I don't completely disagree since I didn't think it was as bad as everyone said it was, it just didn't feel like Suicide Squad. Even Deadshot didn't really feel like Deadshot; I suppose there was somewhere in the contract where Will Smith wanted to keep the mask off most of the time, but he just didn't really feel like Deadshot outside of his aim. He barely even used his signature wrist guns. It doesn't completely take away from the badass scenes that he had, but it's tough to really differentiate between Deadshot and another guy who has good aim. The squad didn't really feel like a squad; Echantress was basically gone for most of the movie, Captain Boomerang barely even threw boomerangs, and Killer Croc was given like five lines. There was a bit of a forced narrative in the movie like when Diablo was saying the team was his family despite only being together for less than half a day. Leto was a better joker than I expected acting-wise and I think mostly suffered from the lackluster role the script gave him. The villain was pretty insufferable too. Just... really boring with powers pulled out of the ass. I'm just rapid firing things how I felt, but overall it was a decent action movie, it just didn't feel like he captured the idea of a team nor did it really capitalize on the strengths that Suicide Squad could've been. So I guess I mostly agree with you.
They did Amanda Waller *very* well I will say.
I see what you're saying about Will Smiths Deadshot barely wearing the iconic mask, but to be fair I remember the guy who played Deadshot in arrow barely ever wearing the mask if at all. And his performance more than stood up on it's own in my opinion. So I don't see the mask as a deal breaker, so much as a gripe, albeit a valid one if you're an avid comic book fan expecting 1 for 1 character depictions. But if we're expecting 1 for 1, killer croc coulda definitely been depicted closer to his comic counterparts too.
As for his signature wrist gun, well I remember him using it a few times in suicide squad but wasn't exactly keeping count. Again it's not something that really bothered me, as Floyd tends to save it as his ace in the hole and deadshot was nowhere close to actually dying for real in this film. It should never be strange to see a guy named "deadshot" using a wide variety of firearms I feel like.
I forgot to mention Amanda Waller, probably because this movie is overcrowded with characters but she was pretty dang good. At first she raised a huge red flag for me when she said "because convincing people to work against their own self interests for others is what I do" I almost slammed on the breaks. Because that's something I feel like Amanda Waller wouldn't say directly or come clean on at all. I understand the movies need to demonstrate to the uninitiated who exactly she is, to clarify right out of the gate that she's a piece of work. But she's a disillusioned piece of work is the thing, Amanda Waller needs to give a spiel about how it's actually the right thing to do something she eventually delivers on with aplomb.
The problem with expecting actors to deliver a version of a character from a comic book, is that the fans read comic books and perceive the character their way in their own head. Just text and illustrations leaves a lot to the imagination. That's why I'm willing to compromise on these sorts of things as long as the performance and that actors interpretations are decent.
Yeah, this was a surprisingly good movie. It took me a minute to get used to the designs, but the overall animation and art style is beautiful. I think the main thing that stopped me from really appreciating this movie was the inane dialogue. The cheesy and corny exchanges would work on 10 year old me, but most of the time they just fell flat on me. I also wasn't a huge fan of the sisters. I liked their ominous designs, but their methods just struck me as evil for the sake of being evil. The grandfather kind of saved that point honestly since he had some solid dialogue and great design. The story was pretty damn cheesy, but it was at least somewhat original and executed well, especially in tandem with the visuals (even if I saw the twists coming a mile away). The greatest strengths this movie has is obviously the animation and color; it's just so fucking pretty.
Sheit I really liked the evil moon chicks, even though they were clearly just the penultimate challenge. You're totally right that the dialogue is cheesy as shit, but also they've gotta keep shit appropriate enough that kids can even watch it otherwise they've gotta put a different rating on it. Kubo and the two strings isn't exactly lacking in mature content for an animated film these days either.
