There, I said it. The movie that is getting panned by critics across the board is not as bad as they have been saying. Was it good? No. The movie certainly wasn’t brilliant, and needed quite a bit more work in the editing room and direction, but it was a fun, enjoyable experience nonetheless. However, I don’t think we even needed this movie; not yet. I know, strong right? I just told you it was fun and enjoyable and basically said that you should go see it. You might be asking, then why telling you it wasn’t even necessary? Well, here’s the problem; we’re playing catchup in a race that doesn’t need to be run. The DC cinematic universe can’t help but compare itself to Marvel. The critics and fans can’t help but compare the two comic book cinematic universes. Thus, the DCCU feels more like it’s running a race to catch up to something that it can run along side without needing to compete. The DCCU wants to be the MCU, but the world of DC and it’s characters are vastly different tonally and subject matter-wise than Marvel. They are two different coins. However, with comic book and superhero movies becoming the number one ticket to a successful box office, the DCCU only sees that what Marvel is doing is working, and in the fear that they have a monopoly on the genre, rushes headfirst into projects without laying the groundwork, direction, or care that Marvel did in phase one of the MCU.
The most frustrating part is that the DCCU doesn’t have to do any of this. They have a fanbase willing and ready to see their favorite characters and storylines come to life on screen. There’s no need to rush if the audience is already happily waiting. They also have the better and more interesting characters, yet they don’t really know what to do with them. Take Man of Steel. That movie was a utter mess because they tried to make Superman represent everything he is not. They tried to evoke this “edginess” and grittiness that just doesn’t come from the thematic core of Superman. Superman might be Superman, but he’ll always be Clark Kent. That’s the entire point of his background. He this extraordinary alien with superpowers, but he grew up as Clark Kent, a farmboy from Kansas with the Kents installing a beautiful moral compass within him from his youth. However, Man of Steel went in the other direction. Their Superman barely showed the empathy and care that is at Superman’s core, as he fought his all-powerful enemy though the crowded city streets, endangering the lives of thousands. The production team claims that they wanted to show him as an outsider, feared by the Earth population who didn’t think there was alien life out there until that moment, rather than a god, but we saw none of that. They went in with a direction that they never succeeded in even representing in the finished product. It’s the key characteristic of the current DCCU and it’s a big problem. Not to mention the lack of levity.
Yes, the DC world is full of darker stories and darker characters, but they are comic book characters nonetheless. There needs to be levity and fun. There needs to be some light to bring up the dark, or else you are just painting a still that never has the nuance of the movement of life. In fact, the levity of Suicide Squad was it’s shining beacon of hope and it’s why it felt like a breath of fresh air, despite that air being quite tainted. It’s why I was able to sit through it, completely aware of the plot holes and the lack of any structure but still have a good experience at the cinema.
The other biggest positive was the cast, as is also the case in the DCCU. It was a diverse list of talented actors who all pretty much nailed their roles. The DCCU have always had incredibly intriguing casts, some would argue near perfect, yet they don’t know what to make of them. The scripts are lacking and the direction of the films themselves are lacking, so one cannot fully appreciate these characters in all their glory. Yet, character is Suicide Squad’s strongest element. Characters, however choppy, have arcs and connections with each other that not only seems absent from all of the recent DCCU films, but also a great deal of the MCU. Perhaps it has to do with David Ayer’s rehearsal methods of bonding the cast together, but they all really felt like a team and it was the small bit of chewing gum that held the film and lack of a plot together. The camaraderie that grew between them, especially Harley and Deadshot was pretty great and was the sole emotional core in a film that was lacking.
That being said, here’s the issue and why holding off could have saved this film; we didn’t know any of these characters beforehand. Thus, half the movie was spent setting them up and their backstory in a story that it had no place in. It’s my biggest point of contention with the film in general. The focus shifted between Deadshot and Harley Quinn, but instead of “Suicide Squad” someone clearly wanted to make a Harley Quinn and Joker movie when they wrote the script and shot it. Don't get me wrong, almost everyone had a chance to shine and most of the supporting cast were fully realized, but there was a focus, or rather two. We were given two movies battling it out; “Suicide Squad” and the “Harley Quinn and Joker” spinoff. It brings us back to the DCCU’s greatest downfall; lack of direction and it’s direction on every level. Suicide Squad should be the satisfying end result when we see a few awesome bad guys that we like get together and battle it out with a greater evil. Instead, we had to expedite getting to know them and a plot that didn’t make a lot of sense, all in two hours. It perhaps could have worked as a standalone, but in that case, they would really need to find a target and focus within the story that it just didn’t have. As much fun as the Enchantress was in the beginning, she wasn’t a great villain or an interesting one to unite the team because they all weren’t really invested in her. What would have been better is if they wanted to showcase Jared Leto’s incredibly modern Joker and Margot Robbie’s Harley Quinn in a Suicide Squad movie rather than their own standalone, then make him the antagonist that they all are forced to team against. It would bring some loaded complexity to Harley’s character and also allow the relationship between the two and their backstory to be folded in without feeling contrived or forced because it’s interesting.
Yet, the biggest service they could have done to this film however is to hold off. Make the Joker and Harley Quinn movie (but please make it a Harley Quinn film where she is our protagonist. No one wants a movie from the Joker’s POV) you wanted to make first. Make the Deadshot film or make him a lead in the next Batman. Then bring them all together and fold in the other new characters as well. It’s the one formulaic thing that Marvel has figured out how to do successfully because when we are already invested in characters from before, the pure satisfaction of seeing them together is more apparent than having to build up that investment and satisfaction in one go around. The DCCU needs to figure out what it is first before trying to reach the endpoint. It can’t keep running up alongside the MCU because eventually it’s going to need to catch it’s breath and it doesn’t have to.
So while I don’t think that this movie is deserving of it’s incredibly low Rotten Tomatoes critical rating, in fact it was the most comic book-y comic book movie so far, I think the 70% (I might go a few notches lower) the audience gave it is fair for the fun that it was and the hope that it brings of perhaps showcasing these characters and actors portraying them in their own standalone projects. I would encourage everyone to go see it and form their own opinions, but go in expecting to just have a good time. It’s not a masterpiece and while it had the potential to be better than it was, it was still a good time at the cinema and it did feel really great to see those characters in live action on the big screen. The DCCU is it’s own greatest enemy and it needs to wakeup to that realization in order for it to be what it should and could be. The MCU isn’t perfect and had it’s fair share of bad movies, but the original building blocks were what mattered and are what people keep investing in, no matter if they want to see another five Avengers movie or not. Build your own blocks DCCU before trying to reach the top because the groundwork is there to catch you.
