A refreshing change from the regular Super Hero movies.
I thought the characters were interesting and pretty cool, an easy to watch fast paced film that we all enjoyed.
"Superhero" Satisfaction: 4/5
Watch it again in 12 months? No, but probably in a couple of years, the storyline wasn't a must to re watch, but it was fun to watch once.
On paper, this looked like a riot. A superhero film of baddies, blackmailed and forced to take on a supernatural villain, with a director in David Ayer who has made some great films before. Plus, there was no 12A/PG-13 requirement from the studio to censor the film, such as in the case of The Expendables 3, to ruin things. And finally, there was the most incredible cast, including Will Smith, Jared Leto, Viola Davis & Margot Robbie. What could go wrong?
It turns out, a lot.
Unfortunately, it would have taken a miracle for this film to not have been a total and utter mess. The behind-the-scenes/production troubles have since become legendary, the main one being that the entire tone of the script/film had to be changed 6 weeks before shooting started. There was also a change in lead actor from Tom Hardy to Joel Kinnaman due to the delays. And finally, which has resulted in a petition to get the “Ayer Cut,” the studio took over the film editing and released a totally different version of the film than the director wanted.
I have to be honest though, irrelevant of what changes could be made and reshot, I think the film’s problems are far, far bigger. For a start, this isn’t a fun movie. It’s a dark, dank, turgid and glum film, which isn’t helped by the grimy look Ayer decided to give it. Unfortunately, this is another example of the world that Christopher Nolan so brilliantly created in The Dark Knight trilogy being copied over, without the other parts which made those films masterpieces. As much as yes, it wouldn’t work if the sun was always out, to be so dark and dank is also not something that lends itself to the lightness that the film is in many ways wanting to achieve.
The other thing which became so grating after a while was the constant talk from all the characters about how “They are the bad guys.” When the film has to keep reminding you that this is the case, but also is trying to be edgy and fun, it’s not doing its job correctly. It’s like the cast desperately saying to you with perma-grins “We really enjoyed making this. You should be enjoying watching it!”
The narrative choices also affect the cast and performances, especially Jared Leto’s Joker. In the end, for a film which so heavily featured the Joker in its trailers and marketing campaign, his screentime is probably around the 20-minute mark. Leto himself has commented about how upset he was to learn that so many of the scenes he shot got cut. When Leto is on screen, he really is good, but even he cannot surmount the script and narrative issues. Everyone else does their best and there are some great action scenes, especially from Smith. But saying these action stars are good at action scenes is a bit like saying Seabuscuit is a fast horse... We know they can be great, now please give them a good film to act in!
Given how bad recent DC tie-ins have been I was not expecting much but happy to say it was a genuinely good movie to watch. Yes it is the dirty dozen plot, the characters have been made more likeable than their backstories would suggest and there are no plot twists (or are obviously).
Get past the plot and the acting was good (especially Margo Robbie as Harley Quinn), the story progressed at a good pace while still giving time for characters to develop and it didn't just degenerate into effects. Didn't even mind that the end was clearly setting up for a sequel. Even my partner who doesn't like comic book movies really liked this.
In the glut of superhero movies for 2016, Suicide Squad appeared to be the wild card. With a diverse cast, relative unknown characters for the uninitiated of comic books and a Dirty Dozen vibe, it certainly has all the elements to be a standout. Which is why it’s a major disappointment that it falls right back in step with the same old superhero movie problems.
Initially, I was ecstatic for such a project given that it was being written/directed by David Ayer. If you look at his resume of Training Day, End of Watch and Fury, you can see that he specializes in making movies about evil and nasty people that we question as do-gooders. He’s a strong choice to adapt DC Comics’ band of villains forced by the government into completing secret missions. He could make these villains truly stand out as bad guys. It’s just too bad he’s stuck in a PG-13 picture where he can’t make the characters as despicable, violent or psychotic as they should be.
If the characters can’t be nasty, they are at least likable. Deadshot (Will Smith) is the heart of the movie as a dad trying to reform his ways of killing people for money. Harley Quinn (Margot Robbie) is a pure villain that cheerfully delights in her sprees of crime and murder. Diablo (Jay Hernandez) is the reluctant pyro villain that is through with using his powers. There are more villains introduced in the team, but those are the only ones that matter or given proper introductions. Of course, the true villain is Amanda Waller (Viola Davis), the government figure who assembles the Suicide Squad. Thanks to Davis’ powerful performance and the character’s cold determination in protecting the country, she should have been the central antagonist.
Instead, we’re left with a rather bland and forgettable villain of Enchantress (Cara Delevingne). Originally recruited to be the head of Suicide Squad, she escapes her magical cage and begins creating her doomsday machine to rule the world. Her magical machine shoots blue lasers, she assembles an army of tar zombies to defend herself and her brother appears as a rejected monster design from Thor. You know, standard superhero setup.
But something as unique as Suicide Squad shouldn’t reserve itself to such a tired comic book scenario. Waller intends to use the squad as a means of secret protection, but sends them out on their first mission to stop an apocalyptic sorcerer that’s taken over a city. This defeats the purpose of her “if they get caught we throw them under the bus” rule as there are no local authorities to catch them and the FBI escorts the squad through the entire mission. This, too, defeats the purpose of having bombs inside their necks to keep them in line. Waller can control all the explosives from remote - so why does she need Rick Flag to be in the field keeping an eye on them as well?
Wondering about where the Joker (Jared Leto) is in all this? He’s wedged into a subplot that has little to no affect on the central story. He’s such a tag-along to this movie that his arc is dropped by the second act. A few simple snips and he could be removed from this picture easily. It’s such a shame that Leto put so much work into this performance that was unique and original, but never given a chance to develop past mere snippets of scenes.
For as much as the movie stumbles and trips over its characterizations, writing and editing, there is some salvageable content here. The cast is the best feature. Will Smith is as likable as always, but also more subtle in that he never breaks out into overstepping his role. Margot Robbie has a perky charm to the character of Harley as she is always fun to watch. The most surprising cast member is Jai Courtney who proves that he has more charisma outside of his more simplistic action roles. Aside from Joel Kinnaman and Cara Delevingne, this is a strong cast. I even liked some of Ayer’s style in telling the backstory of the squad and his visual flair with making more of a street Dirty Dozen.
I wanted to like Suicide Squad so badly because of this, but its shortcomings are just too steep to ignore. The clunky editing, the overstuffing of characters, the terrible music choices, the blah action scenes and the most tired of plots plunge this picture down into the murky depths it aims to escape from. It’s a frustrating mess where the bad guys are not quite bad enough and the movie’s tagline “Worst Heroes Ever” couldn’t be more fitting for the wrong reasons.