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The Suicide Squad (2021)
James Gunn you genius!
After the failed attempt of 2016, DC would have no excuses if a second hillariocity came out. The magnificent plan of taking a genius director like James Gunn and giving him budget and time to come up with something brilliant worked perfectly as this version is not just superior to the previous one, but also one of the funniest movies of the year.
This success has James Gunn's name written all over it. This man took a risky task like making a Guardians of the Galaxy movie and turned it into one of Marvel's most interesting projects. With his fresh vision and his abillity to add effortless comedy into great adventure stories, Gunn is a true goldmine for the superhero genre and The Suicide Squad is another brilliant example of his talent. Instead of forcing dark realism, he embraces the silly nature of this concept and combines the blood-filled action scenes with the most casually hillarious jokes to create an irresistable result. It may not be something everyone would enjoy, but it's a fantastic self-aware film that doesn't try to present itself as a deep story and accepts the fact that its purpose is pure entertainment. Are you not entertained?
Of course, the screenplay was brilliant too. Gunn refuses to play by the rules and focuses more on creating silly little side-stories to develop the characters, than constantly building the bigger picture. That's what makes this movie so fullfilling, the viewer feels like he's part of the group and enjoys this journey with them. Gunn makes every moment count, not just the final battle and a few heartwarming interractions, but every single scene.
Margott Robbie steals the show once more as Harley Quinn and proves the world that this is the part she was born to play. It's too bad that superhero movies get snubbed in the Academy Awards as her performance is without a doubt Oscar-worthy. Joel Kinnaman is still an amazing choice as Rick Flag and he gets to prove it in this movie. Idris Elba and John Cena, the big signings really shined in this film as they were both extremely funny and overall quite amazing casting choices. Especially Cena is a weird case, as I never enjoyed his performances up until this one. Peacemaker fits him perfectly and his abillity to fully utilize the character's potential was a very pleasant surprise to me. Daniela Malchior, David Dastmalchian, Viola Davis, they all brought their A game and contributed to a fantastic movie.
It's time to talk about the best thing this film has to offer, Sylvester Stallone's King Shark. Even the biggest hater of this movie would find it hard to not acknowledge how amazing he actually is. The cute, hillarious predator takes comedy to a whole new level by producing some of the funniest moments I've seen all year and yet remains a big threat and establishes his dominance when he has to. This may be a hot take but I think King Shark is the best James Gunn character ever.
Overly stylized, colourful and silly, this is The Suicide Squad, a relaxing and fresh superhero movie that embraces the childish theme and doesn't try at all to be mature and sophisticated. After all, we need this kind of films too, simple and goofy but extremely entertaining.
Rating: 8.5/10.
No Time to Die (2021)
A proper farewell to Craig's era
After a very successful 15-year run as James Bond, Daniel Craig hangs his Martini glass with style and passion as No Time To Die is the most humanized and emotional version of Bond we'll ever get.
Even though the story remains an adventurous journey with gadgets and chases, there is a certain weight in every scene that makes everything way more impactful. His whole quest is more than just taking out the bad guys. It's something much more meaningful, making the audience feel this rush of adrenaline through out the entire movie.
This risky experiment will probably be disappointing for many hardcore fans who'd hope for another lighthearted mission of our beloved spy, but that's how movies should work. Instead of using the same formula once again, Cary Joji Fukanaga creates a magnificent action-drama as a worthy farewell for an amazing James Bond. Good characters evolve and change through everything they 've been through and Craig's version of Bond is a great one as he grows little by little in every single film, reaching his peak in this one.
The weakest part is cleary Lyutsifer Safin as the antagonist. Although his presence is quite terrifying, there isn't much of a backstory to make him relatable or show any understandable motives. Rami Malek gives a solid performance but there isn't anything to portray other than an obsessed psychopath.
No Time To Die is also a visually stunning film. Linus Sandgren ("La La Land", "First Man") does a fantastic job at giving this film a beautiful style, the image quality is phenomenal and Fukanaga gets a chance to fully capture his vision thanks to this great cinematography. In general, it's a well-directed film and although it doesn't reach the perfection of Skyfall, it's something extremely worth-watching.
Now that Craig era is over, there is no doubt for me that his version of the character is the greatest one. Not only he portrays an emotional and flawed human being, but he also participates in some of the most impactful stories this franchise ever had. This Bond is an actual person, his pain is real, his struggles are real and his emotions are real. That's what makes him unique and relatable and that's what makes these movies so important for the character.
Of course, Craig is phenomenal in his last performance and the well-written screenplay allows him to give his best, as a beautiful goodbye for the fans. His abillity to become Bond and truly live this journey with him is what makes this movie even greater, it's so natural that it doesn't feel like acting at all. Ana De Armas makes an impressive and charming appearance, but the one who really makes an impact is Léa Seydoux, as Madeleine's involvement in the whole story is extremely important and she manages to do a great job. Lashana Lynch was also pretty good although her character was mostly used a plot device and her entire personallity is based on her interractions with Bond. Q was once again hillarious, but his part, along with Moneypenny's, were sacrificed to save some time as the final cut is 2 hours and 43 minutes long.
Speaking of runtime, the smooth pacing and the importance of the content made this film feel much shorter than it actually is. Most movies that surpass the 2-and-a-half-hour-mark tend to be very exhausting but No Time To Die had the quality to keep the viewers constantly at the end of their seats.
My experience with this film was very positive. I was emotionally invested in the story, I had fun with the well-directed action scenes and it felt important and beautiful. It probably isn't the best James Bond movie yet, but it holds a special place in my heart and it's definetely among the greatest ones.
My Rating: 8.5/10.