Suicide Squad. Movie three of the DC Cinematic Universe.
The first one from the DC movies was the one that introduced Superman to the movie going audience and set up the universe all other DC characters would exist in, Man of Steel:
Then was his almost inevitable showdown with another caped crusader who also gets introduced, Batman, in Batman vs Superman : Dawn of Justice. Wonder Woman also makes her first appearance in this movie, setting up her solo film sometime later in the years:
In the aftermath of that epic movie battle, a gang of misfits is unwillingly thrust into a mission which is their only way out of captivity. Aptly named the Suicide Squad, they hate themselves, each other and the system that did it to them. But for the sake of the world, that at once alienating and assimilating entity, they have to set aside their differences, the narrative trope of fridging, and truly abhorrent costume design for Harley Quinn (I would have preferred the two tone court jester hat and card suit motif outfit, not an overly objectified, shorts wearing, bubble gum blowing, cliche factory outfit for Harley Quinn).
The movie has been almost universally panned by critics, and has polarized fans and their opinions about every aspect of it. Some fans hate it, but almost all others like it. Universal praise, however, was heaped upon the performances of Margot Robbie, Will Smith and Jared Leto, who played Harley Quinn, Deadshot the Assassin, and the Joker, respectively. With a name as cheer inspiring as Suicide Squad, the rest of the movie follows a similar tone. However, it still manages to have an emotional core to each character and some jokes, no matter how battered the characters delivering them are. The jokes are full of acidic vitriol and almost painful to laugh at, but they still make you laugh - the lighting and tonal palette used is at times inconsistent but consistently jarring, not unlike the comic book medium they have been so faithfully adapted from. The main antagonist is actually a part of the squad herself, and her motivations seem unclear - until the last half hour of the movie, where the messy symphonies build into a concise concerto of awesomeness. (For the curious ones among you, the antagonist is the little black haired evil lady with the crescent moon on her forehead).
But my reasoning is that Suicide Squad is more than the dark, brooding, misfit child of DC comics characters to Marvel's straight A box office student. Suicide Squad is a political statement, burst forth from comic book lore. And since the only politics Hollywood considers is that of the greenback monster, Suicide's financial success bodes well for the future of DC movies, more movies like it and this article as well.
Consider the diversity in casting, contrasted with Trump's anti immigration rhetoric. Deadshot is a white man in the comics, but nobody batted an eyelid when Will Smith was cast - in fact, people jumped at the movie because of the starpower Will Smith brings to anything he is in. Katana, a female warrior who carries the souls of everyone she's killed in - you guessed it, her katana - is played by a Japanese actor . Diablo (the man with face tattoos and a fireball in his hand) is a Latino character with perhaps the biggest arc story wise in the film. His story is the one that emotionally invests you, in the third act where everyone is concerned with defeating the big bad villain. *Spoiler* Diablo actually saves the team by defeating the villain.
Diablo (Spanish for 'Devil') is an unintentionally clever choice of character name as Mr. Trump thinks the Latin American demographic is the Diablo. Maybe this political commentary was meant to be. And with an election season unlike any other, maybe a movie unlike any other to comment upon it was meant to be too.
