Suicide Squad

photo courtesy of warnerbros.com

     Suicide Squad is the third movie in DC’s burgeoning film universe. Directed by David Ayer and starring a large ensemble cast, it has been one of the most highly anticipated films of the year. Riding on its success is a fairly large financial investment, the continual question of the viability of Warner Bros’ DC universe, and bragging rights against titanic rival Marvel Studios, so naturally expectations are lofty. Unfortunately for those hoping Suicide Squad will redeem Batman V Superman or rejuvenate the ailing series, the movie disappoints. It’s not a total disaster on Fantastic Four (2015) levels, and it’s arguably better than Batman V Superman, but Suicide Squad manages to be a just-okay movie filled with missed opportunity and unfulfilled potential.

SPOILER-FREE REVIEW

photo courtesy of comingsoon.net

     Squad takes on a new corner of the DC universe—the villainous one. Government official Amanda Waller (with help from her lead agent Rick Flagg) commands a ramshackle team of captured prisoners controlled by explosive implants. Under her thumb, they’re used as a response team to evolving metahuman threats. When things go awry in Midway City, the team—including misfits Harley Quinn, Deadshot, Captain Boomerang, Killer Croc, Diablo, Slipnot, and Katana—is sent into action. Together, they face internal disputes, deadly enemies, and occasionally, the Joker himself.

     Suicide Squad is not that bad, really. It’s a fun time at the theaters, and it has enough humor and action (combined with a talented cast) to be entertaining. It’s kind of like Hot Topic or Spencer’s incarnate: it’s all about rebellion, angst, and dirty jokes. If you like that vibe, you can add that to your list of reasons to see this movie.

     The cast is easily one of the most redeeming things about the movie. Will Smith plays, as always, Will Smith, and Margot Robbie is delightfully psychotic. Viola Davis delivers the best performance as Amanda Waller—she’s practical and ruthless. Starring alongside her are Joel Kinnaman, Jared Leto, Jai Courtney, Adewale Akinnuoye-Agbaje, Jay Hernandez, Adam Beach, Karen Fukuhara, and Cara Delevigne.

photo courtesy of telegraph.co.uk

     Outside of Waller, Jay Hernandez’ Diablo easily steals the show. He’s the most powerful of the team, and is (on occasion) given the chance to prove just how OP he is. More than that, he’s remarkably well-drawn; he’s a real, complex character whose backstory raises some profound moral questions.

     The storyline was simple and straightforward; it’s a fairly run-of-the-mill, cut-and-dry superhero structure. In itself, it’s something we’ve definitely seen before on more than one occasion, but that’s not necessarily a bad thing. A simple plot can be redeemed if there are plenty of new ingredients to spice up the formula.

     The feel of the movie is accentuated by some solid jams throughout. As has been the case with a number of recent superhero flicks, the retro soundtrack is a plus. In other words, if you were digging the music in the trailers, you can expect more where that came from in the movie.

     Squad also boasts some impressive (and at times unnerving) effects and a fairly well-delivered twist about halfway through. It benefits further from a well-executed marketing feint not unlike J.J. Abram’s marketing decisions with The Force Awakens.

photo courtesy of deadline.com

     The problem is that many of the things that Suicide Squad aspires to be, it borrows from other, better movies. Its anarchic streak comes from Deadpool and Guardians of the Galaxy. The flashy, retro music originally hails from Guardians, though Guardians’ soundtrack is much less on-the-nose. Another plot point is lifted directly from Deadpool (to be discussed further in the spoiler-section).

     And though the movie claims to showcase supervillain mayhem, it doesn’t really commit—which is especially disappointing since that is, after all, the premise. Don’t get me wrong, the movie does technically star supervillains, but the problem is that none of them are allowed to actually be supervillains. They all have a heart of gold when it comes down to it. Imagine if at the end of Deadpool, the titular antihero had listened to Colossus’ inspiring speech and spared Ajax, instead of mercilessly killing him. It would completely undo the movie’s foundations. That’s what Suicide Squad does.

     The issue of motivation is a big character problem. Suffice it to say sans-spoilers, yes there are explosive implants threatening the Squad, but beyond that there’s not much in the way of believable motivation—even when they try to address it outright. But the problem runs deeper than that: if I could understand their motivation, would I want to? In a movie filled with villains, it’s sometimes hard to know who to root for. The only really good guy seems to be Rick Flagg, but the rest raise serious moral red flags. Sometimes I wasn’t sure whose side I was on, because normally I’d be wanting Batman to beat the crap out of these fools.

photo courtesy of comingsoon.net

     When all is said and done, almost every critical component is on-and-off. Action is hit-or-miss. Humor is pretty solid, but a lot of jokes just don’t land. Characterization is reserved for only a few of the team members, but even then it’s pretty spotty and uneven. Character depth comes from the past by way of flashback (which, by the way, are often oddly placed), while in the present everyone reverts to a two-dimensional cardboard cut-out of themselves.

     Most of the members of the team are completely wasted. The movie centers on Deadshot and Harley Quinn, who are interesting enough, but it does so at the expense of the others. When the character is an awesome one, like Katana or Diablo, it’s a real loss.

     Some other characters, however, simply don’t belong. Captain Boomerang, for instance, has no business being on this team or dealing with such advanced threats. It wouldn’t be so bad if the movie didn’t put him in a position as if he did belong in such company—but it does. He’s funny, but it just doesn’t make much sense.

photo courtesy of screenrant.com

     As for story, I’ve already said that this script is simple, but at times it seems a little farfetched. Amanda Waller manages to be probably the most badass character in the movie, but her plan (to keep the Squad in line by threatening them with death by explosive implant) is a bit thin halfway through the movie.

     And in a world where everybody and their mothers complain about comic book movie villains, how is this one not getting ripped apart by fans? This villain is about as straightforward and uninteresting as you can get: completely surface level, with a bare bones plan we’ve seen a million times. The ending fight looks more like the ending of Ghostbusters than a high-budget superhero flick.

photo courtesy of screenrant.com

     Many fans will be interested in the most recent iteration of the Joker (and the DC Universe’s resident version) played by Jared Leto. In a role that’s been graced by list of hallowed actors and legendary performances, how does Leto square up? Well, it is certainly a re-interpretation of the character, not unlike Heath Ledger’s famed take in The Dark Knight. But Leto’s Joker is comparatively unimpressive. As far as acting, Leto does alright, but doesn’t stand out or offer anything truly exciting. The reinterpretation itself is iffy—closer to Jesse Eisenberg’s Lex Luthor than Heath Ledger’s Joker.

     The biggest problem with the Joker in this movie is this: why was he in it? The easy answer, of course, is money; Joker’s inclusion is bankable, which is probably why he appeared so prominently in trailers. But like Wonder Woman in Batman V Superman, Joker is completely unnecessary. His role in the movie is tangential at best. He only shows up at random intervals (and mostly by text message). That would have been forgivable had his appearance amounted to, well, anything important to the plot. But it never does (it threatens to impact Harley Quinn’s journey in a meaningful way, but the movie ultimately opts-out in favor of a moralizing lesson in friendship where she’s concerned). Worse, his interruptions must have put the screenwriters through hell, because you can see how much they strain to get things back to normal after he needlessly appears and disappears. He comes and goes before you can say “cash grab.”

photo courtesy of youtube.com

     So if you haven’t got the message thus far, here’s the FINAL VERDICT: Suicide Squad is a melting pot of a lot of different things, some of which work…but most of which are dead on arrival. The movie is a good enough expenditure of a couple hours, but it’s not one you’ll want to watch over and over if you know what’s good for you. It’s slavery to comic book formula and inability to rise to the promise of its own delightful premise make Squad another disappointing entry in DC canon.

COMMENCING RANT

      Joker’s inclusion in the movie opens up the larger issue of character interpretation within the entire DC universe. Why do they insist on giving us off-beat, non-representative versions of their most prominent characters—especially when (if all goes as planned) we’ll be seeing them on screen for the next decade or so? Batman kills people. Superman is glum. Joker has tattoos and grills. Harley Quinn doesn’t have her trademark accent. I get that they need to be distinct from Marvel, but if you choose to do by betraying your core characters, that’s nothing to build a successful movie universe off of. Get it together, DC.

photo courtesy of youtube.com

     These DC movies are in an interesting spot, because they seem to have a die-hard fan base despite having released at most one decent movie (2013’s Man of Steel, and even that divided critics). Before Suicide Squad even debuted, fans were defending it to the death—and now that it has, they’re apparently standing by it. The question is, why? DC has given fans no reason to trust that they have the ability to 1) construct a comic book movie universe, and 2) construct a decent film within that universe, so why do fans still expect it every single time? The problems are overarching, and it will take serious course-correction or a complete overhaul to fix them.

     DC is racing to keep up with Marvel at the expense of quality and their own characters, when Marvel reached success not just because of their business model (which, coincidentally, they didn’t rush), but because they ensured quality control and loyalty to the source material—with some notable exceptions. I’m all for the DC movie universe (I grew up loving their characters, not Marvel’s!) and I’d love to see it thrive—but I don’t want this version to thrive. I’d get behind a universe that did things right.

photo courtesy of indiewire.com

SPOILERY DELICIOUSNESS

     So let’s talk cameos. I thought the Justice League cameos were actually pretty well woven into the script, especially compared to the ham-fisted scenes from Batman V Superman. But that raises the question: where is the Justice League when stuff is going down in Midway City? I understand that it may not be fully formed yet, but I would still expect Batman and Wonder Woman (at least) to be the ones charging into the fray, not this ragtag team. And I sorta get the feeling they would be immensely more qualified for the job.

photo courtesy of thewrap.com

     Spoilers enable us to be a little more specific about the movie’s story difficulties. For one: Captain Boomerang’s unicorn fetish thing? Lifted straight out of Deadpool. Not sure how they thought they could get by with that one. As for Slipknot’s brief appearance, his imminent death is foreshadowed by not only the ridiculousness of his skill-set but his lack of any introduction or flashback in the “meet the team” portion of the film. He’s a redshirt through and through, and we have no reason to care when he dies. Meanwhile Diablo, the most interesting character of all, is developed only to be sacrificed at the end.

     I couldn’t help but wonder why these villains care about this mission at all. Of course they care while their own lives are at stake, but once Flagg destroys the implant activator, that motivation is gone. Again, the characters are billed as gnarly villains, but they aren’t actually allowed to be villains. If they were the dastardly fiends we know and love, they might have killed Flagg, abandoned the mission, and certainly not have resisted the promise of allying with Enchantress (at least not on the grounds they cite). Deadshot’s motivation (impressing his daughter?) is the most believable, and that’s not a good thing. But Harley Quinn suddenly grows a conscience and sides against Enchantress? It’s a lose-lose; either she doesn’t and the movie doesn’t have a heroic ending, or she does at the cost of her character. But it’s the Harley Quinn fans who really lose.

photo courtesy of variety.com

     Joker’s inclusion in this movie is infuriating. Okay, 90% of it is infuriating. It makes sense that he’s in Harley Quinn’s backstory, granted, and the scene at the very end is a cool finish to the movie. But even in those scenes, he’s not given justice. In the backstory, there’s no buildup or reveal moment for this infamous character; he’s just there. That ending scene would have been more interesting had it been our introduction to the character, with a potential for future menace (something akin to the conclusion of Batman Begins, maybe?) Everything else is just a distraction from the plot that serves no real purpose.

     Also, following in the tradition of really lame, completely superfluous, and downright disappointing after-credits scenes started by Avengers: Age of Ultron and Captain America: Civil War, this movie’s sucks. The point of these scenes is to do some world-building or to tell us something exciting we don’t know. This does neither, and you can’t help but wonder why they couldn’t fill the time with something better or spare us the wait.

     Suicide Squad is certainly troubled, but it has its moments too. Diablo taking on Enchantress’ brother (Incubus?) is pretty dang cool. If nothing else, it’s fun to see some of these characters debut on the big screen for the first time. And if you can forget all its flaws and just enjoy yourself, you can probably get swept away in the mania.

photo courtesy of screenrant.com