THE SUICIDE SQUAD : Tuesday 19th October 2021.

I finally got around to seeing 'THE SUICIDE SQUAD' on the big screen now that cinema's have reopened across greater Sydney in the past ten days or so, following almost four months of COVID-19 forced lockdown. Written and Directed by James Gunn, this standalone sequel to 2016's 'Suicide Squad' (Directed by David Ayer) is the tenth film in the DCEU (DC Extended Universe). Gunn's previous film making offerings include his directorial debut in 2006 'Slither', 'Super' in 2010, 'Guardians of the Galaxy' in 2014 and 'Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 2' in 2017, with 'Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 3' currently filming and due in 2023. 'The Suicide Squad' was released in the UK in late July, and in the US in early August while streaming on HBO Max for a month starting the same day. It has generated positive critical reviews, although has been a Box Office let down recouping just US$168M so far from its production budget outlay of US$185M.

Here then, A.R.G.U.S. Director (Advanced Research Group Uniting Super-Humans) Amanda Waller (Viola Davis) assembles two Task Force X teams, known as the Suicide Squad that consist Belle Reve penitentiary inmates (a high security metahuman prison), who reluctantly agree to carry out missions for Waller in exchange for having ten years shaved off their sentences, while at the same time having explosive devices injected into their necks which Waller can activate at any given time should the need arise. The teams are sent to the island nation of Corto Maltese, located off the South American coast, after its government is overthrown in a military led coup by an anti-American regime. They are tasked with destroying the Nazi-era laboratory, Jotunheim, which holds a secretive experiment known as 'Project Starfish' as well as conducting clandestine experiments on human subjects, led for the past thirty years by lead scientist Gaius Grieves aka The Thinker (Peter Capaldi). 

The first team is led by Waller's subordinate Colonel Rick Flag (Joel Kinnaman) and comprises Brian Durlin aka Savant (Michael Rooker), George 'Digger' Harkness aka Captain Boomerang (Jai Courtney), Cory Pitzner aka T.D.K. (The Detachable Kid) (Nathan Fillion), Gunter Braun aka Javelin (Flula Borg), Harley Quinn (Margot Robbie), Richard 'Dick' Hertz aka Blackguard (Pete Davidson), Mongal (Mayling Ng) and Weasel (Sean Gunn). They are almost entirely wiped out by the Corto Maltese military upon landing, with only Harley Quinn and Rick Flag escaping the fray. This distraction allows the other team to enter the country undetected, from a beach on the other side of the island. The second team is led by assassin Robert DuBois aka Bloodsport (Idris Elba), who accepted the mission in order to prevent his daughter Tyla (Storm Reid) from being incarcerated at Belle Reve, and consists of Christopher Smith aka Peacemaker (John Cena), King Shark (voiced by Sylvester Stallone), Abner Krill aka Polka-Dot Man (David Dastmalchian), and Cleo Cazo aka Ratcatcher 2 (Daniela Melchior). 

After Flag is deemed to be still alive albeit being held captive, Bloodsport and his team systematically kill all those guarding the campsite only to discover that Flag is sat relaxing and enjoying a cold beer with the leader of a group of rebel soldiers fighting the resistance against the new regime Sol Soria (Alice Braga). Despite all of Soria's foot soldiers and resistance fighters being killed off, she agrees to assist them. 

Harley Quinn survives the attack on the first team and is taken captive by the Corto Maltese government, after killing the new President Silvio Luna (Juan Diago Botto) with whom she had a one night stand during which she learned from him of the new regime's plans to use Project Starfish against other nations, most notably America, Russia and China. Mateo Suarez (Joaquin Cosio) the Major General of Corto Maltese interrogates Quinn by having her strung up and goaded with an electric cattle prod to the stomach. In the Corto Maltese capital, the second team captures the Thinker, the lead scientist in charge of Project Starfish, in a bar and is ushered out the back door by Ratcatcher 2 and Polka-Dot Man just as the military arrive and detain Bloodsport, Peacemaker and Flag. Needless to say it doesn't end well for the three military guards escorting their three new prisoners in the back of an armoured vehicle or the two upfront in the driver and passenger seats. Ratcatcher 2, Polka-Dot Man, King Shark, the Thinker and Milton (an Associate of Task Force X) arrive in a beat up old Toyota bus to retrieve Bloodsport, Peacemaker and Flag.

Meanwhile, Quinn using the power of her thighs strangles her interrogator and using the dexterity of her foot retrieves the padlock key from the now dead interrogator, turns herself upside down, inserts the key into the padlock and turns the key so unlocking it and freeing herself. She then goes on a killing spree wiping out every guard who happens to be in her path either in a hail of bullets, or using the golden javelin bequeathed to her by Javelin just before he died on the beach a couple of nights ago, or by breaking necks from some accurately landed high kicks or savage punches. You never should underestimate the wrath of a woman scorned! 

And so Harley successfully escapes and joins the others, who use the Thinker to gain access to Jotunheim. As the Squad rigs up the facility with explosives, Flag and Ratcatcher 2 enter the laboratory with the Thinker, where they witness the fruits of all of his clandestine human experiments. He tells them that Project Starfish is Starro the Conqueror, a giant alien starfish that is able to create thousands of smaller versions of itself to kill people and take control of their minds and bodies. Starro was brought to Earth by the US government, who have been secretly funding experiments on him in Corto Maltese for the past thirty years and using thousands of its citizens as test subjects. Upon learning this, Flag decides to leak a hard drive containing evidence of this news but is killed by Peacemaker who is under secret orders from Waller to cover up the US's involvement in the experiments, and the existence of Starro.

Meanwhile, a skirmish between the Squad and the Corto Maltese military lead by Major General Suarez results in Polka-Dot Man accidentally setting off the explosives prematurely. As the facility slowly begins to implode and fall apart, Peacemaker catches up with Ratcatcher 2 and is poised ready to kill her for knowing the truth about Starro, but Bloodsport shoots him instead and takes the drive, so sparing Ratcatcher 2. 

Starro escapes from the now destroyed laboratory, kills the Thinker and the majority of the military personnel on the ground, and begins taking control of the island's population by releasing thousands of smaller starfish which latch onto the faces of the victims, so suffocating them almost immediately before taking control of their minds and bodies at which point they are revived - zombie like. Waller tells the Squad that their mission is complete now that Jotunheim is destroyed, but Bloodsport chooses to ignore her and leads his teammates in battling Starro, while Waller is knocked out by one of her subordinates using a golf club across the back of the head, back at Task Force X HQ to prevent her from executing the squad. 

During the battle, Polka-Dot Man is killed, Harley pierces a hole in Starro's eye using the javelin, and Ratcatcher 2 summons the city's rats to chew the alien to death from the inside. With the military diverted, Soria takes control of the government by gunning down all of the corrupt officials and pledges democratic elections. Bloodsport forces Waller to release him, Harley Quinn, Ratcatcher 2 and King Shark from their imprisonment, and to swear not to go after his daughter Tyla, in exchange for keeping the contents of the drive confidential to which she has little choice but to agree. The remaining Squad is airlifted out of Corto Maltese.

It's easy to see where Director James Gunn filtered away a production budget of US$185M, and it's equally as easy to see why this film has yet to recoup that initial investment. 'The Suicide Squad' is a silly film full of largely one dimensional characters that we have very little investment in by way of back story apart from one or two glib sentences in passing from the main characters; there is plenty of cussing and swearing; the humour seems aimed mostly at fifteen year old boys; there is lots of blood and gore; and the action sequences are so over the top that it really does remind you that you're watching a comic book adaptation after all. As for the giant alien starfish, Starro, well that reminded of the giant Stay Puft Marshmallow Man from the 1984 'Ghostbusters' film, just a little more menacing. On the positive side, Gunn's absurdist direction shines through in this no holds barred, fast paced, ultra violent, piece of nonsense that doesn't take it self too seriously, has moments of sardonic humour, and is visually everything you would expect from a movie such as this. Worth watching on a big cinema screen just for the spectacle of the action sequences which Gunn delivers with aplomb and of which there are plenty to satisfy the most die hard fans of the genre. The film also stars Taika Waititi as Ratcatcher, the father of Ratcatcher 2 who is dead but is seen in memory flashbacks by his daughter. Also, remain in your seat for the post-credits sequence.

'The Suicide Squad' merits three claps of the Odeon Online clapperboard from a possible five claps.

-Steve, at Odeon Online-

THE PERSONAL HISTORY OF DAVID COPPERFIELD : Wednesday 29th January 2020

I saw the 'THE PERSONAL HISTORY OF DAVID COPPERFIELD' at The Open Air Cinema at Mrs. Macquarie's Point on Sydney Harbour earlier this week. Based on the eighth book by Charles Dickens and first published in 1850, here Director, Co-Producer and Co-Writer for the screen adaptation Armando Iannucci brings us this British and American Co-Produced comedy drama film based on that acclaimed mid-Victorian era novel. Iannucci is the Scottish satirist, Writer, Director, and Radio Producer whose previous feature film credits include 2009's 'In The Loop', and 2017's 'The Death of Stalin' most recently. Costing US$16M to make, the film saw its Premier screening at TIFF back in September last year, was released in the UK last week, and not in Australia until late March and the US until early May, and has generated mostly favourable Reviews.

The film opens up with the adult David Copperfield (Dev Patel) standing on a theatre stage at a lectern beginning his recital of his life story up to that point. His narration starts at the very beginning, that of his birth shortly after the death of his father at the tender age of 29, leaving his loving mother Clara Copperfield (Morfydd Clark) heavily in labour, with Peggotty (Daisy May Cooper) as the housemaid running around in a blind panic providing very little worthwhile assistance. Betsey Trotwood (Tilda Swinton) meanwhile rocks up to the house and begins taking over the proceedings absolutely convinced that Clara is giving birth to girl. Trotwood is David's great-aunt on his fathers side, and has a dislike of boys. She storms out of the house after hearing that David's mother has had a son, rather than the daughter to whom she had every intention to be the godmother. And so as the young David Copperfield (Jairaj Varsani) grows up in a secure family unit, he begins writing down and drawing his life experiences, observations and memories on odd scraps of paper which he guards with his life almost.

By the time young David Copperfield is seven or eight years of age, his mother Clara has married the sinister, harsh and uncaring Edward Murdstone (Darren Boyd) who has moved into the Copperfield family home with his equally bleak, domineering and demanding sister Jane Murdstone (Gwendoline Christie), who plans to renovate and refurbish the household and teach the young Copperfield boy a thing or two about manners, etiquette and education. Things go somewhat awry for young Copperfield when he is asked to recite from a book, but is unable to do so because he has double vision which blurs the printed words on the page. His new father figure, manhandles him up to his bedroom, where he beats the young boy like a disobedient dog. Copperfield retaliates but in return is sent away to a wine bottling factory in London owned by the Murdstone's.

While there he is accommodated by Mr. Micawber (Peter Capaldi) and his long suffering yet fiercely loyal and trusting wife Emma Micawber (Bronagh Gallagher) and their band of children who do everything they can to keep their creditors at bay, the bailiffs from taking away all their meagre worldly possessions, and walk the financial tightrope every day. But young Copperfield is happy in Micawber's company, and relishes in his London accent and phraseology, which he records on his scraps of paper and keeps in a tin on the lid of which he has scratched a picture of St. Paul's Cathedral.

One day when Copperfield is in his late teens and has now grown into Dev Patel, we see him still working in the bottling factory but having graduated to hold some level of responsibility. He is visited by Edward and Jane Murdstone with the news that his mother has died and that she was buried last Saturday, to avoid any fuss. Copperfield rebels against this news, smashes many of the precious bottles, and runs out of the place never to be seen again. He walks back to Yarmouth - the home town of his mother and his great-aunt Betsey, having been robbed along the way, and having not eaten for days.

Being now grown up into a handsome young adult Betsey hardly recognises him, but when they are reintroduced she welcomes him in, and there he meets Mr. Dick (Hugh Laurie) who possesses childish traits and an obsession with work on his memoir from which he is constantly distracted by thoughts of King Charles' head. Copperfield soon learns that that like him, Mr. Dick notes down all his musings, quotations and scribblings on odd scraps of paper which Copperfield persuades him to attach to a kite in order that his mind can be free of all the clutter clogging his memory. Mr. Dick thinks this is a wonderful idea and is promptly seen flying his kite at every opportunity.

Enter the somewhat pickled financial advisor to Betsey Trotwood and Mr. Dick, a Mr. Wickfield (Benedict Wong) and his daughter Agnes (Rosalind Eleazar). Using funds freed up by Betsey, Copperfield is sent off to a private albeit somewhat run down school for young gentlemen near Canterbury in order to continue and finish his education. There he meets James Steerforth (Aneurin Barnard) and the pair strike up a strong friendship. He also meets at the school a member of the staff, Uriah Heep (Ben Whishaw) - known for his cloying humility, insincerity and obsequiousness.

While at his graduation, he is introduced to Mr. Spenlow (Matthew Cottle) a lawyer, who has a job for Copperfield as a Proctor in his law firm, and who also has a daughter Dora (Morfydd Clark again), whom Copperfield is instantly attracted to. She is quite beautiful, but childish too and is more interested in playing with her pet dog, Jip, than in understanding the advances of Copperfield it seems. But he persists, taken in by her beauty and her innocent personality.

Meanwhile, Betsey Trotwood and Mr. Dick have had their home repossessed and all of their investments as handled by Mr. Wickfield have gone belly up and as a result are now homeless, destitute and financially ruined. They move into Copperfield's London apartment provided for him by his employer but this proves untenable. In the intervening period Uriah Heep has manipulated his way into Mr. Wickfield's broken business and has firmly established himself as an equal partner, with a particular axe to grind against Copperfield. Heep sets up Copperfield, Trotwood and Mr. Dick in a run down part of London in a less than adequate and very cramped apartment.

Copperfield decamps back to Yarmouth with Steerforth to visit the seaside home of Peggotty, her husband Daniel Peggotty (Paul Whitehouse), their orphaned nephew Ham Peggotty (Anthony Welsh) and his fiancee Emily (Aimee Kelly). They all live in their cramped upturned fishing boat on the beach by the waters edge with the ageing and in ill health Mrs. Gummidge (Rosaleen Linehan). One day, feeling somewhat sorry for himself Steerforth bids farewell to Copperfield and then promptly elopes with Emily on board a rented sailing boat. Emily it seems wants more out of life than Ham can offer her. Ham vows to track Emily down now matter where she is and how long it takes.

Back in London, Agnes has uncovered evidence that Uriah Heep massaged his way into her fathers business by fraudulent and nefarious means, and armed with this evidence she, Copperfield, Trotwood, Mr. Dick, Mr. Micawber and Mr. Wickfield confront the unsuspecting Heep in his offices, where he comes undone. Peggotty in the meantime has heard of the whereabouts of Emily, and that she is in London. They track her down and learn that Steerforth has since deserted her. They take her back to Yarmouth with a storm on the horizon and learn that Steerforth is making his way back there aboard the sailing boat from France. Just off shore, the boat is caught in a squall and Steerforth is washed overboard and drowns.

Back at their ramshackle apartment Copperfield is busy writing his autobiography with Dora looking on. She says that she should be written out of his book as she does not fit in. She turns around and leaves. Sometime later Copperfield and Agnes are reunited and subsequently married - she had always held a candle for him although had never outwardly admitted doing so. With Trotwood and Mr. Dick reinstated in their country home, Copperfield returns their too having published his book and basking in the wealth it has brought him with all his friends around him.

In 'The Personal History of David Copperfield' Director Armando Iannucci has assembled a fine cast of English acting talent, from the lead with Dev Patel to the upstanding supporting cast of Swinton, Laurie, Whishaw, Whitehouse, Capaldi, Wong, Clark, Christie, Eleazar and Barnard whose diverse characters are all fleshed out enough to feel invested in them. The production values are also top notch, and here Iannucci has turned a classic story of some 170 years ago into a modern retelling that still resonates as much today as it did mid-19th Century - class inequality, the rich and poor divide, cultural and ethnic acceptance, the role of men versus women in society, and the daily struggles that had to be endured at the hands of an ever increasing modern world. All of this is underpinned by a tale that combines plenty of wit, whimsy, charm and creative storytelling that helps propel the film along at a good pace and ties up all the strands effectively at the end.

'The Personal History of David Copperfield' merits four claps of the Odeon Online clapperboard, from a possible five claps.

-Steve, at Odeon Online-