The Suicide Squad

Posted on December 29, 2021 by Tennyson

Vampire Owl: Do you remember watching the last Suicide Squad?

Vampire Bat: That was rather too long ago to remember.

Vampire Owl: There is never too long ago with superheroes.

Vampire Bat: These are the supervillains though.

Vampire Owl: We are now living at times when there is not much of a difference between the two. The borders have been blurred.

Vampire Bat: I would have some exceptions with these particular people though.

Vampire Owl: They are not really the ones we would like to have in the vampire realm.

Vampire Bat: You mean to say that there cannot be a Vampire Suicide Squad with freaks.

Vampire Owl: An immortal squad for suicide? That cannot be.

Vampire Bat: Well, immortality can be ended with a well-planned suicide if you are good enough to do that.

[Gets a chicken cutlet and three glasses of chocolate shake].

What is the movie about? :: Amanda Waller (Viola Davis) gets a team known as Task Force X, also called The Suicide Squad – consists of prison inmates who agree to carry out extremely dangerous and often near impossible missions for her in exchange for lighter sentences. As they come up against their first mission, there are two teams, and from the first one, Harley Quinn (Margot Robbie) is the only inmate who survies along with Colonel Rick Flag (Joel Kinnaman) who was leading the team. The second team is able to sneak in between, under the leadership of Bloodsport (Idris Elba), and supported by Peacemaker (John Cena), King Shark (Sylvester Stallone), Polka-Dot Man (David Dastmalchian), and Ratcatcher 2 (Daniela Melchior). They are now at a small South American island nation of Corto Maltese which had its autocratic government overthrown by an anti-American one. They have to destroy a Nazi-age laboratory which still holds a secretive experiment known as Project Starfish. It is supposed to be extra-terrestrial in nature.

So, what happens with the events here as we just keep looking? :: While Bloodsport and Peacemaker are expert marksmen, Ratcatcher controls rats. King Shark seems to be the strongest among them while Polka-Dot Man seems to be more of a distraction than anything else. King Shark almost eats Ratcatcher before being stopped by her pet rat, while Bloodsport and Peacemaker cannot get along at all, going on competing with each other instead of concentrating on the mission. Polka-Dot Man seems to be all lost in between. They find Flag among the rebel soldiers and Sol Soria (Alice Braga) who leads the soldiers agrees to assist them, so that their country could be free from military control, and also as part of vengeance. Harley Quinn who is caught by the government soldiers is taken to the palace, and she understands the new regime’s plan to destroy the other nations using Project Starfish. The team has to find The Thinker (Peter Capaldi) who is in charge of the operation before the situation gets any worse.

The defence of The Suicide Squad :: The colours and shades that we see in The Suicide Squad are beautiful, and it seems to be a quality which it has inherited from its predecessor. You can always keep your eyes on the screen, and be happy with what is seen on the background with settings that keep one interested. The visuals are all good, with the world looking beautiful. There are some fine action sequences in the final moments of the movie, and the use of humour works at times – the same is done best by Harley Quinn herself. The use of rats contribute nicely to make a visual spectacle, and the lights during the darkness nicely contribute to making the world better. The fights in the movie can be seen an worth one’s time. The action had also started much early, and there is not much time wasted with that. There is also scope for some fine sequels and spin-offs left in the end too. The stylish part stays strong too.

The claws of flaw :: The movie required a better human villain to keep things strong, but that cannot be seen around here. The villainy among the main characters also fall flat with not much being done with it. There was always something special to be done with a film like this, and better heroes could also make way here. The blood and gore is very much unlike the usual superhero films, but with its big extra-terrestrial antagonist, it chooses to go dumb in the looks and not scary, which is also strange. There is also no shortage of usual repetitions around here. With a fine premise, it losses so many opportunities which were there to be taken. The big iconic character, Harley Quinn, is also not used to the best advantage, as we know that she has always deserved more. Some of the humour here also feels dumb enough – the dark humour doesn’t work that effectively. This required to maintain its quality at all times, but we see that it has some regular ups and downs.

Performers of the soul :: Throughout the movie, one can surely see Margot Robbie dominating the proceedings again as Harley Quinn. There are moments which seems to be about her only, even though nothing matches what he did in the earlier Suicide Squad – the absence of Joker will always be the big missing point. The one tale that catches our attention the most is that of Daniela Melchior, who dominates the proceedings in a beautifully passive way. She is the one who deserves a possible spin-off among all the characters around here, something bigger and smarter than Birds of Prey. This is one character to which we are also emotionally attached, and this attachment is to stay, as long as the last rat is alive on this planet. There is a certain amount of cuteness in the psychotic beauty that is attached to everything about her. Idris Elba’s character is rock solid, while John Cena’s is just ridiculous. There is no strong villain among the performers either, even though there were so many signs in the earlier stages of the movie.

How it finishes :: The Suicide Squad is a journey down from the original Suicide Squad, which was poetic, and fun from the beginning to the end, and had a human antagonist worth fighting against, unlike what we have now. Even the characters or similar characters reflecting the first movie are not that good here, whether with the costumes or with the action. Yet, this movie also holds its ground, and manages to be better than DC’s superheroes coming together. When the team of villains do better than Justice League every time, one cannot wonder about the fact that the world is going with evil over goodness. The evil that we have seen in this world through the ages will only get worse, that is for sure. The Suicide Squad is a reminder of the same, and it makes another interesting film. Until DC gets the better superhero movies like Aquaman back here, you can always watch Minnal Murali, the first Malayalam superhero movie on Netflix, which gets the origins better than most of the others in style.

Release date: 24th December 2021 (Amazon); 5th August 2021 (USA)
Running time: 132 minutes
Directed by: James Gunn
Starring: Margot Robbie, Daniela Melchior, Idris Elba, John Cena, Joel Kinnaman, Sylvester Stallone, Viola Davis, Jai Courtney, Peter Capaldi

@ Cemetery Watch
✠ The Vampire Bat.

Guardians of the Galaxy 2

Posted on May 24, 2017 by Tennyson

Vampire Owl: Are they as cool as our guardians?

Vampire Bat: But we haven’t really appointed any guardian for the New Vampire World.

Vampire Owl: I was referring to ourselves as the guardians.

Vampire Bat: I don’t think that we are qualified enough to take over as the guardians anywhere.

Vampire Owl: It is relevant that we refer to each other as guardians.

Vampire Bat: Does that accomplish anything?

Vampire Owl: Well, with great power comes great responsibilities.

Vampire Bat: You haven’t been responsible since the last red moon.

Vampire Owl: Which is exactly why I need this.

Vampire Bat: You really don’t need a reason for that, and there is absolutely no need for prior experience in the same.

[Gets the tickets with masala tea and cheese popcorn].

What is the movie about? :: Star-Lord Peter Quill (Chris Pratt), Gamora (Zoe Saldana), Drax (Dave Bautista), Rocket (Bradley Cooper), and Baby Groot (Vin Diesel) have improved their positions as the Guardians of the Galaxy, and are more famous than ever. Due to the same, Ayesha (Elizabeth Debicki) the leader and the high priestess of the golden people known as the Sovereign, assigns to them, the task of protecting their high-powered batteries from a monster out of space – she assigns the same to the Guardians as she hesitates to waste the life of anyone belonging to their high class species. In return, the high priestess had offered Nebula (Karen Gillan), Gamora’s sister who was caught trying to steal the same batteries. The Guardians are successful in stopping the monster finding its weakness, and are given the thief in return, along with a display of high priestess’ contempt for them. Nebula does maintain her hatred for her sister and continues to thrive on the same.

So, what happens next? :: But it turns out that they are chased by a group of drones remotely controlled from Sovereign, as Rocket had stolen a few batteries for himself, much to the dismay of Peter Quill and Gamora. They are very much in trouble, but are saved by Quill’s father, Ego (Kurt Russell) who destroys each and every drone before the Guardians crash on to a nearby planet. There, Ego accompanied by Mantis (Pom Klementieff), an alien with empathic powers, greets the Guardians and reveals to Peter who he is. Quill, Gamora, and Drax travels with him to his planet, while Rocket, Groot, and Nebula in bondage stays behind with the ship being repaired. Yondu Udonta (Michael Rooker) who is living a life in exile, is contacted by Ayesha to punish the Guardians for their crime. With his team, he makes a quick visit to Rocket and captures him, only to be replaced as the leader by Taserface (Chris Sullivan) in a mutiny supported by Nebula who gets herself free.

And, what is to follow next in the galaxy? :: Ego’s planet is revealed to be his own, and seems to have no other life form other than him and Mantis. He reveals himself as a celestial creature, something like a god, and shows his ability to manipulate matter to his son. He tells Peter that despite assigning Yondu to deliver him as a boy, that never happened, which is why their meeting took so long. Ego lets him know that he had been searching for his son all around for a very long time, but couldn’t find any success with the same until then. Meanwhile, Drax gets closer to Mantis who seems to have something to tell him. At the same time, at the other planet, Rocket, Groot and Yondu are imprisoned by Taserface as he kills the men loyal to Yondu. Nebula takes a spacecraft to go and find Gamora and kill her, while Taserface decides to finish off the executions on the next day. Gamora also feels that there is something strange about Ego – what would that be? Can the other guardians escape captivity in time?

The defence of Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 2 :: The best thing about this flick is that it can stand alone, and not just as the volume two. The visuals are undoubtedly great, and the fact that it is in 3D adds to the same. The music is also really good, and it keeps the whole thing going along with the humour which scores even better than the previous movie. With some wonderful action sequences to go with everything else, you are certain not to miss the entertainment factor in this one. Running just over two hours and a quarter, this movie has absolutely no moment which makes you think about not having watched this one. The emotional side is also too good, and it is also another improvement from its predecessor. The most interesting characters in this one are Karen Gillan’s Nebula and Michael Rooker’s Yondu – there is no prize for guessing which one is the cutest one, for that one rules the poster at more than one place.

The claws of flaw :: One has to say that three years means a little too much of a gap between two superhero movies, especially with this tale and heroes not that much popular ones at least in this part of the world – people seems to have forgotten most of the action from the first part, but thankfully, this one can stand alone except for very few occasions. The regular viewer is certain to wonder who was defeated in the first part and for what reason was there for the same to happen. Also, the movie hesitates to explore the universe beyond, and it was something that could have been easily done with Sovereign added – more is always possible in this case when we see the premise again. We know what the game Mass Effect had achieved with a universe like this, and that proves the same – even though there is the comic book base, more could have surely been done differently in a world without boundaries.

How it finishes :: Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 2 is certain to be a very entertaining superhero movies to all kinds of audience, with the world or rather the galaxy needing to be saved once again. There are so many interesting superhero movies coming up, some of which we have already seen the trailer including Thor: Ragnarok and Wonder Woman, we are certain to have a big year here. This remains one immortal genre, and with superheroes all around, we will keep having more movies to follow. As they keep coming, this movie improves on the original Guardians of the Galaxy, and becomes the entertainer that needs to be watched in 3D on the big screen to get the maximum effect. Visually too good a movie and with good humour and emotional side, Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 2 becomes one the rare sequels which become better than the first movie – it is something which superhero movies have struggled to even as there are exceptions. Well, it is the time when Alien Covenant is running the show on other planets.

Release date: 5th May 2017
Running time: 136 minutes
Directed by: James Gunn
Starring: Chris Pratt, Zoe Saldana, Dave Bautista, Vin Diesel, Bradley Cooper, Michael Rooker, Karen Gillan, Pom Klementieff, Elizabeth Debicki, Chris Sullivan, Sean Gunn, Sylvester Stallone, Kurt Russell

@ Cemetery Watch
✠ The Vampire Bat.

Guardians of the Galaxy

Posted on August 12, 2014 by Tennyson

Vampire Owl :: But we were expected to have watched Guardians of the Galaxy last week, right?

Vampire Bat :: Yes, but with Hercules being postponed for some dumb movies, this also seems to have been delayed.

Vampire Owl :: So Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles which was to release this Friday should release next weekend.

Vampire Bat :: And movies like Lucy will go missing.

Vampire Owl :: We have a long life-span. We can wait, may be it will release many months later.

Vampire Bat :: Yes, with immortality having its glitches.

Vampire Owl :: Are we going for Into the Storm?

Vampire Bat :: May be no?

Vampire Owl :: Fine, I thought I would need that for the owlification list.

Vampire Bat :: It does have more shows, even as critics have annihilated it.

[Enters the movie hall].

What is it about? :: Twenty six years after he was abducted from Earth by space pirates, Peter Quill (Christ Pratt) steals an orb for which many others are making similar attempts. His successful stealing of the item meant that there was a huge bounty on him set by the leader of the space pirates, Yondu Udonta (Michael Rooker) and an assassin Gamora (Zoe Saldana) is sent after him by Ronan (Lee Pace), a member of the scientifically advance war-loving race called Kree. Two bounty hunters – a humanoid tree Groot (Vin Diesel) and a genetically engineered raccoon called Rocket (Bradley Cooper) are also after the man who stole the orb, but a complicated fight with Gamora and Quill leads them to prison from where they come up with a plan, and supported by Drax (Dave Bautista) who is looking for revenge against Ronan, break out of the prison. They would initially look to sell the device, but after knowing how dangerous it is, they will have to join forces to save the galaxy against the man who look forward to destroying it, as he take the orb from them.

The defence of Guardians of the Galaxy :: This movie is all about the entertainment, and there would have been no doubt about that one. It is that fun ride which makes one laugh, go through the thrills and also add some emotions to the same. The characters are superb, and they remain interesting and most of the situations become further interesting due to them, and each has some special characteristic, and belong to a different species. That should remind us gamers about Mass Effect, one of those awesome games set in space, with the need to save the known universe from a group of alien invaders known as the Reapers (without that much detail and other stuff). But this movie is light and without the complications, and there it scores with the common audience. The visuals are great too, with the spaceships and awesome gadgets being used, and the world of space nicely using the power of technology to its advantage, and 3D is pretty much effective too. The computer-generated stuff rarely gets this good, one has to admit. You won’t need the super-powered heroes for this one!

The claws of flaw :: Guardians of the Galaxy has pretty much a predictable run with what is has, and it remains what we usually see. The movie has a lot more to do before it establishes itself completely, and I would guess that the same would be done in the sequel which is supposed to come out in 2017. There is a lot of background to be established, and this movie is without much power in its plot. The movie could have taken a few more minutes to establish a better universe and work on the worlds that exist within the same. The galaxy could have been better known before there were guardians for the galaxy, and these guardians themselves are misfits and outlaws who turn heroes, something which we have seen so many times. It has a good amount of silliness, which does work with its universe of aliens and spaceships, but not without them. This one has a long way to go before becoming something like the game Mass Effect with its character and universe. There is a lot of thinking to be done.

Performers of the soul :: Chris Pratt makes his character impressive, no doubt about that one, but the one who struck me more was Zoe Saldana as the green lady Gamora. She was blue in Avatar and was in space before in both Star Trek movies, and here she is green, and she plays that character to perfection. Dave Bautista makes a very strong appearance here, and his quiting WWE drama was rightly for this movie’s promotion – and it is good to see him having such nice role which suits him, along with making another comeback to WWE some time later. Interestingly, there is also a funny side to this tough character. Bradley Cooper and Vin Diesel gives voice to the two other guardians, and Cooper’s Rocket might be the fan favourite in this movie with the funny lines and the interesting moments. Karen Gillan’s Nebula came up as another surprisingly interesting character. Lee Pace’s Ronan is a strong villain, and makes a powerful impact, but the character Thanos leaves us wishing for more which could come to us in an upcoming sequel.

Soul exploration :: The movie is all about saving the world from the evil forces, and there is not much to think about it in a complicated manner. There is the orb which gives great powers and the most evil of them all wishing to take control of it to cause destruction and chaos all around. The heroes are all former outlaws who have lost something and are not really good or bad, but capable of goodness. The movie is sure to leave the audience happy and with no signs of disappointment, and there its success lies. If you have loved The Avengers, there is not much doubt about falling in love with these heroes who are in no way super with their powers, but do take their chances. They make up a strange team and become the guardians, and with a little expansion of the world that was in this movie, that too in detail, would work wonders for this franchise in the next entry of the franchise. That should be the masterpiece.

How it finishes :: Into the Storm has more shows, but Guardians of the Galaxy should surely hold strong in this part of the world in the absence of Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles which is yet to find its release here. The demand for disaster movies is not that much as it used to be, and storms come nowhere near things like the end of the world and global destruction. The found footage category doesn’t add anything positive either to an already dying genre of movies which has nothing else to offer other than destruction. But Guardians of the Galaxy belongs to that immortal genre which can prove interesting even after a lot of repetition added to it. Because of the same, Marvel gets another movie and a beginning to another franchise which they can use nicely as the success of The Avengers has been repeated here, even as this one doesn’t seem to be good enough to break those records. This is another big superhero movie indeed, and that too in space.

Release date: 8th August 2014 (India); 1st August 2014 (US)
Running time: 122 minutes
Directed by: James Gunn
Starring: Chris Pratt, Zoe Saldana, Dave Bautista, Vin Diesel, Bradley Cooper, Lee Pace, Michael Rooker, Karen Gillan, Djimon Hounsou, John C. Reilly, Mikaela Hoover, Glenn Close, Benicio del Toro, Ophelia Lovibond, Gregg Henry, Peter Serafinowicz