I Started a Joke...

This was always going to be one of the more interesting projects in the new DC movie-verse. Personally? I'm sold.

Looks interesting but I need to see more before I buy into it. Why should I care that a bunch of minor thugs and villains are forced to work together? If it's a Harley Quinn origin story and the team is tasked to take down Joker I am in. After all, why does the team need a demented psychiatrist on a squad with trained assassins and killers?

i'll only see it if Harley kisses a girl

What if she doesn't like it?

I've watched this a few times now trying to figure out what I think of it. It looks like a really fun TV show... but it's a movie. Are there too many things going on to make it really work in a two hour time frame? All the usual problems with the modern DC film are in full view, but they are supposed to be villains so maybe that makes sense this time.

I'll probably watch it just because it's a concept I never thought would make it to film. For now though, I'm reserving judgement.

JJ is right. The Suicide Squad concept is one that works in comics, but is probably a little too nuanced to work in a two-hour film (Why exactly would these people choose to work for the woman who is their warden?) And, as usual, the imagery presented is very comic-y, as opposed to Marvel's more sci-fi approach.

A lot of people seem excited about Leto's Joker, but I think they blew it simply with the dialogue. Why would the Joker, of all people, talk about how he's going to hurt you? The reason that crazy people are crazy is that they don't think they're crazy. That's what makes them crazy. If he's already talking about being into pain or homicidal or whatever, he's losing the element of surprise and irrationality that defines the character. Heath Ledger's Joker didn't announce himself as crazy or violent. He seemed perfectly rational a lot of the time, but he killed people at a whim, which made him startling and spooky. Conversely, Steve Engelhart's Joker was a total loon, but he didn't seem violent at all... until he was. With that one line, they've taken a shortcut that robs the audience of making their own realization and lost the essence of the character (i.e. they still don't know what the fuck they're doing; just like with their comics.)

Jackwraith wrote: Why exactly would these people choose to work for the woman who is their warden?

In the Justice League animated series the team takes the job because they are all locked up for life or on death row. The U.S. government approaches them with the opportunity to work off the sentences in return for service. Pretty simple and it works but we'll see if the movie takes the same approach.

Jackwraith wrote: A lot of people seem excited about Leto's Joker, but I think they blew it simply with the dialogue. Why would the Joker, of all people, talk about how he's going to hurt you? The reason that crazy people are crazy is that they don't think they're crazy. That's what makes them crazy. If he's already talking about being into pain or homicidal or whatever, he's losing the element of surprise and irrationality that defines the character. Heath Ledger's Joker didn't announce himself as crazy or violent. He seemed perfectly rational a lot of the time, but he killed people at a whim, which made him startling and spooky. Conversely, Steve Engelhart's Joker was a total loon, but he didn't seem violent at all... until he was. With that one line, they've taken a shortcut that robs the audience of making their own realization and lost the essence of the character (i.e. they still don't know what the fuck they're doing; just like with their comics.)

On the flip side, Joker's introduction/line in the trailer got me. If I'm strapped to a table waiting for God knows what to walk in the door I'm already terrified. Then to have that dude walk in with all his Batman DDS grill work and tell me he isn't gonna kill me? He's just gonna hurt me real bad? My mental defense is wrecked at that point. His intention seemed to be more of a sadist getting off on hurting someone else and savoring the fear his words induce, not some dude just posing or offering commentary on how sick he wants you to think he might be.

I really dig these slow creepy versions of songs (this one was originally the Bee Gees, then Faith No More).

In other news, the folks who did the animated Dark Knight Returns are doing an animated version of The Killing Joke.

No doubt. The song definitely sets a creepy tone along with the grimy streets and squad. The slow version Pinocchio song they used in the Age of Ultron trailer was creepy as hell too and really got me excited for the movie. Too bad it was a bait and switch and Ultron wasn't as menacing as that trailer promised.

Green Lantern wrote: On the flip side, Joker's introduction/line in the trailer got me. If I'm strapped to a table waiting for God knows what to walk in the door I'm already terrified. Then to have that dude walk in with all his Batman DDS grill work and tell me he isn't gonna kill me? He's just gonna hurt me real bad? My mental defense is wrecked at that point. His intention seemed to be more of a sadist getting off on hurting someone else and savoring the fear his words induce, not some dude just posing or offering commentary on how sick he wants you to think he might be.

No matter the incarnation, when I picture the Joker I imagine a bad comedian who tells jokes to primarily amuse himself. The jokes and the sadism should go together, otherwise he's just a run-of-the-mill torturer. I would have been disturbed by this Joker - Hot Topic tattoos and all - if instead of saying he was going to hurt me real bad, he'd said something like, "I'm not going to kill you, but I can't promise that I won't get under your skin..." followed by a creepy titter. Maybe I'm completely off-base and they just chose that clip because it shows his face in closeup, but I'm not encouraged.