THE SUICIDE SQUAD

Margot Robbie     Idris Elba     John Cena     Viola Davis

Daniela Melchoir     Sylvester Stallone (voice)     Joel Kinnaman 

            It takes a creative, fanciful mind to dream up a story about such a motley group of characters (all prisoners) charged by the U.S. Government with dismantling a Nazi-like prison and laboratory in a foreign country, Corto Maltese.  Although The Suicide Squad does have drama, it’s also very funny.  Amanda Waller as director of the Suicide squad and researcher of human powers has a testy relationship with the squad she has formed to take down the Nazi-like prison of Jutenheim and its project named Starfish.  In the squad, there is a definite rivalry—sometimes boyish—among leading men Bloodsport (Elba), Peacemaker (Cena), and Col. Rick Flag (Kinnaman), for instance.  And there is Ratcatcher 2’s (Melchoir) attachment to rats and Bloodsport’s phobia about them.  On top of these dramas, we see examples of aspirations for political power, U.S. involvement in other countries’ politics, and the ethics of human research.  But… it’s more of a comedy in its buffoonery, japery, and craziness, with a shark (voiced by Stallone), a woman attached to rats, and a weasel (Sean Gunn) as part of the crew, along with the use of “super-powers” such as polka dots, starfish, and King Shark’s sheer bulk as weapons.   Thank James Gunn as writer and director for all this zaniness.  The trailer refers to “the Horribly Beautiful Mind of James Gunn”, so I think he deserves the credit.

            The first squad sent out to Corto Maltese doesn’t make it, the details of which are shown in a silly but amusing way.  Similarly, even though the second squad makes it, they come to find Col. Flag happily engaged with a woman in a tent.  He’ll have explanations for this, but then he joins Harley Quinn (Robbie), Peacemaker, Bloodsport, Ratcatcher 2, and King Shark in a plan to capture the chief scientist of the Jutenheim Laboratory and release all the citizens imprisoned by the government.

            “Do they succeed?” you might ask.  To find out, you must experience all the hi-jinks  along the way.  Actually, it doesn’t really matter, because the action is highly entertaining.  For instance, Peacemaker and Bloodsport get into a heated argument about some of Peacemaker’s remarks.  In reply, he says, “I cherish peace with all my heart, and I don’t care how many men, women, or children I kill to get it.”  You can enjoy Harley Quinn getting engaged in a heated affair with the president of Corto Maltese (one of their love trysts destroys a whole room), after which, she is persona non grata in the country and tortured to give up the names of her squad…until…

            Another entertaining part for me was to see Ratcatcher 2—first being seen sleeping much of the time with a rat resting on her shoulder—have a clear sense of justice and be able to use rats to effectively defend the team and the city.  I understand that Daniela Melchior had to audition with a rat to be sure she was comfortable with it.  Rats—some of the most abhorred species on the earth doing something heroic?  James Gunn makes it sensible—and endearing—somehow.

            Margot Robbie goes way out in portraying Harley Quinn, showing she can be a fine actress in action-comedies just as well as a bad girl in tense dramas (I, Tonya), a tragic Hollywood figure (Once Upon a Time in Hollywood), a queen (Mary Queen of Scots), and the voice of an animated rabbit (Peter Rabbit, Peter Rabbit 2:  The Runaway).  She is an arresting figure who can be as powerful as any in vanquishing enemies, but her cohorts can be super impressive as well.  A stand-out is John Cena portraying a well-intentioned strong arm, Peacemaker, who is effectively held in check by more grounded Bloodsport (Idris Elba).  The cast is strong, perfectly matched to their characters by Yiniva Cardenas and John Papsidera.

            All in all, I would say this is a very successful movie in its genre—several notches above most.  In addition to making a female one of the most central figures, it extends the irony to men having big plans to rescue a woman who had already escaped and putting rats in an elevated position for a grand finale.  I did note that mothers are put down as a theme in the story, and dads as well, although not nearly as much.  Note the last gripping hilarious(?) scene.

            I would think that anyone with a playful sense of humor and an interest in quirky characters would enjoy Suicide Squad.

 

Get on board for an adventure plunging you into a world that will take some getting used to, you’ll have but lots of fun along the way.

 

Grade:  A                              By Donna R. Copeland

BROTHERS BY BLOOD

Matthias Schoenaerts     Joel Kinnaman     Maika Monroe

 

     Peter (Schoenaerts) and Michael (Kinnaman) are certainly brothers by blood (and it could be brothers inblood), because not much else connects them.  They are very different people with different values.  We see them growing up in Philadelphia in families involved in gangs and crime.  Peter is the logical one, trying desperately—all his life—to escape the violence surrounding him.  Michael insists on continuing the wars that have gone on for generations. Peter gets him out of many risky situations, but he seems to be determined to act out the family’s penchant for the macho code.  The “brothers” are actually cousins.

Writer-director Jeremie Guez is considered a prize-winning writer of French noir stories of crime and intrigue.  The dialog he writes is terse and his plots are dark with a heavy emphasis on masculine stereotypes.  Brothers by Blood (originally titled The Sound of Philadelphia) is based on Pete Dexter’s novel Brotherly Love (1991).

     The film is not an easy watch; it begins with a man relating a story about his prostate exam, followed by scenes of a crime showing wrecked cars, dead bodies, and police, all while credits roll.  In addition to these opening scenes that tell us little, overall. a major flaw in terms of storytelling is the darkness of the screen shots making it very hard to see what is transpiring, the absence of connections that will use the scenes you see to tell a logical story, and the introduction of characters who are not identified.  Much of this you have to figure out yourself perhaps many scenes later. An example is the sudden appearance of a small boy taking in the action around him, but it’s only later that you realize he is part of the main character’s reminiscences about his earlier life. 

     Matthias Schoenaerts is one of my favorite actors and the main reason I wanted to see this film.  He and Joel Kinnaman are indeed very good in portraying their characters as written.  But Peter is often portrayed as a Christ-like figure who is long-suffering and ever forgiving, making if difficult for me to appreciate his role, given this kind of movie.  But, at least, one of the ending scenes made me feel better about him.

     This is a movie that will appeal primarily to those fond of macho crime films without much character development or attempts to clarify the make-up of the main characters.   Because I found little of it to be constructive or worthwhile, I cannot recommend it to most.

 

A film noir made primarily for those seeking the thrill of blood and witnessing the crime system in a major city.

 

Grade:  D                                  By Donna R. Copeland

THE SECRETS WE KEEP

Noomie Rapace     Chris Messina     Joel Kinnaman     Amy Seimetz

     The filmmakers really double down on “secrets”, the word in the title.  In the story, secrets are nested in layers, and although I think it’s intended to increase the mystery, it simply became off-putting to me in the end.  Noomi Rapace as Maja brings her ability to exploit a sense of intrigue as she has done so well before (The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo, The Girl Who Played with Fire, Prometheus, and Sherlock Holmes:  A Game of Shadows).  Here, as Maja, she’s apparently happily married to a doctor (Chris Messina), but her eyes are always alert on those around her.  One day in the park with her young son, she thinks she sees someone she recognizes—someone from her hidden past.

     When they met in a hospital, Maja told her husband she was Romanian and after falling in love they ended up married and living in a small town, USA.  She has given him no details of her early life, and even when she thinks she recognizes the man she saw in the park, she says nothing to Lewis (Messina), although she keeps tailing the man.

     Once, when in a glimpse she sees his face clearly, she is convinced he is a part of her past.  She pursues him relentlessly, and manages to kidnap him, whereupon she must tell Lewis more about her past.  The movie continues to give him (and us, the audience) bits and pieces, until finally it comes to more than one showdown.

     The big question for us to answer for ourselves as we watch The Secrets We Keep is whether Maja’s claim is based on fact, or whether it is a case of mistaken identity.  (Easy to do after 15+ years).  This part of the movie works well, although I still became impatient with characters not using simple logic time and again.  

We get torn between fact and coincidence throughout, and the ending is a deus ex machina.  It doesn’t come logically from anything that has gone on before.

     Rapace is as brilliant an actress as ever; her ability to persuade others is convincing, and she maintains her mystique, even when she is in everyday types of conversations.  Chris Messina as her husband is less well played, not showing the expected temperament of a physician and with a bewildered expression much of the time.  Joel Kinnaman and Amy Seimetz as the other couple are perfectly cast and lend a nice balance to the production.

 

Horror arises when the past impinges on the present.

 

Grade:  C+                                    By Donna R. Copeland

     

CHILD 44

Tom Hardy     Noomi Rapace      Joel Kinnaman      Vincent Cassel      Gary Oldman     Charles Dance     Jason Clarke

World War II has ended, but in Stalinist Russia a reign of terror pervades, as related in Child 44 based on a prize-winning book with the same title by Tom Rob Smith.  This should be a better film than it is, with its outstanding cast.  Since I haven’t read the book, I don’t know how well the script follows Smith’s book, and maybe Richard Price (screenplay) simply wasn’t up to the job.  I also found the editing (Pietro Scalia and Dylan Tichenor) nerve-wracking and choppy.  The story does not flow easily, and it’s always several seconds or minutes into a new scene before the viewer can figure out what is going on and who the players are.  Cheap shots like showing only the bottom parts of the actors and hearing voices before speakers appear seem to be attempts to heighten the mystery, but this is completely unnecessary; the story is dramatic enough without camera and editing tricks.

           We see Leo Demidov (Xavier Atkins in early years; Hardy in later years) weeping about his father’s death, escaping from an orphanage, and ending up in military service, where he becomes a hero.  For that, he is appointed to the MGB (later to become the KGB) where he is to round up traitors.  He is shown to be more compassionate than most, particularly his fellow officer Vasili (Kinnaman).  When Vasili shows himself to be cruelly vengeful and cold-blooded, Leo attacks him publicly, which will have dire consequences for Leo and his wife Raisa (Rapace).

           We’re given a picture of the MGB when a suspected traitor (Jason Clarke) is routed out at a farmhouse, and when Leo asks him why he ran from the officers if he was innocent, the reply is, “When you’re followed, you’re arrested; and when you’re arrested, you’re already guilty; so you tell me, why did I run?”  We see many people being rounded up at home, at work, or on the street for apparently the flimsiest excuses.

           In this context of fear and paranoia, an atmosphere where the illusion of an idyllic state is more important than truth and justice, murder can go undetected, which is especially unfortunate in the case of a serial killer of children, who knowingly exploits this fact and literally gets away with murder(s).  Most of the rest of the story deals with this and the outrageous vindictiveness of Vasili who will make Demidov pay dearly for his public reproach.  But Leo is conscientious—even though he and Raisa are pursued as traitors—and doggedly pursues the cases of the murdered children.

           The whole story of Child 44 is an intriguing one that keeps the viewer keenly involved and invested in the outcome, so it’s a shame that with the fine cast and Ridley Scott as one of the producers, Director Daniel Espinosa was not able to bring about a work of higher quality. 

 

There is no murder in paradise.

Grade:  C                                         By Donna R. Copeland

RUN ALL NIGHT

Liam Neeson     Ed Harris     Joel Kinnaman     Common     Vincent D’Onofrio

 

Run all Night is another Liam Neeson picture in which he might be half dead, but can still manage to be a hero in a gun fight or even pass a physical test of brawn.  Here, he is Jimmy Conlon, a gangster with rivers of blood on his hands, and going into old age with a guilty conscience.  One detective in particular trails him, trying to get a list of his victims.  I understand that policemen often have a case or a few cases that haunt them, ones that remain unpunished and seem to have particular resonance for the detective (observed by Richard Price, the novelist who accompanied crime scene units in New York for years, gathering information for his books and screenplays, in an interview with Terry Gross on NPR’s Fresh Air).   Detective Harding cannot even be civil to Conlon in a casual conversation in a café because he’s so bugged that Conlon has been left free.   Of course, Neeson’s character remains his characteristic droll, slight-taunting self.

      Conlon and Maquire (Harris) have been lifelong partners in crime, and Maquire has always said that “Wherever we’re going when we cross that line, we’re going together.”  That cannot possibly hold, however, when sons are involved.  Maquire’s son has taken after his father—although without nearly the smarts and caginess of the old man.  He has made promises to some gangsters that he cannot keep, and they come after him.  He continues to handle the situation poorly, and it results in a bloody mess.  By coincidence, Conlon’s son Mike (Kinnaman) is the driver of a limo outside Danny’s (Boyd Holbrook) apartment, waiting for his fare to return, and has witnessed enough of the melee that he is a threat to Danny.  Mike gets away, and runs to his apartment, knowing that Danny will be after him, so he needs to protect his family. 

      Jimmy has gotten wind of everything, and although they have been estranged for years, he begs his son to protect himself and his family, because he knows how criminals work, and that Danny will be coming after Mike.  But Mike has suffered because of his father’s occupation, resents him deeply, and thinks it best simply to call the police, which is against his father’s advice.  Conlon is keenly aware that his son won’t have a chance of fairness because of his father’s reputation. 

      Indeed, the father is right, and then follows a series of encounters in which father has to save son just in the nick of time.  Not only is law enforcement after both of them (the police have been purposefully misinformed), but Maquire has also sent out his own minions to get them, the most fearsome of all being a thug (Common) with a laser night vision eyepiece.

      In watching films like this, my practical mind always asks questions such as, “in a car chase where the occupants of the cars have guns, why don’t they simply shoot at the tires, rather than trying to play bumper cars?”  Why does Conlon stay silent, rather than explain situations?  Numerous times, he could have explained in more detail to Maquire why Danny got killed, or could have told his son that he left him and his mother in order for them to have a better life.  And finally, Jimmy looks so out of shape, alcoholic, and half dead at times—particularly in the beginning of the film—it’s really a stretch to think that he could even participate in a physical fight, let alone come out the victor time and time again.

      If these and other implausibilities can be ignored and you don’t mind seeing replays of other movies (like the Taken ones), you may find Run all Night to be an exciting film with one catastrophe after another, close calls, and heroics.  And it has the gifted actors Neeson and Harris doing their thing.

For those who like the Liam Neeson genre, you will find this film to be a fine run—all night.

Grade:  C- By Donna R. Copeland