The Incredibly Biased Suicide Squad Review
Plenty of gratuitous (directly or indirectly) butt shots of Harley Quinn (Margot Robbie) peppered the screen as introspective, multi-faceted characters bantered and bonded amongst a not-so-empty cityscape.
OK, now that I paid lip service to that controversy, I can officially begin to share my opinion about a technicolor dream of a movie named Suicide Squad and how its ’80s and ’90s soundtrack-inspired scenes created a less interesting film full of colorful characters and, sadly, not enough story. Be warned, for while we had our spoiler-free review posted already, this one will be chock full of spoilers. With that in mind, we put in a divider line — after this, spoilers abound.
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Within the universe of Suicide Squad the world has accepted that Superman has died as we saw in Batman v. Superman: Dawn of Justice, and metahumans are on the rise. Countries are scrambling to exploit those with abilities in a pseudo arms race. Amanda Waller (Viola Davis) comes up with an idea to use the baddest of the bad to fight back against threats that are too powerful for normal humans. Watching Viola Davis boss people around was a real treat for the eyes and seeing how people quickly deferred to her even when their anger told them not to was amazing. She emulated the comic version of the character exceptionally well.
That’s the real treat in this movie — all the characters are close to or spot on to their comic book counterparts (with the exception of Slipknot, the only Native American, who lasted for all of 20 seconds). Director David Ayers does an interesting thing with keeping their origins mixed in among the paper-thin plot. When I say the plot is paper thin I really mean like almost invisible which in some movies might be a boon but in Suicide Squad it only helps to illustrate how so many things that should work together don’t. Outside of some clever dialogue and zippy one liners, the popcorn thriller leaves the viewer largely wishing that more had been placed in there to really draw out what could have been an incredible movie.
Almost right off the bat we’re introduced to a character who is “Superman level” in terms of power and has ample reason to not want to be yoked into serving Uncle Sam. That was reason enough alone to assume that June Moon/Enchantress (Cara Delevingne) would be the big bad of the movie. We’re supposed to believe that Colonel Rick Flag (Joel Kinnaman) is madly in love with her and his love will help to keep the evil inside of her locked away most of the time. In truth, their romance would have been more believable if they actually had any real chemistry or if they had been given more to work with.
The Ultimate Dysfunctional Couple
We’re introduced then to Harley Quinn’s origin which was somewhat of a small treat to see including her in the original Harley Quinn leotard in a beautiful homage to Alex Ross’s classic artwork. Then we’re introduced to a Juggalo’s wet dream in what would be a more urbanized, mobster type Joker who seemed less manic and more like he was on every drug ever. Clearly you can tell by that last sentence that I did not like Jared Leto’s version of the Joker but buried deep in that dislike is a grudging respect for his ability to stay true to this interpretation and it’s oddly edgy, spiraling out of control approach. It was interesting to see the Joker more obsessed with Harley than the flip side of it (in the comics). In an almost super possessive sort of way he pursues getting her freedom throughout the movie in a twisted Romeo/Juliet sort of way. (By the way, no matter who is the more obsessed one, we all know that this is not a healthy relationship and no one should ever ATTEMPT to emulate it.)
Then we’re introduced to Killer Croc (Adewale Akinnuoye-Agbaje), former gang banger turned pacifist; Diablo ( Jay Hernandez); Deadshot (Mr. welcome to Erf — Will Smith); and a very quirky/funny Captain Boomerang (Jai Courtney) with a nice cameo by Ezra Miller as the Flash. Deadshot is the second character that the movie spends more time on, with an origin and brief cameo by Batman (Ben Affleck looking pretty boss in his Batman Returns-inspired suit). The very sudden/quick origins were rather enjoyable and felt more refreshing than the usual bogged down twenty-plus minute origin sequence that’s been ground into exhausted audiences.
Right after the origins, the movie seems to start picking up almost at a frantic pace as our anti-heroes are rushed into the city via helicopter but not before we’re introduced to Katana (a wonderfully cast Karen Fukuhara), the final member of Taskforce X, but we’re never really given a reason why she’s there as she’s not a criminal. Instead we’re given the impression that she is there to support Rick Flag, protect him and deal with any of the criminals who step out of line. A move which adds an extra layer of security to the nanite bombs embedded into the necks of the Suicide Squad members and synced to a remote detonator. She’s there to enforce the good guy outsider perspective in the group but outside of too few scenes of combat and exposition, she remains just fluff. I did love the nice throwaway moment with the Soultaker sword and Tatsu but it was oddly emotional for such a stoic character.
In the end, all the Easter Eggs, clever dialogue and witty comebacks did little to really keep Suicide Squad moving in a direction that felt fulfilling. As a rabid DC comic book fan, I LOVED the movie even with it’s flaws. I felt that after so many grimdark movies and gritty realism that this movie seemed a funny jaunt into nostalgia with it’s music tracks, technicolor and flowing dialogue but upon reflection it’s not a movie that I would hold above any of the other DC universe movies. It did little to break the mold but it was a lot better than screaming “Martha!” at one another. One thing to note is the compelling scene in the bar with our anti-heroes. There was a moment where we treated to Diablo’s origin where Jay Hernandez delivered a heart-wrenching oratory about the pain he’s suffered but stopped short of vocalizing the full truth. In that moment, Margot Robbie shone not just as Harley Quinn but also Harleen Quinzel. Instead of a flippant and humorous jab, Harley goes straight for his throat verbally and demands he say his evils out loud instead of dancing around it.
I’m going to rate this movie a 3/5 — it’s a fun romp if you want to turn off the brain, see some Easter Eggs and some clever dialogue but if you’re expecting this movie to be the turning point for DC’s movie universe then I recommend you wait for Wonder Woman and pray that it can move the torch forward.
