Review: Suicide Squad: Hell To Pay
Suicide Squad: Hell To Pay is the latest DCAU movie to come out and you can bet that it looks like one hell of a ride. Does the movie live up to the hype? Or should it just be terminated?
[embedyt] https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IV7_tOeOf7Q[/embedyt]
WARNING: SPOILERS AHEAD!!! PROCEED WITH CAUTION!
What makes this movie different from the rest is that it is a 100% brand new story. Suicide Squad: Hell To Pay doesn’t base itself on any previous Suicide Squad arc or comic. It goes to show that DC Animation can craft their own stories and they can be entertaining as hell.
Another thing I want to address is that this is an R-rated movie. While you may be thinking that it doesn’t hold much significance, DC has been giving most of their Animated Movies R ratings nowadays. While most of them don’t really feel like an R, this one is the first true DC Animated movie that actually earns its R rating. There is plenty of blood, violence, partial nudity and swearing that it makes it entertaining and not safe for kids.
The story follows the Suicide Squad as they go out on a mission to find a literal “Get out of Hell” card. Amanda Waller (Vanessa Williams), wants this mystical card so she can use it on herself, either today or maybe a couple of years down the line. This mission sees the squad go on a road trip in an RV (To keep things lowkey), to track down Maxum Steel (Greg Grunberg), who is a previous host for Doctor Fate. Steel lost the card after it was stolen from him by two women who he was looking to score with. These ladies were Scandal Savage (Dania Ramirez), and Knockout (Cissy Jones). Scandal wants to give the card to her Dad, Vandal Savage (Jim Pirri), so he can use it to finally die and go to heaven. Halfway through the mission, Waller calls up Deadshot (Christian Slader), and she tells him that if he can deliver the card to her personally, she will let him walk a free man. This doesn’t go as planned because we learn that Eobard Thawne (C. Thomas Howell), who we last saw got shot in the head in the Flashpoint Paradox, is somehow alive and he is also after the card. Thawne is barely still alive and is running on borrowed time (Sorry, not sorry). This all leads to a battle at the end in Vandal’s HQ where we see that Vandal used Professor Pyg (James Urbaniak), to surgically put the card into him. This guarantees that anyone who tries to take the card from Vandal will kill him and the card will be used up. This leads to a bloody battle with only Deadshot and Captain Boomerang (Liam McIntyre), left standing. Before Waller arrives, Deadshot gives the card to the dying Bronze Tiger (Billy Brown), and is able to let him use the card so he can die in peace. Deadshot gives Waller the card, doesn’t tell her that Tiger used it and he is now a free man, Deadshot is now able to see his daughter for the first time in a long time.
The voice acting in this movie is awesome. Christian Slader voices Deadshot and he does an amazing job. Slader brings his own uniqueness to the character and it helps him stand out from the rest. C. Thomas Howell is amazing as Thawne and I didn’t think he would be in this movie so it’s truly a surprise. Howell voiced Thawne in Flashpoint Paradox as well and he is truly a standout villain in this movie. I also loved Vanessa Williams as Waller. No matter what version I see, I have never heard a bad Waller before and Williams is able to continue this streak. I really do love Amanda Waller as a character in general and she is both fierce and manipulative at the same time. Everyone else did an awesome job in this movie.
One thing I can say about this movie is that it is filled with dark humour and is wildly entertaining. I love how the squad just travels around in an RV and they keep getting into trouble and screwing up. Along the way, we see various people get shot, frozen, taken over by mind control and also have their explosives go off.
This movie doesn’t hold back when it comes to the main characters. By the end of the movie, half of the cast is dead. The only ones left standing are Deadshot, Harley Quinn and Captain Boomerang. While this isn’t a bad thing, you think they would keep some of the members alive for future movies but no. It really does show that the writers knew what kind of movie they were writing and that on the Suicide Squad, everyone is replaceable (Except for the three mentioned above, they are the money makers after all).
The Verdict:
Suicide Squad: Hell To Pay is a dark, bloody, entertaining and funny animated movie. I wasn’t expecting to walk away loving this movie so much. The movie isn’t perfect by any means. However, if you are looking for a bloody good time, look no further then Suicide Squad: Hell To Pay. Just don’t try and look for any connections to past stories, you won’t find any here.
8/10
First Look at Animated Death of Superman Movie and Casting
After they announced a 2-part animated Death of Superman and Reign of Supermen at Comic-Con last year. We haven’t gotten any details on it, until today. We have finally got some fresh info on Death of Superman.
The casting for the movie features Jerry O’Connell in his fourth DCAU film as Superman, Jerry’s wife Rebecca Romijn as Lois Lane, and The Office’s Rainn Wilson as Lex Luthor. Other cast members include Rosario Dawson as Wonder Woman, Nathan Fillion as the Green Lantern, Christopher Gorham as The Flash, Matt Lanter as Aquaman, Shemar Moore as Cyborg, and Jason O’Mara as Batman.
There were also three images released alongside the casting announcement that you can view down below:
This last one comes from the iTunes extras menu for the sneak peek of Death of Superman from Suicide Squad: Hell to Pay:
The Death of Superman will be out this summer with Reign of the Supermen coming out early next year.
Source: TVInsider & iTunes
REVIEW: Batman: Gotham By Gaslight Animated Movie
Batman: Gotham By Gaslight is the latest DC Animated movie to hit Blu-Ray today. It’s based on the Graphic Novel of the same name but it’s not an adaptation.
If you want to watch the trailer before reading the review, here it is:
[embedyt] https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TJ6EX6zX4FU[/embedyt]
Now before anyone mentions anything, there will be spoilers for the movie down below.
The story takes place in in the 19th century Gotham City where Jack the Ripper is murdering women on the streets and Batman is on the prowl to stop The Ripper. However, after chasing him down and almost catching him, Batman is then arrested and put in jail. Batman later then escapes and tracks down the ripper for one last fight.
The story of the film kind of forgettable which is a shame because the original graphic novel was such a huge success. This feels like if they copied their homework but changed it enough that it looks different.
While this isn’t a straight adaptation of the original graphic novel, it does thrive on its own by not following the source material. However, this also hurts the movie as well because it tries to deviate so much that the eventual twist at the end of Jim Gordon being the Ripper comes as more of a head-scratcher and feels like a forced change that hurts the overall narrative of the film.
The animation style is great, it looks very different from the last few animated movies we have gotten from DC. It has a mix of both 2D and 3D animation and that looks fluent and eye-catching, it captures the atmosphere of a 19th-century
The voice acting is awesome, Bruce Greenwood does the voice of Batman and he does an amazing job. Bruce is no stranger to Batman, he has been in other Batman animated movies and cartoons such as Batman Under The Red Hood and Young Justice. The rest of the voice cast did a great job in the movie as well but most of them were forgettable.
Overall, if you are looking for something different when it comes to DC Animation, Gotham By Gaslight is visually impressive and action-packed. However, the story may be forgettable compared to the original graphic novel, it’s still a good time and shouldn’t be overlooked.