The Suicide Squad Review

Suicide Squad

Dir: James Gunn

Starring: Margot Robbie, Idris Elba, John Cena, Viola Davis, Joel Kinnaman, David Dastmalchian, Daniela Melchior, and Sylvester Stallone

2h 12m

 

The modern superhero movie has allowed audiences to grow familiar with strange, odd, and unusual sights. Like an underwater kingdom where an aqua man telepathically controls marine life. Or a young boy who turns into a powerful being just by saying the words "Shazam." It's commonplace to see superhumans battle giant creatures, massive monsters, or ancient gods on the big screen at least once a month these days. 

 

Director James Gunn, who is responsible for producing a specific brand of strange and silly to the Marvel Cinematic Universe with two "Guardians of the Galaxy" films, tackles the reboot/sequel of the bad-guys-gone-good 2016 movie "Suicide Squad." Leave it to James Gunn, the director of some horribly beautiful cinema like "Slither" and "Super" who also got his start in the Troma Entertainment brand, to make the best kind of silly and perverse comic book movie to date. 

 

The mix of dark and mindless humor, gory and unflinching violence, and the odd and quirky heart he gives the characters we shouldn't care about is a combination of everything the writer/director has tailored over all these years. "The Suicide Squad" forms a pitch-perfect comic book movie with a new stance to the saturated market of world-saving heroes. And yes, he also contributes more strange, odd, and usual sights, like a walking, talking shark who sounds like Sylvester Stallone. 

 

Amanda Waller (Viola Davis) organizes a group of outcast bad guys who do covert operations that the world's superheroes can't do. The Suicide Squad, as they call themselves, is assigned to invade the fictional Corto Maltese to stop a government coup with plans to unleash a secret weapon on the rest of the world. The team is led by the reluctant Bloodsport (Idris Elba), a marksman who is touted as putting Superman in the hospital with a kryptonite bullet. The rest of the team features Harley Quinn (Margot Robbie) and Rick Flag (Joel Kinnaman), both from the previous “Suicide Squad”, and new teammates like the rodent controlling Ratcatcher 2 (Daniela Melchoir), the demoralized Polka-Dot Man (David Dastmalchian), the homicidal justice seeker Peacemaker (John Cena), and a giant walking shark named Nanaue (voiced by Sylvester Stallone). In true comic book fashion, the ragtag team must accomplish their mission before the world is destroyed. 

 

James Gunn takes absurdist humor to incredible extremes throughout the film, taking a bloody or violent moment and undercutting it with some comedy element. Whether dark, deadpan, silly, or sometimes all of them at once, it's within this humor-driven sensibility that "The Suicide Squad" finds its footing for the composition of the characters that range from unredeemable to misguided. 

 

Gunn is an accomplished screenwriter, bringing straight tension and horror with the remake of "Dawn of the Dead" or modernizing the live-action follies of the ghost hunting gang in "Scooby-Doo." Gunn finds the unusual beats and abnormal rhythms in storytelling. It's what separates and defines his unique style. 

 

Throughout "The Suicide Squad," Gunn takes the formulaic structure of the superhero film and modifies it just enough to make it feel out of rhythm. With a character like Harley Quinn, who fans would assume might be front and center in this film, Gunn places the well-known character in a supporting role while giving her the best fight scene the character has in any film. The arrogant Peacemaker is perfectly cast with John Cena, who is doing the charming bad guy wrestler character, even at one time showing up in a mock pair of "tights."  Gunn abrupts the accustomed structure with characters like Nanaue, also known as King Shark, and Ratcather 2, providing them with a piece of the strange heart that grounds the film with emotion amidst the chaos and mayhem that happens consistently on-screen. 

 

  "The Suicide Squad" combines heart, humor, and heroics in fun, ingenious, and gruesome ways. It's the most fun film of all the summer blockbuster films in 2021. 

 

Monte's Rating

4.00 out of 5.00

Fast and Furious Presents: Hobbs & Shaw Review

Fast and Furious Presents: Hobbs & Shaw

Dir: David Leitch

Starring: Dwayne Johnson, Jason Statham, Idris Elba, Vanessa Kirby, Helen Mirren, and Cliff Curtis

“Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid”. “Thunderbolt and Lightfoot”. “Freebie and the Bean”. “Tango and Cash”. “Turner & Hootch”. 

“Fast and Furious Presents: Hobbs & Shaw” continues the story tradition of the “buddy” film formula; two unlikely, often complete opposite, characters are somehow forced into cooperation and are whisked into a narrative that involves hijinks, adventure, crime, even romance. We’ve had follies with escaped convicts, escapades with rogue cops, and jaunts that pair human and animal. 

“Hobbs & Shaw”, two foes who first threw each other through windows and broke each other over furniture in “Furious 7” and then continued their fighting while working together in “The Fate of the Furious”, somehow has a little bit of everything thrown into its lofty narrative structure. This is an action movie plain and simple, a summer blockbuster extravaganza with enough “boom” and “bang” to fill two movies. It completely understands how to utilize its action movie super humans to the fullest extent, allowing enough witty one-liners and tree-chopping put downs to fill the spaces between action set pieces with enough humor to distract from the glaring lapses in narrative design. Still, if you’ve seen all eight “Fast and Furious” films, watched all four of the “The Transporter” movies, or watched Dwayne “The Rock” Johnson deliver wrestling moves in World Wrestling Entertainment, you know exactly what to expect from “Hobbs & Shaw”. 

A genetically enhanced bad guy (Idris Elba) with a physics-defying motor cycle is trying to steal a dangerous, world-ending virus but is thwarted by a special agent (Vanessa Kirby) who steals the weapon and retreats into hiding. Lawman Luke Hobbs (Dwayne Johnson) and outcast Deckard Shaw (Jason Statham) are called in, unbeknownst to each other, to form a team to save the world. 

Director David Leitch, who helmed “Atomic Blonde” and “Deadpool 2”, understands how to craft an action scene and how to provide that crucial element of fan service. When working with a franchise, “Fast and Furious”, that has built expectations so high for death-defying action scenes, applying the right amount fan service can be a difficult task. “Hobbs & Shaw” hits all the obvious marks, fans get a few explosive car chases, tough guy humorous banter between Dwayne Johnson and Jason Statham, and several  bone-crushing fist fights. The film is checking all the boxes. 

But there is unfortunately something missing, the element of coherence and logic in storytelling that has all but been erased from the “Fast and Furious” films as they have grown in action franchise dominance. The element of drama and emotion that fleshes out their over heroic characters which has been replaced with heavy-handed emotional scenes that feel out of place and, in the case of “Hobbs & Shaw”, a “bromance” that plunges awkwardly between moments that are trying to be heartfelt and humorous. This dramatic element succeeds a handful of times when Johnson and Statham work individually with other characters in the film, unfortunately it seldom exists between the two leads. 

“Hobbs & Shaw” highlights the primary expectations fans of the “Fast and Furious” franchise are looking for. The action moves closer to comic book movie status while the humor works on the most superficial terms. For the last film of the 2019 summer blockbuster movie season, “Hobbs & Shaw” is an easy, simple, unremarkable distraction. 

Monte’s Rating

2.25 out of 5.00

  

Yardie Review

By Emery Snyder @leeroy711

Director: Idris Elba

Starring: Aml Ameen, Shantol Jackson, Sheldon Shepherd & Stephen Graham

Amazon Original – June 17, 2019

The story begins in Jamaica 1973. Our young lead, “D” lives in a rural village in the hills, far away from the gang violence of Kingston. He idolizes his older brother who is shot down while preaching a message of peace to the street thugs. As D (Ameen) grows, his rage leads him into the same life his brother was trying to protect him from. The gang’s leader, King Fox (Shepherd) takes him under his wing. Before long, he finds himself transporting dope to London where he reconnects with his lost love (Jackson), his daughter and the ghosts of his past.

The plot this film navigates is not exactly original. It’s a story about the challenges of breaking cyclic violence and the perilous quest of revenge. From The Iliad to Hamlet to The Count of Monte Cristo, we have been telling each other these types of moral tales throughout the ages. It has been retooled and adapted to every time and place imaginable. In cases like this, if you can accept the premise of unoriginality, you can still enjoy the template as it’s applied to a unique setting. Judge the film based on technical achievements. Pacing, performances, cinematography and music all play a role in overcoming inherent predictability and pulling out empathy from the audience. That being said, and almost in spite of itself, this film still succeeds, although not greatly.

YARDIE is the directorial debut of fan favorite actor, Idris Elba. I was happy to see that he’s got a bit of flare to his style. A great color palette and interesting camera angles fill the frame for 101 minutes. The Jamaican sets and costumes look just like the cover of Jimmie Cliff’s The Harder They Come. And his Hackney, London locations provided a great and stark contrast for D's ‘fish-out-of-water’ story.

The casting choices shine more than any other aspect in this film. Ameen’s charisma is magnetic. This is necessary because the survival and success of his character rely on it. Sheldon Shepherd and Stephen Graham play the film’s menacing baddies. At times hammy, they are both a lot of fun to watch. And I was particularly captivated by newcomer, Shantol Jackson. I’d like to see this be her breakout role. Her IMDB list is far too bare for her talents. Her performance was strong and confident yet still yearning and vulnerable. And she has a very photogenic look. These are all British actors doing thick Jamaican accents. My American ear is not properly tuned to know if these were good accents, but I found them at worst, believable.

The screenplay has three credited writers, including the novelist, Victor Headley. The biggest issues I had with the film as a whole were all related to the writing. At times, the pacing seemed so ramped up that the story broke away from the conventional plot beats that avid moviegoers have come to expect. This made some of the events extra unnerving and off-kiltered. And while I appreciated this break from trope, it took away from some of the weight of the narrative’s tragic events. At other times, this pacing simply made the motivations of the characters questionable at best. Nothing that happens here really gets a chance to breathe properly for the audience to appreciate how it effects the characters. This is an epic story, spanning over a decade in time. I think it was a mistake to attempt to condense it down to this short of a runtime.

In summary, the good outweighs the bad in YARDIE. And there’s a lot stylistically to cling to for the future of Elba’s directorial career (if he chooses one). Some breakout and breakthrough performances combined with a very cool Reggae soundtrack make for an interesting and enjoyable, if not completely successful film, well-worth its runtime for existing Amazon Prime subscribers.

Emery’s Rating

3 out of 5 Stars

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Molly’s Game Review

 Molly’s Game

Dir: Aaron Sorkin

Starring: Jessica Chastain, Idris Elba, Kevin Costner, and Michael Cera

“Sports doesn’t build character, it reveals it”. My high school basketball coach drilled this sen- timent into my head, especially when things weren’t going like I had planned them. Molly Bloom was on the verge of punching her ticket to the Winter Olympic Games until an unavoid- able disaster sent her plummeting down a hill, severely injuring her in the process, and shatter- ing the chance she had been training for her entire life. If this wasn’t one of those character building moments, I don’t know what is.

Aaron Sorkin tackles this interesting true life story of a would-be Olympic athlete turned orga- nizer of one the world’s most exclusive high stakes poker games with all the wordy flair and verbose film style you might expect from this screenwriter turned director. Starring Jessica Chastain in the pivotal role of Molly Bloom, “Molly’s Game” is a quick witted, fast paced story about the fortitude of a woman who refused to play by the rules.

Molly Bloom (Jessica Chastain) is struggling after her accident on the slopes. She has moved to Los Angeles, sleeping on a friends couch, and works as a waitress at night and an office secretary for a loud mouthed executive named Dean Keith (Jeremy Strong). Dean is pretending his way towards the Hollywood dream, rubbing elbows with high rollers at a high stakes poker match that he organizes in the back room of a restaurant. Molly gets roped into Dean’s scheme, though Molly has never been much of a follower and soon starts her own exclusive poker game, bringing the wrath of movie stars, mobsters, and the federal government.

“Molly’s Game” is a jumpy, high energy film that feels more like a heist flick than a drama about greedy, loathsome poker players. The film has a fluctuating timeline that hops throughout three facets of Molly’s life; while this method of editing has a tendency to become somewhat confus- ing, annoyingly so, it also works in giving the story legs.

Mr. Sorkin has consistently displayed his talent as a wordsmith, but his characters are also part of the reason the speeches, the sentimental stories, and the pointed word placed in the perfect position have such power. Molly is provided so many qualities amidst her extensive flaws, she is strong willed, determined, confident, conniving, manipulative, and deceitful. She is the kind of character that could be wholly comfortable strong-arming a power move in a board room or on the streets while still composing herself as an upstanding professional.

Jessica Chastain gives yet another knock-out performance as Mollly; she completely embodies the confidence and compassion of the character, displaying the conviction of a woman who will not be told how to live, how to work, or how to act. Working against Ms. Chastain’s tough character is Idris Elba who plays the respectable attorney that represents Molly. Mr. Elba does a great job of bringing conflict and conviction to Molly’s story, playing the only character who sees through some of the more disreputable qualities that forwarded Molly into the position of power she had. Amidst these two fine performances is Kevin Costner playing Molly’s psychia- trist father. Costner has one of the best speeches of the film in an uncomfortable, yet poignant conversation with his daughter.

This is Aaron Sorkin’s directorial debut; in places, like with the editing decisions and some of the meandering scenes, you can feel the growing pains of a first time director. However, the narrative content is completely suited for Sorkin’s style as a writer, building intriguing charac- ters that are both complicated yet sympathetic. What “Molly’s Game” does best above all is reveal the character that a woman must have amidst the objectification, the barriers, the cheap shots, and the manipulation when fighting in a world manipulated by men.

 Monte’s Rating 

4.00 out of 5.00

The Dark Tower Review

The Dark Tower

Dir: Nikolaj Arcel

Starring: Idris Elba, Matthew McConaughey, Tom Taylor, Abbey Lee, Dennis Haysbert, and Jackie Earle Haley

Stephen King’s “The Dark Tower” was in the development trenches for some time, with filmmakers like J.J. Abrams and Ron Howard in the seat to make the book series come to life.  All that time and attention unfortunately didn’t help the final version of this film, even with the capable cast lead by the stoic, heroic Idris Elba and the talent of a villainous Matthew McConaughey “The Dark Tower” is an incoherent mess. 

Three of Stephen King’s stories will be seen in some way throughout the year. “The Mist” television show has already premiered and later next month the new version of “It” will float into theaters. With “The Dark Tower”, one of Mr. King’s more complex novels, the film adaptation focuses less on the story from the books and more on a continuation of sorts. 

Jake (Tom Taylor) is having nightmares about otherworldly happenings that consist of a battle between good and evil and a plot to destroy a tower that keeps evil out of Earth, referred to by characters in the film as Keystone Earth. Protecting the realm, known as Mid-World, is a gunslinger named Roland (Idris Elba) who comes from a lineage of brave protectors who once fought the good fight long ago. Evil is winning and leading the charge to destroy the tower is the man in black, otherwise known as Walter (Matthew McConaughey). It is up to Jake and Roland to battle this evil force and protect the realm of Earth.

Idris Elba is the best thing about this film; the actor is a sullen loner who journeys across the different realms in search for vengeance. Mr. Elba has an appealing quality that shines through his otherwise downtrodden character’s personality. Matthew McConaughey mostly wanders into scenes, waves his hands, and whispers things like “stop breathing” to everyone that gets in his way. In small moments you can see what this film may have been trying to do, there is potential in the characterizations but the film never develops it.

The narrative is a complete clutter of ideas that don’t add up to anything more than cheap hero journey clichés. The movie attempts to build momentum towards some kind of conclusion, but the beginning and middle meander from the Mid-World to Keystone Earth, from foggy forests to the commotion of New York City with only a vague plot line of defeating an evil threat. We are introduced to characters that offer information about the journey only to have them disappear from the story. Jake’s family is given a small role to promote his future heroism, but the relationship with them is never really established with any kind of meaning. From scene to scene the movie progressively makes less sense.

For fans of Stephen King’s stories it may be a fun distraction to look for all the telling nods to the author’s works, the world here is trying to pay some kind of homage to the stories crafted by the author. Aside from a few qualities found in the lead performance, there isn’t much to really appreciate about this film. That’s a shame because “The Dark Tower” deserved better. 

Monte’s Rating

1.00 out of 5.00