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Suicide Squad 2 & Peacemaker
Jun. 20th, 2023 12:24 amWell, apparently I have absolutely *no* ability to write things up properly these days, so rather than just sitting on mentally half-formed posts about things I've read or watched lately, I'll go ahead and toss off something short.
So I watched Suicide Squad 2 (the James Gunn one) and Peacemaker (the spinoff show), and really liked them! Peacemaker is a lot like Punisher in that it very much should not be as sweet and charming as it is, based on the premise (which in this case is essentially "what if Captain America was a right-wing dickhead who was sent to prison and forced to assassinate people for the government"), but it totally is sweet and charming and absolutely my favorite kind of "ragtag bunch of messed-up misfits form a disaster of a found family" sort of narrative.
Suicide Squad 2 is less charming and way more violent, although surprisingly critical of the US prison system and foreign policy (in a way the spinoff isn't). It's 100% a Vietnam war movie in general ethos and style, perhaps the grimiest superhero movie I've ever seen; the characters spend most of their time filthy, bloody, and sweaty, and the overall visual look made me think a lot of 1970s war movies. The only character in it who really gets an arc is Idris Elba, but his was really enjoyable. That being said, it was a big, bombastic, occasionally funny, weirdly paced, sometimes unexpected and sometimes bizarre superhero movie. It did genuinely surprise me a number of times.
Pretty big spoiler: ( under the cut )
The show was, overall, much more to my taste, with its smaller-scale plot, ragtag band of badass normals cast, and general ethos of recovery and redemption. Scioscribe summed it up beautifully: I saw someone describe it as being like [James Gunn] watched his own movie, found the antagonist unexpectedly sympathetic, and decided to write woobie found family fic for him.
This is one million percent accurate.
( No big spoilers, just kind of loose overall comments )
So yeah, that was fun, and I'm not at all sure how likely a season 2 is, but I would be there with bells on if it happens.
Spoilers are fine in the comments!
So I watched Suicide Squad 2 (the James Gunn one) and Peacemaker (the spinoff show), and really liked them! Peacemaker is a lot like Punisher in that it very much should not be as sweet and charming as it is, based on the premise (which in this case is essentially "what if Captain America was a right-wing dickhead who was sent to prison and forced to assassinate people for the government"), but it totally is sweet and charming and absolutely my favorite kind of "ragtag bunch of messed-up misfits form a disaster of a found family" sort of narrative.
Suicide Squad 2 is less charming and way more violent, although surprisingly critical of the US prison system and foreign policy (in a way the spinoff isn't). It's 100% a Vietnam war movie in general ethos and style, perhaps the grimiest superhero movie I've ever seen; the characters spend most of their time filthy, bloody, and sweaty, and the overall visual look made me think a lot of 1970s war movies. The only character in it who really gets an arc is Idris Elba, but his was really enjoyable. That being said, it was a big, bombastic, occasionally funny, weirdly paced, sometimes unexpected and sometimes bizarre superhero movie. It did genuinely surprise me a number of times.
Pretty big spoiler: ( under the cut )
The show was, overall, much more to my taste, with its smaller-scale plot, ragtag band of badass normals cast, and general ethos of recovery and redemption. Scioscribe summed it up beautifully: I saw someone describe it as being like [James Gunn] watched his own movie, found the antagonist unexpectedly sympathetic, and decided to write woobie found family fic for him.
This is one million percent accurate.
( No big spoilers, just kind of loose overall comments )
So yeah, that was fun, and I'm not at all sure how likely a season 2 is, but I would be there with bells on if it happens.
Spoilers are fine in the comments!
