Warning : Spoilers for Suicide Squad within...
If you’re a Marvel and DC fanboy like me, then you’ve probably seen or are planning to see Suicide Squad, which released a week ago. It’s doing very well in the box office, but not so well with critics, where the movie currently has a 26% critic score on Rotten Tomatoes. It does have a 6.9/10 on iMDB though, which may be part of the reason fans tried to shut Rotten Tomatoes down with a petition. Seriously.
But nonetheless, I was pleasantly surprised with the trailer, and I was ready, willing, and hoping to love Suicide Squad. And now I wish I didn’t waste my money on that expensive movie ticket.
Right off the bat, and perhaps you deducted this from the trailer, it’s clear Suicide Squad is trying to be DC’s version of Marvel’s Guardian of the Galaxy - an enjoyable, funny, less gritty comic book movie. I would say superhero movie, but the Suicide Squad is composed of the “worst heroes ever.”
The first half hour actually starts off promising. Government official Amanda Waller (played by Viola Davis, one of the few highlights of the film) introduces us to our “Suicide Squad" (pictured below). She takes us through a comic-fashion montage of the group, comprised of Deadshot (Will Smith), Harley Quinn (Margot Robbie), Boomerang (Jai Courtney), Killer Croc (Adewale Akinnouye-Agbaje), Enchantress (Cara Delavingne), Diablo (Jay Fernandez), and captain Rick Flag (Joel Kinnaman).
We see snippets of some of their prime years, and how they came to be in prison, courtesy of some cool cameos by Batman (Ben Affleck) and the Flash (Ezra Miller). But once the exposition and introductions are taken care of, things start to get messy. The pacing of the movie becomes oddly cut and edited. Songs that are either too on the nose or trying too hard jerk the movie along and turn into weird scene transitions. The humor is ridiculously and uncomfortably forced, which produced very few laughs in the showing I was in (a 9:00 pm show on a Saturday night). And finally, the plot starts to thin out.
But the biggest problem of the movie? The villain, constructed by a loose plot and no payoffs. June Moore aka Enchantress, who was recruited to be on the Suicide Squad, ends up (spoiler!) becoming possessed by a malevolent spirit aka the Witch, and recruits her demonic brother to try and (shocker!) destroy the entire world. In essence, add Enchantress to the long list of forgettable, cast-off villains in comic book movies, Marvel included. And it’s even more disappointing being the DC universe, as it, in my opinion, has a much stronger cast of villains than Marvel. DC villains (pictured below) have depth, are relatable, and are simply more interesting. From a list that includes the likes of Bane, Lex Luthor, Sinestro, and Hugo Strange, among others, how does DC pick the Enchantress and her brother (who has an actual name by the way, it’s Incubus)?
I consider myself fairly knowledgeable of the DC and Marvel universes, and I’d honestly never even heard of Enchantress before - and she barely does anything the whole movie. She plainly goes off to bide her time and create a spell to “destroy and take over the world.” Sound familiar?
Character development was another issue. One way to describe this movie is “trying too hard.” It was trying to be too funny, too emotional, too everything all at once. The movie tried multiple times to get the viewers emotionally invested in the characters (e.g. Diablo, who due to lack of control over his powers, ends up killing his family). The movie wants us to care for these characters, and we just don’t.
Other than Deadshot and Harley Quinn, who are given significant screen time, we don’t really care about any of the other sidekicks. Killer Croc, a fan favorite, barely speaks and when he does, his English is more unintelligible than Bane in The Dark Knight Rises. Boomerang is decent but doesn’t get enough screen time and is left with one liners. Diablo, Katana (Karen Fukuhara), and Slipknot (Adam Beach) are simply one dimensional. And Captain Rick Flag, a regular old military officer, is actually given a lot of screen time and a love arc with Enchantress. But again, why do we care? Did this movie really need another love arc in addition to Joker and Harley? Um, no.
But there were some bright spots in the movie. As I mentioned earlier, Viola Davis plays a strong, forceful Amanda Waller. A dangerous, cunning character in the DC Universe, no one questions Davis’ powerful screen presence and authority. Will Smith plays a confident Deadshot with a decent character arc, revolving around his daughter. It’s clear Smith is the main star here. Margot Robbie is eccentric, insane, and a mess as Harley Quinn. She has the right energy and spark to her, and is sneakily dangerous.
And Jared Leto is a decent Joker, playing a much more sinister, menacing, teeth-grilling Joker than Heath Ledger’s take in Christopher Nolan’s The Dark Knight (pictured below). Don’t get me wrong, Leto’s Joker is fine. It wasn’t very memorable, but it was fine in its own right. It’s just difficult to compare Leto to Ledger (or Nicholson and Hamill, for that matter), who arguably has the most distinct, menacing, and charismatic performance of the Joker on the big screen to date. The Joker’s role is small, like his mention in this review. His main objective was to reunite with his love, Harley. But his role was mainly shoehorned in as a backstory for Harley and his introduction to the DC universe - essentially an extended cameo.
Which brings me to my final point, the DC Universe altogether. Despite its shortcomings, Suicide Squad is the first movie by DC that seemed like it had a shared universe. A universe that’s finally connected - one with Superman and Batman and the Justice League. While it finally seemed like a common universe, I have to say it feels like it’s coming together quickly, perhaps too much. DC is continually making the mistake of playing catch up with Marvel, instead of taking its time to build a strong foundation for the universe, its characters, and DC’s future films. It disappoints me to think about how many great comic book stories and interesting source material are being skipped by a hasty DC studio.
But Suicide Squad has its moments. We’re introduced to even more characters, and are finally seeing a universe come together, whether its rushed or not. It’s preparing us for the eventual Justice League, which if you haven’t checked out the trailer, you can watch it here.
Yes, Suicide Squad was disappointing - a lot of potential seems squandered. But I still have hope DC can correct the course with its upcoming movies such as Justice League, Wonder Woman, and Aquaman. Let’s just hope DC does these upcoming films…justice.
