The Warner Brothers vs. David Ayer: The Trials and Travails of Suicide Squad

 

screenrant.com

   As I mentioned in my review, Suicide Squad was a rocky production from the very beginning. The director, David Ayer, was given only six weeks to write the script after it was announced (the average time is around twenty to get a perfected screenplay). Once filming was completed, the reactions to Batman v. Superman caused Warner Bros to get nervous, so they hired a freaking trailer editing company to put together another cut of the film that was lighter and more fun. Ayer’s version and the company’s version were presented to freaking focus groups and the company’s won out, so WB used reshoots to further meddle in Ayer’s process. Now, the film is out to negative reviews and its financial future is looking a little shaky. This is DC’s third time at bat and they have struck out each time, so what exactly is going on?

     In order to figure this out we need to go back to 2008, the year that the very first Marvel Studios film, Iron Man, was released. Back then, the idea of a cinematic universe was ludicrous, and WB was busy preparing for its big release of that year, The Dark Knight. Directed by Christopher Nolan, this film would go on to earn rave reviews, spark serious talk for Best Picture consideration, and brought some credibility back to the genre. While Nolan’s final Batman film, The Dark Knight Rises, bowed in 2012, Marvel was releasing the fruits of their labors: the geek fantasy that was The Avengers. DC was now four years behind, and it was all because Nolan didn’t want any superheroes in his world, so what were the Warner Brothers to do? Christopher Nolan left huge shoes to fill, but somebody had to do it.

     Marvel Studios might have raked in the big bucks, but it was the WB that hit the sweet spot of both serious critical acclaim and box office glory. The Dark Knight grossed over one billion dollars, and The Dark Knight Rises hit the same bar. Now this is just conjecture, but I believe this had an effect on the studio’s thinking. They didn’t need to be silly and goofy like Marvel, they could just copy the formula of Nolan and they’d get success, right? Well, perhaps they would have if it were not for one man: Zack Snyder, the worst possible director alive to steer a fledgling cinematic universe.

eurogamer.net

Okay, maybe the SECOND worst possible director.

     2013 brought us Man of Steel, a reboot for Superman that was meant to kick off the DC movie universe. Instead of being a rousing adventure that united the public (the way Superman himself does in the comics), this film was loud, overly dark, and featured an almost fetishistic amount of destruction. Snyder’s characterization of Superman was troublesome, to say the least, doing half the damage of the final battle himself and even murdering his foe when there were multiple other avenues to approach. This film divided the geek audience in an extremely bitter way, though regular audiences were fine with it, but it made enough money that Snyder was brought back to direct the follow-up, a team-up between Superman and Batman. This, dear reader, is when we start to see the studio inserting themselves into the process.

     The team at Warner Bros decided to hand our second favorite manchild director a full plate for this film, demanding that he set up the DC Universe all in one go. This movie, Batman v. Superman: Dawn of Justice, was meant to be a sequel to Man of Steel, a Batman introduction, a Wonder Woman introduction, a Lex Luthor introduction, a Justice League set-up, and of course address audience criticisms from Man of Steel. That’s an insanely heavy load for any director to handle, and it went about as well as you’d expect, leaving DC with a dilemma: what could possibly keep a film starring three of the world’s most recognizable superheroes from reaching the coveted billion dollar mark?

comingsoon.net

When a talking raccoon makes more money than Batman, you know there's a problem.

     Well, the main issue seemed to be the approach to the characters. There’s an idea amongst certain comic book writers, primarily Grant Morrison (who wrote heavily about this in his excellent book Supergods), that superheroes are the modern day mythology, with characters like Superman and Iron Man taking the place of ancient deities like Zeus and Thor. This can inspire great work, like Morrison’s JLA run, but in the wrong hands it can be a disaster. Zack Snyder is someone who subscribes to this theory, but for all the wrong reasons. He views the wanton destruction of Metropolis as “mythic” and has the “hardcore” idea that in his version of a Batman origin, Bruce Wayne was raped in prison on his journey around the world. Yeah, he actually said that. Rather than making Superman a beacon of hope, Snyder transformed him into a destructive and emo giant of a man that emotes nothing and says very little while turning Lex Luthor from a threatening mastermind to a crazy millennial who acts like a crack addict. Destruction and “cool moments” don’t make great myths, great stories and characters do, but apparently Snyder doesn’t realize that.

     This was where David Ayer was supposed to come in. Ayer, the guy who wrote Training Day and directed End of Watch and Fury, was supposed to highlight WB’s “director first” approach. Basically, the studio would let their directors do their own take on these superhero properties, and as long as they fit into the universe everything would be great. It sounds like a good idea in practice, and after the Suicide Squad debacle I assume they will go back to this, but there’s a reason that you start off this method with an actually good director. Snyder’s divisive films spooked WB, forcing them to put a leash on him for Justice League and causing them to butcher Ayer’s vision after already handicapping him right out of the gate. It’s clear that simply letting Snyder go and meddling in the affairs of the directors doesn’t work, so what should they do?

     By now, you’ve probably seen a million think pieces talking about how DC needs to take a page from Marvel, but I’d like to argue against that for a moment. The reason Marvel is able to be successful is that they’ve found a formula that works, and they force their directors to adhere to it when it comes time to shoot. Anyone who has any other ideas are usually removed from the projects (like Edgar Wright, who had worked on Ant-Man for eight freaking years), overruled (like poor Joss Whedon), or deterred from working with them (many examples, but Wonder Woman director Patty Jenkins is an appropriate one). This is the brilliance of Marvel’s approach, in terms of financial success. The head of Marvel Studios, Kevin Feige, hires directors with no power and some talent and puts them behind a camera, forcing them to bend to his will and make what is practically the same film every single time. The audiences love it, but in terms of creativity and innovation these films are sorely lacking, and getting worse.

weheartit.com

A visual representation of Kevin Feige.

     Nobody wants to be the “knock-off” version of a major motion picture franchise, which is what I thought DC was trying to avoid. They have an impressive stable of directors to handle their upcoming projects, but Ayer’s experience shows that this could mean nothing. Sure, it’s hard to imagine Warner Bros trying to intimidate studio mainstays like Ben Affleck or James Wan, but now we can’t rule it out as a possibility. The studio is clearly at a turning point, with DC Entertainment going through several overhauls in management that resulted in Geoff Johns (formerly one of the biggest writers at DC Comics) being put in charge of all DC-related media. Thus, we do have some hope, but what should DC do next in order to win us back?

     The first and most obvious answer is to let the directors do the damn jobs that they were hired to do. I criticize Marvel all the time for forcing their directors to bend to Feige, and have often wondered why they even bother hiring directors at all when they could just hire the janitor and make the film turn out how they want. DC is not in that position yet and cannot afford to try and emulate that method. Warner Bros as a company has always been driven by their directors, and as long as the directors are putting out good work I don’t see why this approach can’t be applied to DC. I have no doubt in my mind that David Ayer could have made a great Suicide Squad film, but the pressures of meeting a film slate deadline and the studio overwhelmed him, squashing all the potential that his movie had. While directors like James Wan are more accustomed to this, DC seems to be drawing on directors that aren’t used to blockbuster filmmaking. I say to let these people do their jobs and only intervene if things are getting out of hand, but have two guidelines: make it good, and make it fit in the universe. With that, we can get a Flash film from the guy who directed Dope that is colorful and fun, but ultimately unique at the same time.

     Uniqueness is an important factor, but it won’t happen if this second step doesn’t take place: forget this notion that they can catch up to Marvel. Their Phase One was completed before Man of Steel released, and the idea that anyone at WB thinks they can really catch up and compete and this point is just absurd. However, they keep doing business like they can, and that really ruins things. Rather than focusing on the quality of the films, the studio seems to be worried about how much money they can milk out of this franchise while staying different from Marvel, resulting in the darker Superman and the Batman that kills people even though that doesn’t work for either character. Just like with the comics line, which is experiencing a new life with their “Rebirth” initiative, DC needs to focus on making good material and letting the critical and financial dividends pay off over time. Each misstep they make only pushes that goal further and further away, but that doesn’t mean it’s impossible. If Wonder Woman and Justice League are great, unique films as well as box office smashes, we might see Marvel get put on notice the way their comics currently seem to be. That, in the long run, is a better victory than anything else.

     I’m a big comics guy, and it depresses me to no end to see WB making such big missteps with these characters. However, even as Suicide Squad’s critical rating drops, I sense a new hope for the film line. Geoff Johns is a brilliant guy who knows this universe more than anybody, giving the company an edge that even Marvel doesn’t have. With the sheer talent of their group of directors (minus that one), DC could revolutionize the genre that it helped popularize and keep it fresh and alive for years to come if they would just put their trust in them. It’s a risky gamble, but nothing in life worth having is a safe bet, and after three misses what more do they really have to lose? Let Patty Jenkins control the edits on Wonder Woman and see what happens, Warner Brothers. You might just be surprised what happens when you let a good director do their thing.

comicbookmovie.com

I said a GOOD director, damn it!

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