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Suicide Squad Review

8/6/2016

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By Travis Trombley

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Despite its moral (or amoral?) posturing, high body count and on-the-nose soundtrack, Suicide Squad - arguably the worst of DC’s three attempts at a live action, cinematic universe film - proves that splashing around in the safe waters of the genre kiddie pool will be the death of the superhero film.

And that’s too bad. Given Director and writer David Ayer’s history with films about people who cross the line (End of Watch and Training Day, just to name a few), Suicide Squad should have picked up Dawn of Justice’s torch of superhero deconstruction and explored moral complexities of punishment, right intent, human rights, and that cold pragmatism that defines get-it-done government types like Amanda Waller. Instead, it gave us a Guardians of the Galaxy knock off that fails to meet the quality of its Marvel counterpart in almost every way due to an overstuffed, lazy narrative and lackluster cinematography.

The film’s premise follows its comic origins closely: the government answers the threat to their power posed by metahumans like Superman by coercing jailed metahuman criminals to execute covert operations on behalf of the US government. With her typical gravitas, Viola Davis’ Amanda Waller secures the team’s sanction and subsequently leads it into its first mission - a rescue operation of a mysterious figure from Midway City, which is under attack by the Enchantress, an ancient witch/goddess who was formerly under Waller’s control but finds an easy out and who seeks to build a “machine” weapon to take over the world. Or something like that. ​

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BATMAN V SUPERMAN REVIEW

3/26/2016

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By Travis Trombley

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Like this here Bat-suit, Batman vs Superman is cool looking and ripe for symbolic communication, but ultimately empty.
I’m not sure how much I would have liked Zach Snyder’s Batman vs Superman: Dawn of Justice, DC’s maiden voyage into the cinematic realm of a shared universes for people with capes, if I were a ten year-old eager to see my Saturday morning heroes come alive on the big screen. The action, only moderately impressive when it occurs, is far outweighed by attempts at ponderous brooding and political pontification. 

As an adult, that’s exactly what I was hoping for from this movie: explorations of justice, acting outside the law, and man’s hero worshiping tendencies. Sadly, despite what are clearly some sincere attempts by all involved, neither the genre-demanded action nor the more cerebral themes (mythic and political alike) really pay off. With the exception of some visually striking storytelling beats, the film isn't able to hold up under it’s own weight.

An answer to the high casualty finale of 2013’s Man of Steel, Dawn of Justice jumps 18 months ahead to catalog the world’s varied reactions to having an alien savior inhabit their world. Some see him as a god, and others a threat. Enter Ben Affleck’s Bruce Wayne and Jesse Eisenberg’s Lex Luthor, members of the latter group who propel the plot.

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2014 SUMMER SUPERHERO ANALYSIS

9/22/2014

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By Travis Trombley

*Originally published in the Albion Pleiad​. 
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Captain America: The Winter Soldier ended as expected – with a multi-leveled set piece made up of dog fights, explosions, moral tension, more explosions, and, of course, the one-on-one “boss fight” between Cap and the film’s titular antagonist. It was true to genre form, and, admittedly, it was awesome. Then X-Men Days of Future Past concluded with Mystique walking away, and Guardians of the Galaxy’s climaxed with a dance off. And they were equally awesome, a fact that may prove to be the superhero genre’s hope moving forward.

If it’s not obvious already, superhero movies aren’t going away. Not soon, at least. In fact, Marvel Studios, Warner Brothers, Fox and Sony -the four studios between whom the various Marvel and DC superheroes are currently split – released tentative schedules for their upcoming blockbusters as far as 2020. And if The Amazing Spider-Man 2, which cost Sony 255 million dollars to produce, according to Forbes, is any indication, these studios will continue to invest obscene amounts of money in these franchises in the hopes of hooking audiences for sequels and sequels to come.

When confronted with such numbers, even the most ardent fans can’t help but wonder if these films aren’t over-saturating the market. Along with the growing numbers of reboots and novel-to-film adaptations being split into multiple installments, it takes no significant degree of cognitive wherewithal to question whether producers are simply taking advantage of the pop culture craze to milk the genre – and fans – for all they’re worth.

Yes, I’m interested in the seeing the phenomenon of a cinematic universe growing installment after installment, but not if doing so requires complacency with a system that equates lazy adherence to the “good guy find purpose and can therefore punch harder and defeat bad guy” formula and flashy third acts with success.

Fortunately, Summer 2014’s superhero successes set an excitingly new precedent for narrative integrity in the genre.

Warning: major plot spoilers ahead. Though, to be honest, if you’ve read this far, you’ve more than likely already seen the movies herein discussed.


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