Who Doesn't Know That?

Someone sent me this image today, thinking it was really funny. It's kinda bizarre to me - Who doesn't know that Will Smith is from West Philly? It would be pretty embarrassing to meet him and say something like "I love all your shows. So tell me where are you from?". I bet he's got a really awesome expression for situations like that. Maybe something like one of these?

Yeah, I think those would be pretty close. Anyway, it reminded me that I saw Suicide Squad last week - it wasn't one I was rushing to see, following some negative reviews and that DC has really not been doing too good a job with its films lately. Batman vs Superman was not very good, very poor given the material they had to work with - you have Batman, Superman, and Wonder Woman, what else do you need? Marvel can get a great film with Ant-Man which I thought was insanity when I heard the announcement, but write a good script with good actors and you can get a fun film.

Well, Suicide Squad surprised me in a similar way to Ant-Man. I had low expectations but enjoyed it, and really wonder why it got the bad press it did. It's a slightly better than average summer action film plot, with solid performances from all the cast but definitely carried by Smith and Robbie in their respective roles as Deadshot and Harley Quinn. They really made you care about them despite their less than pleasant characters, and had a chemistry that worked. Amanda Waller is cold and calculating, in many ways is the villain of the film, as she should be. It had the right balance of action and comic relief, wasn't overly long, and left it open for a sequel, which I'd be want to see.

The Joker seemed almost an add-on, even though he is central to Harley Quinn's character. Other than to have the Joker in it, I'm not even sure why he was there. Leto does a decent performance with him, but I'm not sure that he had any material to really make him exude crazy - Heath Ledger still takes home the prize for most insane and scary Joker. 

Compared to the other summer films, better than both Jason Bourne (retread of the first three, nothing new) or Star Trek:Beyond (exceeds the low bar set by the last two ST films, but not great). Way better than Batman vs Superman, better than X-Men:Apocalypse, though not Deadpool level brilliant. Overall if you like this type of action/comedy film go see Suicide Squad and ignore the reviews. Apart from this one.