Movies: Jared Leto Devastes You Blind In “Blade Runner 2049”

Coming off a provocative performance as The Joker in last year’s blockbuster Suicide Squad, Oscar-winner Jared Leto now portrays the enigmatic Niander Wallace, whose soft-spoken manner thinly veils his ruthless ambition, in Columbia Pictures' futuristic action-thriller Blade Runner 2049.

The highly awaited sequel to Ridley Scott's 1980s original classic, Blade Runner 2049 is directed by Academy Award-nominee Denis Villeneuve (Prisoners, Sicario, Arrival).

Thirty years after the events of the first film, a new blade runner, LAPD Officer K (Ryan Gosling), unearths a long-buried secret that has the potential to plunge what’s left of society into chaos. K’s discovery leads him on a quest to find Rick Deckard (Harrison Ford), a former LAPD blade runner who has been missing for 30 years.

Movie Review: Suicide Squad

Stepping away from their usually dark tones, DC puts up the lights, the music and the jokes in "Suicide Squad". Now before I continue with this non-spoiler review I have to let you know that I did see Batman: Assault on Arkham which is the direct-to-video animated movie that features the Suicide Squad, so I may have different views from other critics about the film. 

Let's continue. I appreciate that David Ayer's "Suicide Squad" took some cues from the animated movie, most especially where they introduce each character. Yup, if you were wondering what was up with the flashing names and criminal history 101 at the first part, they were giving a nod to the animated movie. No qualms here, I was happy that they acknowledged a different material of the characters. 

So we are introduced to the Suicide Squad,  a covert team assembled by Amanda Waller (Viola Davis) in all out bad-ass, conniving, manipulating, 'gangster' mode. Everyone should be scared of her and not Killer Croc. Kudos to the award winning Viola Davis for her tough-as-nails, I go-up-against bad-guys Waller (more on her later).

After the team is assembled they head to their mission (a secret at this point, no spoilers after all). 

A good chunk of the first part of the movie is mostly back tracking to the characters and because it is a team of super villains, this can take some time, which is probably why I felt that the movie took a while to finally come together (about 3/4 into it) but what can you expect, when you have a big cast of relatively unknown bad guys, you want your audiences to connect with them in some way, so you have to show bits and pieces of their past.  

Moving along. A friend of mine, my seat mate at work actually said that Will Smith, being a big superstar will steal the movie, despite it being an ensemble cast. He was right in some ways as Smith who plays Deadshot definitely had a lot of lines and screen time in the film, but what moviegoers may not know is that Deadshot has a lead role in Assault on Arkham so all the spotlight on him in Suicide Squad is understandable, my husband for one, missed the cool Will Smith, and said that it was nice to see him taking on Deadshot with his brand of swagger. 

Too many villains. Not much villainy? 

I read a lot of reviews, criticizing "Suicide Squad" for having so much villains but lacking in villainy, they were mostly unhappy about the main antagonist in the film. But let me give you this, in a film full of villains, who will your antagonist be? For me, the real villain in the film is "gangster" Amanda Waller, who plays the characters like pawns in her game, she manipulates them and controls them with her own vested interests in mind. The scary thing about it, is that on the outside, she's the "good guy" as a high-ranking government official. After all, it was through Waller's efforts that all the trouble starts, in the first place. (Stop. No Spoilers).  

I was just surprised that they were able to keep the antagonist under wraps. I did not see that coming and did not mind the twist in the story. Very different from "Assault on Arkham". That is all that I am saying. My lips are sealed. 

I guess what Suicide Squad was also trying to do was to show these bad guys, in another light. They may be motivated by different goals, greed, money, love and their life choices may not fit within our society but they have some innate good in them, even if they themselves won't admit it. 

  

A little too less Joker? 

Okay- I will have to admit that there was a little too less of Jared Leto's Joker in the film, I definitely would have wanted to see more of that but even in "Assault" The Joker was just a side conflict, never really getting to the main plot. I liked Leto's take on the Joker and would like to see more, in a future Batman movie perhaps? Please? The green hair and his physique was really the Joker of my childhood. So more please. Please. 

A mistake in a song

This one, I will have to agree in, I love the song choices for "Suicide Squad" from the trailers to the original OST and the songs we heard in the movie, there was classic rock care of Queen, and I love "Seven Nation Army" but why, of why did they have to include Norman Greenbaum's "Spirit in the Sky" which coincidentally is also on the "Guardians of the Galaxy" Awesome Mix Vol. 1, which led to some viewers to compare the ensemble cast to each other. While both 'squads' may not be outstanding members of society, you have to remember that "Suicide Squad" was assembled by those in a higher power, coercing, using and threatening them against their will. I think that warrants for a line to be drawn in not comparing the two. 

So despite the negative reviews the film is getting from critics, I still urge you to see it with your own eyes and decide for yourself. It's a bida-kontrabida ala DC and it was fun. I enjoyed it. I may not have been a fan of dramatic El Diablo or dramatic Katana for that matter but it was a 'hell of a ride' once it got off the air. It may have taken some time but it was worth the wait. 

8 out of 10. "Suicide Squad" is an explosion of gun fire and a big unknown weapon wrecking havoc, these guys may not like the job but they will do it any way and in the guns-a-blazing, no care for the consequences way that only they can pull off. Worth seeing in iMAX. 

Suicide Squad is in  theaters tom! 

If I have time, I may come out with a review that has spoilers, but let's see. :) 

Movies: THE JOKER LOVES HARLEY QUINN IN “SUICIDE SQUAD”

Oscar-winner Jared Leto and Margot Robbie play the world's ultimate dysfunctional couple The Joker and Harley Quinn in Warner Bros. Pictures' wickedly fun action-adventure “Suicide Squad.”

While most complicated people try to keep their weaknesses a secret, former psychiatrist Dr. Harleen Quinzel (Robbie) wears hers on her sleeve. She openly expresses her love for the Joker, a man she was once assigned to psychoanalyze at the notorious Arkham Asylum prison, but for whom she now brands herself with tattoos that bear his name and symbols. Her transformation into Harley Quinn—Joker’s lover and the target of his twisted affections—was the result of the tables turned by a master manipulator.

But Harley has been separated from her true love by the thick walls of Belle Reve Federal Penitentiary, which is designed to hold the “worst of the worst.”

Harley’s love for her boyfriend initially troubled Margot Robbie, who was tasked with bringing the harlequin to life. “Why does she love this guy?” the actress asks. “It was one of the things I really struggled to crack with this character. She’s so strong and smart and such a badass, she’s just awesome, but then she falls to pieces over this guy all the time. It’s something I didn’t like about her because I didn’t understand it at first. So, because she’s a psychiatrist, I decided to do research into the concept of codependence. I was taken by the idea that people could really live their life for one person. And it turns out it’s not really about the person, it’s a compulsion like alcohol or drug addiction. Once I thought of her relationship with Joker in those terms, as an addiction, I had a world of empathy for her.”

Ayer found himself fascinated by Harley’s psyche as well. “She’s a bit of a female Joker,” he says, “she has this amazingly chaotic personality; she’s mad, she’s uncensored, does what she wants. She’s only been around in the comics since the 1990s, but has leapt off the page ever since she appeared, and Margot worked hard to take her even further, from the page to the screen, with all the spontaneity and humor and power fans love about the character.”

But what of the Joker in return? Does he truly love Harley? Jared Leto doesn’t let on any more than his character would. “The Joker has a very strong attachment to Harley,” says Leto. “No one else really matters very much, but why would they when you’ve got her? What’s the rest of the world? It’s just a game. We’re sharing a wicked dream and having a good laugh.” But once she’s taken away, will he bother to try and find her?

Leto courageously took on the role of the lunatic who so easily takes to the asylum. “The Joker is iconic, a legend,” he declares. “He’s been around for 75 years, and there are so many variations of his story. The Joker is Mount Everest: one of those impossible ideas where you most likely can’t achieve what you set out to do. It was terrifying and exciting and a total honor to take on that role.”

It was a challenge for director-writer David Ayer in scripting the character as well. “The Joker is a fascinating, complex guy, but it was terrifying to work with that character because he’s one of the best-known villains in Western fiction. He has this incredible history, and the trick was to be respectful of the legacy of the Joker and the canon and everything that has come before. To understand the core of that character and not tamper with that, yet at the same time reinvent the Joker for this film.”

Leto also admits the notion was daunting at first. “I remember when I got the call, I had this simultaneous feeling of excitement and dread. As soon as I heard the word Joker I knew that I was going to have to dive really deep and go to a place I had never gone before. He’s been interpreted so beautifully, they should almost put a cap on the well and just call it. But then there was the other side: what else could I uncover? What could I do that hadn’t been done? The side of me that likes exploration, adventure, to push the envelope, was set on fire immediately. And it changed me forever. It was such an immersive, challenging, unique experience going into that rabbit hole. I never thought in a million years I would have the chance to play a role like this.”

Robbie, whose scenes with the Joker were her most intimate, found her co-star’s interpretation both energizing and unnerving. “Jared and I didn’t really do any rehearsals,” she relates, “so when we got in front of the camera those scenes were just electric because those characters are so unpredictable.”

Opening across the Philippines in 3D, and in 2D, and in IMAX 3D theaters on Thursday, August 4, “Suicide Squad” is distributed worldwide by Warner Bros. Pictures, a Warner Bros. Entertainment Company.