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| screenrant.com |
It’s been a pretty rough few years for Warner Bros. Held back by the Nolan Dark Knight films, the studio could only sit back and watch as competitor Marvel Studios launched a successful series of franchises that ultimately connected into the ultimate prize: the Marvel Cinematic Universe. Not to be outdone, Warner Bros employed their DC Comics properties and kicked off their own universe with 2013’s Man of Steel and this year’s Batman v. Superman: Dawn of Justice. Because those films were directed by known man-child Zack Snyder the reception hasn’t been too positive, but can Suicide Squad, based around a team of DC’s vilest villains, turn the tide? Let’s find out.
After the events of Batman v. Superman, government agent Amanda Waller (Viola Davis) decides that it’s time to enact her secret plan: a squad of metahuman/extremely gifted villains that she can use to defend the United States from extraordinary dangers. This team, known as Task Force X, includes the unerring assassin Deadshot (Will Smith), psychopathic killer Harley Quinn (Margot Robbie), former gang leader with fire-based powers El Diablo (Jay Hernandez), boomerang utilizing thief appropriately named Captain Boomerang (Jai Courtney), cannibalistic mutant Killer Croc (Adewale Akinnuoye-Agbaje), and specialized assassin Slipknot (Adam Beach). Led by Colonel Rick Flagg (Joel Kinnaman) and his backup Katana (Karen Fukuhara), the team goes into battle against the witch known as the Enchantress (Cara Delevingne) as she plans to enslave the entire world.
Okay, I’m just going to be honest with you guys: this is not a good movie. Technical issues abound, characters are left horribly underdeveloped (or in Scott Eastwood’s case, completely unnamed), and the third act is about as generic as it gets, amongst other problems that I will discuss in a minute. Despite all of that, though, I had a lot of fun with this film. The action, as generic as it is, keeps things moving along and the humor hits just enough to keep a smile on your face. If you're someone who goes to movies to have a fun time watching movies, then go ahead and stop right here, because everything I'm about to say is irrelevant. Here you go, my rating: 3/5 stars. You'll enjoy yourself and the things that bothered me will not bother you. But for the rest who want to know some more specifics, let's dive in.
The strongest aspect of this film is the Suicide Squad itself, which displays a great deal of personality and character even when the script doesn’t provide it. Each actor brings it 100% to their roles and they really sell it. The standouts here are undoubtedly Will Smith and Margot Robbie, who both turn what seem to be two-dimensional characters on paper into fully realized people. Deadshot spends the film trying to find some humanity, as does El Diablo (who I think is really the film’s most developed character), while Quinn is forced to reckon with her past and her abusive relationship with her puddin’, the Joker (Jared Leto). The others all make the most of their roles, with Kinnaman endowing Flagg with enough emotion to get the audience invested in him, and Jai Courtney finally finding a role that makes him likable and fun in Captain Boomerang. Killer Croc, despite his limited screentime, is very cool to look at and gets some really badass action moments, as does Katana.
Viola Davis is the film’s secret weapon, though, playing a literal page-to-screen translation of Amanda Waller. A ruthless, pragmatic and fearless woman, Waller serves as DC’s version of Nick Fury, except with twice the moral ambiguity. The idea of the Squad seems incredibly stupid, but when Viola Davis explains it to you, you buy it (probably because you’d be too afraid to tell her to her face how dumb it is). On a team filled with supervillains and murderers she stands out as the scariest one of them all, and once you see some of the actions she takes you’ll understand why.
I mentioned the action and humor earlier, so I’ll bring up another positive: the camaraderie between the team. Each member of the team is a villain and the film never lets you forget that. They fight and bicker and antagonize each other because they are all out for themselves, only serving in the Squad because they literally have bombs planted in their necks. Plus, each of their individual quirks (Harley’s insanity, Deadshot’s insubordination and El Diablo’s pacifism amongst others) leads them to clash constantly. The biggest one is definitely the tug-of-war battle of wills between Deadshot and Flagg, which is undercut by the film’s most glaring problem.
David Ayer got a raw deal with this movie, guys, because the studio completely undercut him and his vision. Ayer is a great director, but the negative reactions to Batman v. Superman led the studio to interfere and add massive reshoots that change the entire thing and give it a choppy feel. The first twenty minutes are zany, fast-paced and filled with crazy visuals and editing tricks, down to literal graphics that detail the members of the team. After that? That all goes away, replaced by a traditional team on a mission film that is limited to one city and takes on a dark, semi-serious tone. There are scenes that feel like something in the middle was removed, leaving them feeling a little awkward. The team goes from being at each other’s throats to calling each other “family” way too quickly, giving the feeling that more scenes were devoted to building this dynamic that were ultimately cut out. I’m going to write up this problem with the movie in a few days (and DC's problem in general), where I can tie it in to a larger discussion.
The poor editing creates a feeling of being dragged out, as the film never properly enters into a third act. The team’s mission could literally have taken place over an hour on a TV show, and Ayer (or the studio) chose to fill the time with random flashbacks to Harley’s past or scenes of action that carry on just a little bit too long. The one perfectly filmed scene is one where the team regroups in a bar and opens up to each other, showing just what Ayer might have been going for. It’s a shame that this scene is so great because it shows how underwhelming the rest of it is by comparison, despite the fun that I had with it. I don’t blame Ayer for this film, quite frankly, because I really don’t know how much of this was in his original script and how much was chopped up on the whims of the studio. The world may never know, at least until they release an Ultimate Edition for this one, I guess.
By far the most unforgivable and atrocious thing about this film is the use of the Enchantress, who is probably the worst comic book villain in recent history. She has very few scenes to set up her character and motivation, and after the first twenty minutes she mostly vanishes, only appearing now and again to remind us that she’s creating some big beam in the sky weapon that’ll destroy the world unless the heroes blow it up (gee, sound familiar?). She also commands the aid of some big special effects monster that literally looks like it walked straight out of Gods of Egypt, which is the farthest thing from a compliment. She literally has no personality and only serves as a plot device, which sucks because you can tell that Cara Delevigne is giving this role her all. It’s just a huge waste of a talented actress, and in a film that wastes potential she is the one who gets the worst end of the stick.
On the YMMV track is Jared Leto's Joker, which I predict will be a big dividing point with audiences. Some will love him and the take he brings to the character, which is new and interesting. Some will think he drags out his lines too much and becomes too goofy or overtly creepy, which is not an unfair criticism. I personally don't think he had enough time to really do anything of consequence, making him seem incredibly tacked on. I also don't believe you can really judge a Joker until you put him face-to-face with Batman, and while Ben Affleck does appear in this film, he and the Joker share no scenes. I'm hoping that in Affleck's solo film they can really utilize Leto in an interesting way.
I’ve said some harsh things about Suicide Squad, and I will continue to say harsh things about it in the future, but I want to emphasize that I still had a lot of fun with this film. The heroes (or is it villains?) of this film had a lot of personality, and Ayer’s script contained enough good humor moments that I laughed regularly. But the promise of the concept is weighed down by studio meddling and just how generic the whole thing feels, but I can say that anyone who goes to the movies just to enjoy movies (and not nitpick them like some loser with a blog) will have a blast watching this. I can only hope that once Wonder Woman rolls around next year that the critics will be a lot more forgiving.
My Rating: 3 stars out of 5
Suicide Squad is in theaters now.
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