DC MOVIE THREAD

[John from Cincinnati]

Bought my tickets before the reviews dropped.

Whoops. 

[Matt D]

1 hour ago, Niners Fan in CT said:

Why would you remove the selling point? Yeah Quinn is a selling point also but it's Joker, that's what people want to see. What's going on at WB??

Hey, I'm sorry. I know you were looking forward to this one and there was some real reason to hope it'd be a blast. At least the Wonder Woman trailer looked really good, right?

[Ligerbusa]

You can still enjoy a movie that reviewed poorly.

 

[John from Cincinnati]

I intend to enjoy both the movie and the circlejerk, thank you very much! 

[Brian Fowler]

I have two free tickets, so I'm going to see it, but damn my enthusiasm plummeted today.

After that masterpiece of a trailer, I stupidly let my hopes up.

[Niners Fan in CT]

3 hours ago, EVA said:

Most of the reviews I've read say the Joker's involvement is extraneous, so I would wager any of his stuff that was cut was because it had nothing to do with the actual plot of the movie.

That may be true but still...  a lot of the marketing is about The Joker. You don't deliver enough Joker and it's a recipe for disaster.  I'm not talking about critics, more importantly you do not want to piss off the fans.

3 hours ago, Matt D said:

Hey, I'm sorry. I know you were looking forward to this one and there was some real reason to hope it'd be a blast. At least the Wonder Woman trailer looked really good, right?

I was looking forward to it but I didn't know what to make of it so I never really got my hopes up.  I thought the Comic-Con trailer was amazing but the Blitz trailer was less so..  I know people loved it and maybe I liked it when it dropped but there was some shit in there that didn't feel like it was going to go well..  some of the dialogue was spotty which sucks because Ayer has been a good writer in the past and also I wasn't sure about the story. 

Now maybe I go in and I like it anyway because critics ARE praising most of the characters, it's apparently the editing (again, what the fuck???)  and the main story which isn't all that interesting..  it sounds like a possibly fun movie that goes nowhere. 

I'd settle for that over a super boring movie. I have no choice, my friends and I are going Thursday night so we'll see.

[odessasteps]

Presumably any Joker stuff cut gets put in the Ultimate DVD edition. It seems that formula worked with BVS of getting folks to buy the DVD based on extra footage that either enhanced your experienceor helped fill in gaps of parts that did not work.

[(BP)]

In retrospect, it's not surprising that the story is a mess considering there have been like four trailers for it and they were all the same ADR describing the conceit of the movie and a sizzle reel of set pieces propped up with a neat soundtrack. 

[odessasteps]

Youd think "super villain dirty dozen" would be a pretty easy premise to explain.

 

[Niners Fan in CT]

1 hour ago, odessasteps said:

Presumably any Joker stuff cut gets put in the Ultimate DVD edition. It seems that formula worked with BVS of getting folks to buy the DVD based on extra footage that either enhanced your experienceor helped fill in gaps of parts that did not work.

Yeah but that's pretty risky, "hey don't worry guys, all that good stuff you wanted will be on the blu ray"

[Eivion]

Not really shocked the movie isn't reviewing well though I'm hopefully checking out this weekend anyways.

[The Natural]

7 hours ago, Niners Fan in CT said:

Why would you remove the selling point? Yeah Quinn is a selling point also but it's Joker, that's what people want to see. What's going on at WB??

My interest in Suicide Squad came from the trailers plus Joker and Harley Quinn.

6 hours ago, West Newbury Bad Boy said:

Bought my tickets before the reviews dropped.

Whoops. 

My Sister did for me and my Dad on Sunday.

6 hours ago, Matt D said:

Hey, I'm sorry. I know you were looking forward to this one and there was some real reason to hope it'd be a blast. At least the Wonder Woman trailer looked really good, right?

Yep. Hope the fourth time of asking works out.

6 hours ago, Ligerbusa said:

You can still enjoy a movie that reviewed poorly.

 

You can or it swings the other way.

4 hours ago, Brian Fowler said:

I have two free tickets, so I'm going to see it, but damn my enthusiasm plummeted today.

After that masterpiece of a trailer, I stupidly let my hopes up.

Summed up my thoughts.

[The Natural]

DC Extended Universe on Rotten Tomatoes:

Man of Steel (2013) 55% rotten

Batman vs Superman: Dawn of Justice (2016) 27% rotten

Suicide Squad (2016) 35% rotten.

Dammit.

[BurningBeard]

God bless Warner Bros for single-handedly trying to once again kill the comic book movie. And lol at the butt-hurt nerds starting a petition to get Rotten Tomatoes shut down due to the negative reviews. Good god, get a grip.

What I'm finding these days is that the more trailers there are and the more stuff they give away all leads up to a mediocre film.

[AxB]

Guardians of the Galaxy had lots of trailers, and wasn't mediocre. But yeah, most big movies give away a big chunk of the plot in the trailers nowadays, and Suicide Squad gave away next to nothing. So maybe they knew the actual story was weak.

[WholeFnMachine]

The fact that they removed a lot of the scenes where Joker was being abusive to Harley will continue to feed into the delusion that these two monsters are a couple to aspire to. It's so goddamn ridiculous how many Hot Topic morons seem to think that they are this lovely Bonnie & Clyde couple, the Joker is a psychopath who constantly abuses & demeans Harley mentally & physically and she is totally in love with him. Making them out to be a cutesy couple is fucking disgusting. 

A main reason I want to see this movie is because Jared Leto is in it & I think he's a fantastic actor and I really want to see his take on the Joker, which I am hoping will be something new and fresh. Scenes of his being cut is definitely a negative for me. I'll see it when I see it.

MEH!

[The Natural]

Suicide Squad premiere.

[Ligerbusa]

Hollywood Reporter

Quote

The upheaval like that behind Warner Bros.'s DC team-up is becoming a staple of studio franchise filmmaking.
"Better late than never." That was one Warner Bros. executive's reaction to the excitement at Suicide Squad's splashy Aug. 1 premiere in New York. Tracking indicates the film could open to more than $140 million domestic and potentially hand the studio its first unequivocal megahit since American Sniper's $547.4 million in December 2014. With March's Batman v. Superman: Dawn of Justice grossing $873 million worldwide but failing to impress audiences or reach the hoped-for $1 billion mark, Warners still urgently needs to jump-start its critical DC Comics universe, raising the stakes for Suicide Squad, which cost at least $175 million to make.

Yet if the villain team-up ultimately works — and it has drawn some harsh early reviews  — it will be in spite of the kind of behind-the-scenes drama that is becoming typical for giant franchise movies that now are the main focus of the studio business: a production schedule engineered to meet an ambitious release date; a director, David Ayer (Fury), untested in making tentpole movies; and studio executives, brimming with anxiety, who are ready to intercede forcefully as they attempt to protect a branded asset. Often, efforts to fix perceived problems ratchet up costs, which drive anxiety ever higher. In extreme cases, such as Fox's troubled Fantastic Four, the intervention is so aggressive that it becomes unclear what it means to be the director. (In each such case, studios are careful to stress that the credited director is on-scene and in charge, which is essential to avoid DGA issues. And the wise director plays along.)

So despite grueling moments, multiple editors and competing cuts, the production of Suicide Squad barely stands out in today's landscape. In a joint statement to THR, Ayer and Warners production president Greg Silverman say: "This was an amazing experience. We did a lot of experimentation and collaboration along the way. But we are both very proud of the result. This is a David Ayer film, and Warners is proud to present it."

Warners chief Kevin Tsujihara announced the project in October 2014 as part of a slate of 10 DC films stretching into 2020. Though the studio believed there was enough time to get the movie done, a source with ties to the project says it was a sprint from the start. "[Ayer] wrote the script in like, six weeks, and they just went," he says, arguing that the whole process would have benefited if Ayer, 48, had been given more time to work. But another source closely involved with the film says once it was dated, pushing back the release was not an option: "It's not just that you've told the public the movie is coming, you've made huge deals around the world with huge branding partners, with merchandise partners. It's a really big deal to move a tentpole date."

In Ayer, Warners enlisted a director who had never made a giant, effects-packed action movie. Hiring filmmakers who lack such experience is the trend, and it's often out of necessity. "There are a lot of people who don't want to direct those movies and that's a huge problem," says one producer with franchise experience. "A lot of the proven guys are back-to-back with their stuff, or they want to develop it for five years, and there's a machine that has to be fed. And there's the economics." Seasoned directors are expensive, meaning studios turn to those with less experience, relying on instinct that they will be up to the job. Sometimes it works (Colin Trevorrow on Jurassic World), and sometimes it doesn't (James Bobin on Alice Through the Looking Glass).

A source with knowledge of events says Warners executives, nervous from the start, grew more anxious after they were blindsided and deeply rattled by the tepid response to BvS. "Kevin was really pissed about damage to the brand," says one executive close to the studio. A key concern for Warners executives was that Suicide Squad didn't deliver on the fun, edgy tone promised in the strong teaser trailer for the film. So while Ayer pursued his original vision, Warners set about working on a different cut, with an assist from Trailer Park, the company that had made the teaser.

By the time the film was done, multiple editors had been brought into the process, though only John Gilroy is credited. (A source says he left by the end of the process and that the final editor was Michael Tronick.) "When you have big tentpoles and time pressure, you pull in resources from every which way you can," says this source. "You can't do it the way it used to be, with one editor and one assistant editor."

In May, Ayer's more somber version and a lighter, studio-favored version were tested with audiences in Northern California. "If there are multiple opinions that aren't in sync, you go down multiple tracks — two tracks at least," says an insider. "That was the case here for a period of time, always trying to get to a place where you have consensus." Those associated with the film insist Ayer agreed to and participated in the process. Once feedback on the two versions was analyzed, it became clear it was possible to get to "a very common-ground place." (The studio-favored version with more characters introduced early in the film and jazzed-up graphics won.) Getting to that place of consensus, however, required millions of dollars worth of additional photography.

Other sources describe a fraught process — one cites "a lot of panic and ego instead of calmly addressing the tonal issue." Clearly all wasn't sitting right with Ayer, who in June suddenly dropped his longtime agent at CAA and defected to WME, though the agency won him back in a day. "He was under a lot — a lot — of pressure," says one person with knowledge of the situation, arguing that Ayer was exhausted and needed time to process conflicting ideas.

And there may have been other strains. Just weeks before the two versions were tested, Warners declined to ante up for Ayer's next project, Bright, which will reunite him with Squad star Will Smith. He ended up at Netflix, which made a staggering $90 million deal. Nonetheless, a day or two after Ayer fired and rehired CAA, another cut of the film was screened for a test audience, and sources say the results were strong enough that there was an upbeat plane ride back to Los Angeles.

Now the question is whether the film will deliver for an industry thirsty for something, anything, that will work in a summer bereft of live-action hits. Though reviews suggest the competing visions for the movie may have taken a toll (THR's critic calls the film "puzzlingly confused"), BTIG analyst Rich Greenfield says, "I've learned long ago there is not always a connections between reviews and box office and financial success." At the same time, it is imperative for Warners to build DC movies fans love like they do the Marvel pics.

Even on the day of the premiere, one insider fretted about whether Suicide Squad would mirror BvS' huge opening and weak legs. Another veteran says the goal is survival: "The movie's got to do $750 million, $800 million to break even. If they get anywhere close to that, they'll consider it a win."

 

[EVA]

I guess everybody should give it a rest on giving Devin Faraci shit now.  

And start worrying about ROGUE ONE, I guess.

[Ligerbusa]

Devin gave it a fresh rating based on Margot Robbie, Viola Davis, Will Smith and Jay Hernandez. He seems to be changing his stance on DC based on what he's said about Justice League and Wonder Woman.

[Technico Support]

Awesome article, @Ligerbusa

Reading between the lines, it sounds like this was a "collaboration" the same way Tobe Hooper and Steven Spielberg "collaborated" on Poltergeist.

[TheVileOne]

Leto's Joker is terrible, and he is a marginal character in the movie.  Here's the gist of his Joker.  He's really just part coked up rock star Jim Morrison and part teddy bear.  He's basically like a rocker who saw Heath Ledger and thought he was really cool and idolized him.  Or he's like one of those hipsters who thinks Che Guevara is this revolutionary and hero and decided to try and act like him.  All he cares about is Harley Quinn.

The tattoos don't work.  Leto's Joker doesn't work.  It's a bad Joker.

Margot Robbie's Harley Quinn is OK, but it's inconsistent.  

The rest of the movie I genuinely liked.  It's got got some fun performances and action.  I'd say it's not as much of a disaster as the theatrical cut of Batman v Superman.  But I understand why it's getting bad reviews.  First and final act are very clunky.  Those problems documented by Hollywood Reporter are obvious.

 

Also this:

 

[The Natural]

Cheers, @Ligerbusa and @TheVileOne.

[Niners Fan in CT]

Shouldn't all those tomatoes be green?  So for those who did not read the entire Hollywood Reporter story. Here's what happened. Executives got tight about the lukewarm fan reaction and terrible critical reception for Batman v. Superman so when they saw Ayer's take on Suicide Squad they panicked. Apparently it was too dark. So WB went ahead and cut the film to pieces alongside Ayer doing his own thing and what many believe made it to the big screen was a combination of WB's work and Ayer's vision. 

So basically, it feels like two separate movies. That's what people have said, it sounds almost exactly like what happened with Fantastic Four. 

Would you agree with that?  @TheVileOne

[Eivion]

2 hours ago, TheVileOne said:

Leto's Joker is terrible, and he is a marginal character in the movie.  Here's the gist of his Joker.  He's really just part coked up rock star Jim Morrison and part teddy bear.  He's basically like a rocker who saw Heath Ledger and thought he was really cool and idolized him.  Or he's like one of those hipsters who thinks Che Guevara is this revolutionary and hero and decided to try and act like him.  All he cares about is Harley Quinn.

The tattoos don't work.  Leto's Joker doesn't work.  It's a bad Joker.

Margot Robbie's Harley Quinn is OK, but it's inconsistent.  

The rest of the movie I genuinely liked.  It's got got some fun performances and action.  I'd say it's not as much of a disaster as the theatrical cut of Batman v Superman.  But I understand why it's getting bad reviews.  First and final act are very clunky.  Those problems documented by Hollywood Reporter are obvious.

Leto's Joker was the thing I was looking forward to the least in this so this doesn't surprise me. Joker and Harley really don't belong in Suicide Squad so its not surprising. How was Waller?