again. Let's say that this film is a direct continuation of the first film, only Bastian is suddenly dashing and smooth and has great hair and a Jonathan Taylor Thomas-esque sense of presence, Cocoon Kid replaced with Wesley Expy.3 Let's say it was the power of Fantasia that did that, I guess. The second film opens right up with Bastian already at the castle.4 NeS2 suddenly becomes a rather tight psychological fantasy drama exploring family relationships and what sort of life would drive a boy to need to escape to Fantasia in the first place. Then with plot-induced-stupidity wasting wishes on individual stair steps, it'd be best to ignore that part too.5
Tim Burton, now?6 The original Batman movie was, well, avoiding any objective claims, subjectively, it's, well, it's not that great. It's aged, if you've been reading along in the footnotes, less gracefully than even Seaquest DSV. The Joel Schumacher Batman flicks of the 90s were pretty darn charming in their over-the-top 90s-esque-ness; the Tim Burton Batman flicks of the 80s7 were, just, really super tacky, in their over-the-top 80s-esque-ness. They were just silly, when they're alleged to be gritty, or whatever.
Which brings me to the Marvel/DC slugfest. I am a Marvel, for the opposite reason (typical?) Marvels are Marvels, apparently, and the reason (typical) DCs are DCs. Marvel comics are silly and their movies are serious; DC's comics are serious and their movies are silly. I just don't understand why people keep telling me it's the other way 'round. When dealing with the concept of enhanced/metahumans, all wearing fancy costumes and doing scientifically absurd stuff, we're by nature dealing with mundus inversus, a world upside-down. DC comics, with Metropolis and Gotham and everything instead of Chicago and New York City and everything, immediately set their exploration of this new world order in the realm of ideals. ensuring a cleaner meditation. Marvel, though dealing with real-world issues such as racism and politics, is set ostensibly in something more akin to "our" world, but in a way that can never be; a mediation between the two must take place, which it does in outlets such as Squirrel Girl, Howard the Duck; less fantastically Fraction's run on Hawkeye and Spencer's run on Ant Man. When it comes to the films, MCU allows itself levity, which (dealing with subject matter) actually grounds it into something full of pathos; DCEU, in its attempt to be gritty, but dealing with the more weightless of the two universes, enforces an aura of bathos.
Thus holding the opinions I do, and thus having laid the groundwork for a proper discussion of my musings on the new film, I can begin. Having seen the negative reviews of this film, but having agreed with them negative reviews for Dawn of Justice before disagreeing with them after having given that film a second shot, and having my complex but internally self-consistent views on Marvel's and DC's respective universes(es,) and knowing how allegedly divergent this film was supposed to be compared with the DCEU tone thus far, I knew that I had to get on this film ASAP.
Also, I'd been meaning to see it anyway, and it's one of the films I've mostly been avoiding spoilers for (the end credits was my first time hearing Heathens by twenty one pilots; I avoided even that.)
So.
Remember the Nerdwriter vid about BvS's flaw? I got it for you again, don't worry.
Remember the Nerdwriter vid about BvS's flaw? I got it for you again, don't worry.
Suicide Squad, Suicide Squad was all about scenes. It didn't really realize it itself, though, which resulted in the weird bits of stylization that were all in the trailers anyway (Joker and Harleen Quinzel (at a key point of the transformation into Harley Quinn) making out in vat of acid; Joker tableau'd writhing in ecstasy on the floor surrounded by a circle of knives; the odd bits of subtitles introducing the cast of players to us as they get mentioned in the X Portfolio8) but just seem kind of out-of-place in the film.
Nerdwriter mentions Age of Ultron, the farmhouse scene; Suicide Squad has such a scene, just chilling at a bar in the abandoned city, musing on being villains and having to live with yourself over that. It's absolutely beautiful.
I primed an explosive up above, NeS2; time I detonate that here. The beginning of the film, where it still seems to be trying to find its own legs, outside of the shadow of Man of Steel and BvS, perhaps overcompensating resulting in the odd stylistic choices.9 The film doesn't really take off until about a third of the way in, when the squad actually assembles (illustrating the handiness of assembling a team from films that the audience has already seen, as with the Avengers (and of course Justice League, to a lesser extent.)) The first third is necessary, though, setting up a lot of important character motivations... though come to think of it, then there's Katana, whose backstory and powers are all integrated near-seamlessly into the story itself... and what's the deal with Captain Boomerang, who was given an introduction most perfunctory of those who were given initial introductions, but who turns out to be a way bigger character than that would make it seem...?
The pacing is really weird in the first act, anyway. Especially with the whole Incubus introduction; they could have delved into the interplay between him and Enchantress way more, for how important a character he is.10
Just think of it as a chess game, though, I guess. Getting all those pieces into place.
Michael Bay movies, is probably another thing I should have brought up earlier. Transformers Dark of the Moon, Chicago getting decimated (at least I think that was Chicago?) which would have been maybe a good climax in another film but in here was background dressing for, more climax, just, like, an action scene lasting a whole hour+. Suicide Squad, that happens (although minus the endless climax.) Midway City, Michigan, gets taken over by Enchantress and Incubus, all as backstory for the film, instead of trying to shock and awe you with it (having that as backstory (and the Enchantress bits are complicated enough) goes a great deal in explaining why the Incubus arch feels so perfunctory.)
Even in a decimated Midway City, the pieces still need to be set up a little more: endless swarms of magick'd mooks dispatched (scene, not moment), spoiler bits regarding Viola Davis's character, Amanda Waller (scene, not moment), and the character relation with Rick Flagg (which is itself complicated and spoilery,) and then the movie really hits its stride. Which it does in great glory. It may seem like it took a while to get to this point, but remember, it was already showing promise as the Squad assembled for the first time. Promise is not delivery; BvS had great promise but in the end never really took off (there was nothing to escalate from, since the whole thing was one fine miso-spread of "BE AWED.") Suicide Squad does deliver; it takes a while to set everything up (aforementioned Flag stuff, triangle between him and Enchantress and Waller; Joker, as usual, is his own faction, White Portuguese done right; how that affects Harley Quinn affects the rest of the Squad) but you can relax and know that everything does pay off. Midway City may seem from the trailers to be a climax, but in the film it's actually where the heart and soul of the film take place, where the film actually begins in earnest with its own highs and lows within; contrast that with Dark of the Moon, where... okay, I guess the heart and soul of a Michael Bay film is successive climax, so, yeah that works.
This film, though, is more of a complex character drama. About pyromages trying to distance themselves from the past; scientists, possessed by witch goddesses, willing to die if it means stopping the black magic from spreading; assassins trying to navigate their relationships with their daughters and ex-wives; former psychiatrists with minds and hearts warped into clinical insanity by famously deranged psychopaths, who have the common agenda to reconnect with each other; killer crocs, serial bank robbers, women with magical katanas. And some dude who climbs well; he's probably not a redshirt.
Random segue!11
You know how oranges and chocolate go together? I got some Talenti from Albertsons...
Nerdwriter mentions Age of Ultron, the farmhouse scene; Suicide Squad has such a scene, just chilling at a bar in the abandoned city, musing on being villains and having to live with yourself over that. It's absolutely beautiful.
I primed an explosive up above, NeS2; time I detonate that here. The beginning of the film, where it still seems to be trying to find its own legs, outside of the shadow of Man of Steel and BvS, perhaps overcompensating resulting in the odd stylistic choices.9 The film doesn't really take off until about a third of the way in, when the squad actually assembles (illustrating the handiness of assembling a team from films that the audience has already seen, as with the Avengers (and of course Justice League, to a lesser extent.)) The first third is necessary, though, setting up a lot of important character motivations... though come to think of it, then there's Katana, whose backstory and powers are all integrated near-seamlessly into the story itself... and what's the deal with Captain Boomerang, who was given an introduction most perfunctory of those who were given initial introductions, but who turns out to be a way bigger character than that would make it seem...?
The pacing is really weird in the first act, anyway. Especially with the whole Incubus introduction; they could have delved into the interplay between him and Enchantress way more, for how important a character he is.10
Just think of it as a chess game, though, I guess. Getting all those pieces into place.
Michael Bay movies, is probably another thing I should have brought up earlier. Transformers Dark of the Moon, Chicago getting decimated (at least I think that was Chicago?) which would have been maybe a good climax in another film but in here was background dressing for, more climax, just, like, an action scene lasting a whole hour+. Suicide Squad, that happens (although minus the endless climax.) Midway City, Michigan, gets taken over by Enchantress and Incubus, all as backstory for the film, instead of trying to shock and awe you with it (having that as backstory (and the Enchantress bits are complicated enough) goes a great deal in explaining why the Incubus arch feels so perfunctory.)
Even in a decimated Midway City, the pieces still need to be set up a little more: endless swarms of magick'd mooks dispatched (scene, not moment), spoiler bits regarding Viola Davis's character, Amanda Waller (scene, not moment), and the character relation with Rick Flag
This film, though, is more of a complex character drama. About pyromages trying to distance themselves from the past; scientists, possessed by witch goddesses, willing to die if it means stopping the black magic from spreading; assassins trying to navigate their relationships with their daughters and ex-wives; former psychiatrists with minds and hearts warped into clinical insanity by famously deranged psychopaths, who have the common agenda to reconnect with each other; killer crocs, serial bank robbers, women with magical katanas. And some dude who climbs well; he's probably not a redshirt.
Random segue!11
You know how oranges and chocolate go together? I got some Talenti from Albertsons...
 |
| http://www.talentigelato.com/ |
It tastes exactly how it looks. Oh yeah.
Only...! It melted, got all goopy on my way back home (I may have, taken a several-hours-long detour) and so I poured some Orangina into that, and even refreezing it, with the sorbetto texture integrity melted anyway, even with the Orangina in it the consistency remains moussey. It's, the greatest, ever.
And no, that wasn't a tangent. A tangent would have to deal with anything that I'd actually been talking about; that deliciousness came out of the blue...
0. Well hi there.
1. Neverending Story III remains just as weird and bad. Jack Black is great though. The rabbit constantly getting crushed over and over again is also alright if you have a kink for that sort of thing. Tricycle-riding Born-to-be-Wild-singing suddenly-renamed-Rockmuncher Rockbiter, and his music-video-watching infantile offspring, is, just pretend that was part of North instead, all in Elijah Wood's head. That makes sense.
2. Where Barret Oliver exclaimed that breaking for lunch sounds like a great idea, in the cringeworthy child-actor way, Jonathan Brandis could express with just a raise of his eyebrow.
3. Consider this, if you don't believe me how awesome Jonathan Brandis is: he almost makes Seaquest worth watching. That and that dolphin. And Timothy Omundson as the psychic guy who appears in a few episodes. But other than those things, that show has not aged well.
4. Pirates of the Caribbean: At World's End could also use this treatment. Rewatching it a few weeks ago, it's much tighter-plotted than I remember, but rescuing Jack still seems like a detour, a shoehorn from the cliffhanger of the second movie. That film (Dead Man's Chest) gets fatigued near its end; this one, At World's End, gets fatigued at the beginning: split the second and third movies into three movies, with Davy Jones's return after the heart stuff the beginning of PotC3 (the scene where the Dutchman surfaces from the water in the background of the shot startling everyone,) which continues through the beginning of At World's End until Jack is retrieved from the Locker and all those deals are made and double-crosses planned. End there, have number 4 start with Elizabeth believed to be Callisto on Sao Feng's ship and all that, up till the end of that movie. On Stranger Tides can remain, just as the fifth PotC; Dead Men Tell No Tales is coming out in a year and I am super psyched for that.
5. Theory, though: it is established that he knows exactly what he's doing, right? He loses a memory per wish made, something like that (it's been a few years.) He's actually trying to lose memories?, as established by the, parental abandonment or whatever, issues. And then the chicken teaches him the power of love, and reminds him of his mother. Or something. It's been a few years. And so Bastian locks the chicken in the well in the basement, starves it, and skins it, and wears its skin like a suit, having conflated the chicken with his mother. Only marginally sure that part's in the movie. Wait, doesn't the hollowness lady also represent his mother? And the chicken works for her, and then breaks away and establishes its own independence, symbolizing a mental split of the imago of his mother, not only between inward and outward (having seen his family life hollow at the core before, hence the symbolism of the hollowness) but between his immature and mature conceptions of her. Kid's got issues.
6. That new Tim Burton movie coming out looks pretty good. I can't remember a thing about it other than that; seeing this trailer, seeing "directed by Tim Burton," and thinking, huh, that looks pretty good. Alright, I looked it up: Miss Peregrine's Home for Peculiar Children. Which is kind of obvious in retrospect. The new Jared Hess movie also looks good. Because Jared Hess. And Guy Ritchie is directing the King Arthur movie? And I'm glad to see that M Night Shyamalan is still directing; Last Airbender was, not as good as it should or could have been, but the dude gets way too much flack for his other films. This new one looks, very, well, Bastian Balthazar Bux-esque.
7. Batman Returns came out in '92, I know, but the early 90s were just an extension of the 80s.
8. Not the, you know, Mapplethorpe one, but, the, file folder of all the candidates for Task Force X in it; I don't know what to call it.
9. Not the weirdest stylistic choice of a Will Smith movie; I don't think there will ever be an explanation for all the acrobatics the camera makes in I, Robot, at the climax where they're trying to stave off all the robot swarms.
10. Also, dude looks exactly like Electro from Amazing Spider-Man 2, 'cept yellow instead of blue. Just sayin'.
11. Also, hey, Rio games going on now! For the Gold!
Do what you're told... no time for games, put on your blindfold....
...I hope Sing is rated PG-13. We richly, richly deserve that.
Only...! It melted, got all goopy on my way back home (I may have, taken a several-hours-long detour) and so I poured some Orangina into that, and even refreezing it, with the sorbetto texture integrity melted anyway, even with the Orangina in it the consistency remains moussey. It's, the greatest, ever.
And no, that wasn't a tangent. A tangent would have to deal with anything that I'd actually been talking about; that deliciousness came out of the blue...
_________________
0. Well hi there.
1. Neverending Story III remains just as weird and bad. Jack Black is great though. The rabbit constantly getting crushed over and over again is also alright if you have a kink for that sort of thing. Tricycle-riding Born-to-be-Wild-singing suddenly-renamed-Rockmuncher Rockbiter, and his music-video-watching infantile offspring, is, just pretend that was part of North instead, all in Elijah Wood's head. That makes sense.
2. Where Barret Oliver exclaimed that breaking for lunch sounds like a great idea, in the cringeworthy child-actor way, Jonathan Brandis could express with just a raise of his eyebrow.
3. Consider this, if you don't believe me how awesome Jonathan Brandis is: he almost makes Seaquest worth watching. That and that dolphin. And Timothy Omundson as the psychic guy who appears in a few episodes. But other than those things, that show has not aged well.
4. Pirates of the Caribbean: At World's End could also use this treatment. Rewatching it a few weeks ago, it's much tighter-plotted than I remember, but rescuing Jack still seems like a detour, a shoehorn from the cliffhanger of the second movie. That film (Dead Man's Chest) gets fatigued near its end; this one, At World's End, gets fatigued at the beginning: split the second and third movies into three movies, with Davy Jones's return after the heart stuff the beginning of PotC3 (the scene where the Dutchman surfaces from the water in the background of the shot startling everyone,) which continues through the beginning of At World's End until Jack is retrieved from the Locker and all those deals are made and double-crosses planned. End there, have number 4 start with Elizabeth believed to be Callisto on Sao Feng's ship and all that, up till the end of that movie. On Stranger Tides can remain, just as the fifth PotC; Dead Men Tell No Tales is coming out in a year and I am super psyched for that.
5. Theory, though: it is established that he knows exactly what he's doing, right? He loses a memory per wish made, something like that (it's been a few years.) He's actually trying to lose memories?, as established by the, parental abandonment or whatever, issues. And then the chicken teaches him the power of love, and reminds him of his mother. Or something. It's been a few years. And so Bastian locks the chicken in the well in the basement, starves it, and skins it, and wears its skin like a suit, having conflated the chicken with his mother. Only marginally sure that part's in the movie. Wait, doesn't the hollowness lady also represent his mother? And the chicken works for her, and then breaks away and establishes its own independence, symbolizing a mental split of the imago of his mother, not only between inward and outward (having seen his family life hollow at the core before, hence the symbolism of the hollowness) but between his immature and mature conceptions of her. Kid's got issues.
6. That new Tim Burton movie coming out looks pretty good. I can't remember a thing about it other than that; seeing this trailer, seeing "directed by Tim Burton," and thinking, huh, that looks pretty good. Alright, I looked it up: Miss Peregrine's Home for Peculiar Children. Which is kind of obvious in retrospect. The new Jared Hess movie also looks good. Because Jared Hess. And Guy Ritchie is directing the King Arthur movie? And I'm glad to see that M Night Shyamalan is still directing; Last Airbender was, not as good as it should or could have been, but the dude gets way too much flack for his other films. This new one looks, very, well, Bastian Balthazar Bux-esque.
7. Batman Returns came out in '92, I know, but the early 90s were just an extension of the 80s.
8. Not the, you know, Mapplethorpe one, but, the, file folder of all the candidates for Task Force X in it; I don't know what to call it.
9. Not the weirdest stylistic choice of a Will Smith movie; I don't think there will ever be an explanation for all the acrobatics the camera makes in I, Robot, at the climax where they're trying to stave off all the robot swarms.
10. Also, dude looks exactly like Electro from Amazing Spider-Man 2, 'cept yellow instead of blue. Just sayin'.
11. Also, hey, Rio games going on now! For the Gold!
...I hope Sing is rated PG-13. We richly, richly deserve that.
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