We're the patsies

Suicide Squad (2016) review (Semi-spoilery)

(TL;DR? Want the lowdown but not the spoilers? Skip to conclusion here)

SPOILER WARNING!

DO NOT GO BEYOND THIS IF YOU DO NOT WANT TO BE SPOILED!

I'VE WARNED YOU!

LAST ONE!

OKAY, IT'S ON YOU NOW. READY?

It can be agreed upon that Marvel started the whole superhero-movie trend of the 21st century with the release of the X-Men movie in 2000. However, the DC Extended Universe's (DCEU) Suicide Squad, directed by David Ayer, is not about heroes, it's about a group of locked-up super-baddies (and crazies) forced to play the role of saviors. And, as the movie tag goes, "Worst. Heroes. Ever."

Despite the difference, Suicide Squad left an impression that the DCEU is trying hard to play catch-up with the Marvel Cinematic Universe's (MCU) eight years of churning out blockbuster after blockbuster. Here's a tweet of mine, from after seeing the 2016 San Diego Comic Con Suicide Squad trailer, that will succinctly describe the movie:

Just realized, #SuicideSquad is DCEU's nega-Avengers w/ Amanda Waller=anti-Nick Fury, Nick Flag=anti-Maria Hill...etchetera

— was @mjangelacruz (@prodigalpowtato) July 27, 2016

Aside from the parallel, antithesis aspect, the makers of Suicide Squad took so many other elements from the MCU's movie-making book. If the DCEU were to mash-up and remix the MCU, this is the physical representation of that. Some of the glaring similarities were, obviously the team-up element from The Avengers (2012); the magic and large, all-powerful enemy sidekick cum distraction from Thor (2011); and the awesome soundtrack, that includes The Animals' Rising Sun and Queen's Bohemian Rhapsody, that is definitely a Guardians of the Galaxy (2014) thing. They even threw in a bit of Deadpool (2016) with some curse words and mild obscenity. There was a shortage on blood, though, which is strange for the grimness espoused by the DCEU.

Unfortunately, in their rush to make up for all the lost time and money that an expansive movie-franchise would give, they forgot the most important thing about stories—heart.

Suicide Squad poster

It's difficult to become invested in the characters. Indeed, the protagonists were felons and metahumans; the term DCEU uses for people with special abilities, but even criminals have lives other than doing crime. Though it does present a small backstory for each of the members, some being more extensive than others', it was not enough to have viewers rooting for them. The audience pretty much ends up as simple spectators, emotionally removed from the players and the events in that which they are watching. This is probably the pitfall of going ahead with an ensemble movie without going through the characters' stand-alones first.

The movie's attempt at winning the audiences' affections were not all in vain, even with heartless characters, both figuratively and literally. Funnily enough, it's the literally heartless one and Suicide Squad's ultimate antagonist, Enchantress (Cara Delevinge), who was easier to feel for; not even the person whose body she was inhabiting, Dr. June Moone.

Most of the consideration for June Moone is as an offshoot from sympathy for Rick Flag (Joel Kinnaman). Being her love-struck boyfriend, his dilemma of saving the world and saving his love is what fleshes them out.

Meanwhile, of the squad's members, it was Deadshot (Will Smith) who was the most successful at eliciting sentiment. His backstory and motivation were very human, and even succeeds at making Batman look like an asshole. This, for a movie about villains taking the lead, is a good thing.

Another unlikely placer in the likeability game was Killer Croc, played by Adwale Akinnuoye-Agbaje. His character was summarized by Viola Davis' Amanda Waller with the line "he looked like a monster, so they treated him like a monster, and he became a monster." Even with the life he had, he was one of the effective team-players in the story. It was uplifting when he confidently said he was beautiful, after openly being called ugly by Harley Quinn (Margot Robbie) who also quickly concurred with him.

El Diablo (Jay Hernandez), who Deadshot was constantly "trying to get there" after the former's self-imposed avoidance of using his abilities, had a backstory that was also trying to get the audience into sympathizing for him. Unfortunately, it felt a bit flat, not in the sense that his story wasn't tragic, but it was more on the pacing and how it was revealed.

There was a scene dedicated to generating condolence for the greatly under-utilized Katana (Karen Fukuhara), who was a grey-area good guy, but the scene seems mishandled, being out of character and coming up out of the blue. Giving the character—a somber, samurai wielding warrior— a midriff outfit also seemed a strange choice.

As for Captain Boomerang (Jai Courtney), well, the only things that make him emotionally accessible are his humor and attachment to a stuffed, pink unicorn.

Surprisingly for one of the main draws for Suicide Squad, and having the most flashback scenes, Harley Quinn didn't solicit much on the feels department, except during her heart-break scene. For it to work, though, they had to pull the cliche crying in the rain, then pretending to be alright once her teammates arrived.

It did not help that her backstory and flashbacks mostly served to introduce Jared Leto's Joker. One of these, which was partly featured in the trailers and was one of the most intriguing scenes, came up in the most unusual of moments that it could've been cut-out of the movie and the story would not be affected at all. It would be a waste of a good scene, agreed, but it would've been better used in a stand-alone Harley Quinn or Joker movie.

Speaking of Joker, now, I love Jared Leto as a fan of his band, but I've never seen any movie of his. His portrayal of Joker, though, seemed off. It was like he was reciting lines while pretending to play the Joker. However, his purr was quite impressive, sounding like a very formidable big-cat purring before they either cuddle or attack. Himself not being a part of the Suicide Squad, only popping up in flashbacks and interludes, there was a great want for more scenes of the Joker, especially since the marketing promised much. There was news stating that most of Joker's scenes ended up in the cutting-room floor and even Jared Leto was not happy about this.

 HERE IS WHERE I GET MORE SPOILERY. WATCH OUT!

With there not being much to make the characters endearing, the death (or possible death) of some(one) of them felt more like an acceptable fact than something to mourn about, and was quickly brushed off. This is unusual for characters who are supposedly part of the film's leads.

There was also a throw-away character whose sole purpose was only to demonstrate to the audience the actual existence and lethal quality of one of the plot devices. His scene could've been entirely removed from the story to save the company some time and money, but then, an actor won't have a job, even if it was a lousy one.

Despite it being hard to connect to the characters, there was one who was easy to hate. Amanda Waller was a cold, manipulative, and spoiled official. Having no character growth of any sort throughout the movie, even up to the mid-credit scene (yes, there is a mid-credit scene, so stay in your seats) she easily becomes very unlikable and even worse than the movie's antagonist. If this was what the DCEU was planning for the character, then they accomplished it.

Another problem for this movie was the great McGuffin that was supposed to unite squad members. The doomsday device was never explained (making it a great McGuffin) even after it was destroyed. All it did was give a sense of impending doom, but it was only a vague sense since the precise purpose of the device was never disclosed. For instance, if there was an outbreak of a virus that kills humans, and an outbreak of a virus that kills humans by turning them into rabid zombies, the latter would be more alarming.

All things considered, the movie wasn't at all that horrible as a lot of early reviewers would have you believe. It has its deficiencies, but all movies have these. On the flip-side, it's not all that great either due to the aforementioned drawbacks. If anything, it's a middling movie, still entertaining but not really one that is going to be lauded. For that, it deserves this star:

Please, sir, I want some more

A post-analysis of Free Comic Book Day (FCBD) 2016 Philippines

Okay. I know my post title is not a comic book reference, but this is how I am every FCBD.

I started getting into comics through the Marvel Cinematic Universe (MCU). I'm not ashamed to admit that Iron Man (2008) was my gateway into the Geekdom. Some long-time fans and purists would probably go "Oh, you're not a real fan" or "You're just a poser. GTFO" but I don't care. You weren't involved in my introduction into the wonderful world of nerds and geeks, it was, inadvertently, Jon Favreau, Robert Downey Jr., and the beautiful people of Tumblr, so shut the f*ck up.

As I was saying, I got into the FCBD party a little late. FCBD started way back in 2002 in the United States (US) and was imported and has been going on in the Philippines since the same year, but underwent a brief hiatus from 2004 to 2007.

If memory serves me well, my very first FCBD experience was in 2012. I know that's four years since the first Iron Man film, but you have to forgive me because A.) it took some time before the geek in me got some traction, B.) I'm more of a passive-observer fan who wouldn't actively seek out and participate with people who have the same interests as me, and so C.) I only found out about FCBD that year.

It was a time before the guy who lines-up at Fully Booked the night before, but lines already got really long even early in the day. Luckily, that year, there were two FCBDs held since it was also the first time that Fully Booked joined the fun.

Anyway, this post is supposed to be how this year's FCBD went and I think I'm starting to ramble about my older FCBD experiences. I should save those for another post. So, on with the program.

For this year's FCBD, four comic book shops participated in the event: Comic Odyssey through Fully Booked in Bonifacio High Street, Filbar's SM Megamall branch, DK (Druid's Keep) Collectibles in The Fort Strip, and Planet X in Glorietta as a minor participant (I asked them).

The previous year, I went to Planet X first, but since they downgraded their shop to a kiosk in the interim, I wasn't certain about how they were going to conduct their FCBD. I thus decided to head to Fully Booked Bonifacio High Street (BHS) first.

At Fully Booked

Since it was the biggest and most popular of the four participants, it had the most going on, giving away at least three FCBD comics and another three back issue comics, and having the most guest artists and activities. Located in an open-space park/mall, it also had the longest line (as far as I know) and earliest bird who, this year, lined-up at 11:30 p.m. OF THURSDAY, which was TWO DAYS BEFORE FCBD! (JFC, seriously, the dedication is admirable, but it's not funny anymore).

Being in the night-shift has its perks, and this was one of them. My work's office being a mere 30 minute drive away (without traffic), I was able to get to Fully Booked BHS early enough, right after work, at around 6:30 a.m. on the day itself. But, even though the event was not to start for another 3.5 hours, there was already a considerable line.

Yeah, I was too lazy to stand-up. Just consider how far we are from the bookstore and that the line isn't exactly
a straightforward straight one but instead had to snake around to accommodate everyone.

There were only two titles that I really wanted to get this year. Despite there being loads of people before me, I felt that they had more than enough of the titles I wanted and that I would still be able to get them.

With the line already reaching almost half of the block by around 7-8 a.m., despite the security guards' best efforts to make the line as compact as possible with a lot of winding around, Fully Booked decided to let people in and get their free comics by around 8:00 a.m.

First haul from Fully Booked. Three FCBD comics
and three free back issue comics

At Filbar's

Getting out of Fully Booked early enough, I thought I could head over to Filbar's Megamall, then head back to DK's in time for their start.

Located inside the complex of a closed mall, Filbar's could comfortably wait until 10:00 a.m. before starting their FCBD event, with the line being controlled and depending on the opening of the mall's doors.

Luckily, I was able to get in almost immediately when the mall's doors opened even though there was already a long line when I got there. I saw a chance and I took it. It pays to be alert and mindful of your surroundings. To be fair, I did give them a few seconds' chance, but since nobody hurried-up to queue in the other line, I decided to be the one to continue that line.

Even though I got to Filbar's just as the mall opened, there was already a line for those they can accommodate, and another line for the Flash Pass, which was like a timed entry ticket. It reserves you a slot, but you have to be there at the time designated in your Flash Pass.

The Filbar's Flash Pass ticket I got.

With the DK Collectible's FCBD event set to start by 2:00 p.m. and my Flash Pass time being so late in the afternoon, I thought it won't be worth it since all the good titles would probably be gone by my turn, so I decided to head back to Bonifacio Global City (BGC).

Filbar's was the second biggest, chucking in a free X-Men: Apocalypse poster for the first 100 people together with two FCBD comics, a total of six guest artists with shifting schedules, and a raffle for a custom Vinyl Pop toy.

At DK Collectibles

Back at BGC at around lunch time, I decided to have a meal first since DK's was not to start until 2:00 p.m. I had time, I thought to myself.

I kind of regretted my decision. I ordered a meal that took me too long to finish (I got full, half-way through the meal, but I had to finish it since it was expensive AF. Me and my life choices.) and I just saw on their events page that by around 12:30 p.m., there were already people lined-up.

I wanted to be among the first in line at DK's since they were giving out a cute, chibi Harley Quinn fan art  6" x 9" print to the first 100 people there.

So kawaii! So cray!

Sadly, I missed out on the print, as well as Marvel's Civil War II reading guide that wasn't included in the list of FCBD titles (me and my life choices. UGH!). The guy before me got the last of the reading guide :'( but fair is fair in FBCD.

DK Collectibles was also giving two FCBD comics like Filbar's. But, aside from the free comics, fan art print, and reading guide, they were also allowing participants to pick three comic book post cards.

Round One freebies from DK Collectibles:
two FCBD comics and three postcards

Being my last stop (read intro to know why I didn't go to Planet X this year), I decided to hang-around a bit at DK's and scour its for sale comics.

Sale finds!: Doctor Strange (2015) #1, Darth Vader #2
The New Avengers Illuminati (2006) #1, Iron Man Armor Wars (2009) #1 & #2
All these for less than Php 400!

While all participants gave discounts on comics, toys, and collectibles during FCBD, DK Collectibles was the only one that offered to give more free comics for every store purchases.

Additional free stuff!
Top:more FCBD comics, Bottom: Free previews and more postcards.

Summary

After getting my additional free comics at DK Collectibles, I went back to Fully Booked for a last look (and because I wanted to see someone I was half-hoping, half-expecting I'll see there. I did see him. Good job, intuition!).

Bought at Fully Booked (so I wouldn't look like a stalker).
The Cast of Doctor Who Unauthorized (2012) #1 and
Star Wars: Darth Vader and the Ninth Assassin (2013) #1 for Php 200

While, as I said, Fully Booked had the most activities such as a geek pop quiz, loads of cosplayers, and a whole floor for artists, if you're just after free or deeply discounted comics, then DK Collectibles was really the top place to be for FCBD, especially if you have no plans of having to wake-up and line-up before day break.

DK's discounts were the biggest. Aside from that, since it's a niche store, the store's owners and operators were really nice. It feels like a small community of dedicated geeks, with some of my fellow FCBD participants, who seemed to also be regular customers of the shop, being friends with the store staff. While in line to pay, they were discussing their expectation to see another friend drop by, and when he did, they cheered. It's just a really welcoming place, albeit cramped because of the crowd. (If I didn't have a debilitating shyness, I'd make friends with them.)

For the fun, Comic Odyssey in Fully Booked BHS is where you should go. It should be noted, though, that they can quickly run out of FCBD comics to give away, and by the afternoon, it's all gone. Luckily for those living near Alabang and Ortigas, Fully Booked's Alabang Town Center (ATC) and Robinsons Galleria branches also participated in this year's FCBD, but they only gave out one comic in those stores.

Filbar's only misses out on being an ideal go-to store for FCBD due to its location. Starting out as a niche store, it's owners, staff, and regulars have already formed a geek community as well, so fellow comic book fans can expect a warm welcome from them. Other than comic books, comic book boxes, and collectible toys, Filbar's also sells other geek essentials like comic book themed apparel and accessories.

A special mention goes to Planet X, despite me not going there this year. Based from my experience there last year, it's like DK Collectibles in that it's a safe haven where comic fans can be their natural, geeky selves. They also gave out a lot of other free stuff aside from the FCBD comics.

Overall, I think, the true winner here are the fans, who got to enjoy and celebrate their love for comics, while also getting a bunch of free stuff, like it was a geek's Christmas in the middle of summer.

Till next year! :)

P.S.
An event for shih tzus coincided with this year's FCBD, so here's a picture of chocolate pup I saw that looks like an Ewok. Kudos to the owner!

Bonus Ewok-dog for managing to finish my lame blog post! :)