Directed by: David Ayer
Release date: August 5th, 2016
Rating: 4/10
Suicide Squad is the first DC film to follow Batman v Superman: Dawn of Justice. It takes the comic storyline of a government agency forcing notorious villains to act on covert missions on behalf of their own agenda. If these villains are caught, they are blamed and killed. The roster they chose for the film (which changes constantly in the comics) consists of Deadshot, Harley Quinn, Captain Boomerang, El Diablo, Enchantress, Killer Croc, Katana, and Slipknot; led by Rick Flagg.
First of all, this movie is far from great. There are a lot of script issues and tonal differences throughout the film that make it feel as if it is incomplete. I don’t think any of the actors did too bad, but the writing is just so awful. One of the first things we get is an introduction to each of the characters, as narrated by Amanda Waller; the head of Argus, which is the government agency in charge of Task Force X (a.k.a. the Suicide Squad). These introductions are decent. Each character gets their own stylized title card and a 5-10 minute clip of who they are and what they can do. Except for Slipknot, he doesn’t get one which is a dead giveaway for what happens to him later. These intros are what I think the studio tried to make the movie feel like after the reshoots caused by backlash from the first trailers which said the film looked too dark and grey. I agree with that and wish the film went more in that direction, but I’d rather have the dark, grey movie that a mixture of the two and feels hastily cut together. I’m not sure if it’s Ayer’s fault that the film didn’t go how the studio wanted or if it’s the studio’s fault for changing their expectations of what the film should be. Either way there seems to be some sort of disconnect there.
The plot is dumb. I do not care for it at all. Essentially what happens is the Enchantress, who wants her freedom from Waller, releases her brother and decides to build a “machine” that will “destroy man’s armies”. Task Force X is then called on to extract a high profile person from the city where Enchantress is building her machine. I have so many issues with this. First of all, why would the government’s first reaction be to deploy Task Force X, especially when they were so hesitant to approve it in the first place? The whole pitch was that they were in place because “the next Superman might not share our beliefs”. They get word of a “non-human entity” destroying Midway City and right away they call Task Force X. And do they want them to stop this threat to the city? No they want them to get Amanda Waller out of the city.
Second, the whole “big bad” plot doesn’t make any sense. Enchantress decides to “build a machine” but that machine is just a bunch of bright lights and CGI mess. Supposedly it takes her time to finish it and that’s why the Suicide Squad has all the time to find Waller and lose her. When she eventually finishes the machine it doesn’t look any different than when she started. There is no explanation as to how it works, why it takes time to finish, or even a visual difference when it is finished. The threat does not feel real and therefore I do not care whether or not the “heroes” succeed.
Oh yeah, Joker is also in this movie, although it barely feels like it. Jared Leto plays this version of the Joker and personally I don’t think he did a bad job. The character is written so poorly though. He is barely in the film and he only serves as a plot device and motivation for Harley Quinn. They have underutilized an otherwise powerhouse villain in a movie full of villains. A lot of people didn’t like the fact that he is full of tattoos and is more of a gangster/pimp than your typical Clown Prince of Crime. I didn’t mind the look as much as others did, except for the “Damaged” tattoo across his forehead; I just think that’s a bit much. My main issue with the character is the way he’s written. Like I said, he does nothing except serve as a plot device and backstory/motivation for Harley. If you couldn’t find a way to use him as he should be used, then don’t use him at all and save him for a Batman or Harley Quinn movie.
One thing I did like about this movie was the costume design. Except for Killer Croc, which should’ve been a CGI character but I understand saving money and covering him in makeup, all the costumes were great. They were just over-the-top enough to fit in a comic book movie but not so ridiculous that I didn’t believe that they would exist in the universe.
Suicide Squad is a failed, albeit, courageous attempt at expanding the DC Universe. While I do believe that there is a decent film underneath the mess of a film we got, it’s still entertaining enough to pass a few hours when you have nothing else to do.