In what was likely the most anticipated movie of the year ends up being one of the worst I’ve seen in theaters. How bad do you say? It is worse than the 2003 stinker, “The League of Extraordinary Gentlemen” (which made Sean Connery retire from acting). With ‘League’ there was at least an effort to tell a linear story, which also managed to be grounded by a main character.
How did we get here?
With the disappointing “Batman v Superman: Dawn of Justice” film, fans at least had solace with the fact that “Suicide Squad” would come out and alleviate any concerns to be had about the DC Cinematic Universe. If you remember correctly, after the negative critical response of “B v S”, Warner Bros. was so concerned about their ‘universe’ that they forced the cast and crew of “Suicide Squad” to do reshoots so that fans’ expectations of the film matched more so with its movie trailers (and also to get away from the ‘grim’ and ‘gritty’ take on their superheroes). With that, there were more jokes and pop music injected into the film (annoyingly).
Story & Characters
The first twenty five minutes of the film gives a small introduction to many of the ‘squad’ (certainly not all) and a short dossier explaining why they’re perfect material for the ‘worst of the worst’ team. These ‘introductions’ are supposed to give audiences a sense of understanding, beyond their ‘villain’. This is simply not the case when all we see is them doing bad things without any such remorse whatsoever. Oddly enough, the only one that seems to have a weak spot is Deadshot (Will Smith), who loves his daughter but is okay with continuing to lie to her that he isn’t a ‘bad guy’. As Amanda Waller (played by Viola Davis) relays her sales pitch to a gov’t official, she reiterates that should anything go wrong, there’s already a built in deniability because they’re criminals (just as you saw a thousand times in the trailers).
After all the seemingly random inserted pop songs introducing each unredeemable character, a threat rises for them to take on. As the team assembles and prepares for an unknown terrorist threat (yup, they aren’t even specifically told what they’re up against), we get some playful banter between Deadshot and Rick Flag (Joel Kinnaman) as well as a few extra squad members – Slipknot and Katana (with a stupid subplot about how her sword holds souls).
I should mention that this ‘squad’ does not know each other at all. They have all been in separate cells yet act like a dysfunctional family when it comes to their first (and hopefully last) mission as the ‘Suicide Squad’. The only time we really see this team interact is before the lack luster third act. In this bar scene, we get a glimpse of everyone’s morality. Much of this stems from El Diablo (Jay Hernandez), a gangster who can create/manipulate fire. In his story we learn that he killed his wife and children. The reaction of the group was like, “hey, you can’t kill women and children”! I thought to myself, “that’s the line we are drawing here”? Anyways, this scene was meant to invigorate these characters and give them an opportunity of redemption not because they were forced to (by Waller et al) but because they wanted to.
After all is said and done, the only characters that seemed to get an ‘ending’ were Deadshot, Harley Quinn and Rick Flag. You can forget why you have Captain Boomerang (played by Jai Courtney in a role he actually excels in), Killer Croc (Adewale Akinnuoye-Agnaje), Katana (Karen Fukuhara) or Slipknot (Adam Beach) in this movie. None of these secondary characters are given any depth whatsoever and only reside to fill out the rest of the squad.
You can’t expect audiences to care for these characters when you don’t know what they are all about, where they’ve been, etc. This is exactly the reason why “Avengers” was a film that worked. You know what the Hulk, Thor, Iron Man, and Captain America are all about. They’ve each had their own stories, leaving the larger scale movie, “Avengers”, to focus on how everyone relates, especially in times of conflict.
My Biggest Complaint (s)
The biggest problem with the film is with the surface level subplots of its main characters –Deadshot (Will Smith), Harley Quinn (Margot Robbie), and Rick Flag (Joel Kinnaman) and the complete lack of subplot for the devious Amanda Waller.
Deadshot is essentially a serial killer (for hire) who really has one thing going for him – the love of his daughter (which Amanda Waller exploits).
Harley Quinn probably has the most interesting subplot with her relationship with the Joker (Jared Leto) but the whole idea is ill-conceived when there isn’t any explanation as to why she really fell in love with the Joker in the first place. If only this subplot was expanded it would provide an anchor on which other characters can exist. This is the strongest plot point to the entire film but is squandered for attempted punches of comedy (one liners), pop music and a villain that’ll remind many more of “Ghostbusters” (the original) than anything inventive.
Rick Flag is an Army Special Forces officer tasked with leading the squad but is at odds with his orders because of his strange relationship with Dr. June Moone (Cara Delevingne), who is possessed by a really old, evil witch named Enchantress.
Amanda Waller rounds up a group of murderers with extraordinary abilities and gets the gov’t to okay her Task Force X team to save the world. All we know is that she’ll do anything to ensure everyone plays ball. She’ll also kill innocent bystanders if it’ll mean the secrecy of the task force is kept. We have no idea what drives her as a character and she exists only to prove her ruthlessness.
In other words, what we know of these characters does not justify how we should feel about them. It is very difficult to sympathize with any of these characters. The only character I was made to feel the most about was Harley Quinn and her toxic relationship with the Joker (I wanted an entire movie focusing on this) yet we barely scratch the surface with their dynamic.
Action & Special Effects
For as much money the studios are pumping into the marketing of this film, you’d think the same would be true for its special effects and action scenes. The effects designed for Enchantress and her witchcraft were borderline laughable as her costume seemed to be completely CGI. Even Enchantress’ voice was a reminder that Zuul (from “Ghostbusters”) was a better villain.
The action scenes were very run of the mill. There was nothing new to really show other than Captain Boomerang throwing a boomerang, Slipknot scaling a wall (sort of), Harley Quinn wielding a bat, and Deadshot shooting his guns. What I’m trying to say is that no one really stood out except El Diablo and Killer Croc.
Takeaway
“When does it end”? – Deadshot to Flag
I was thinking the same thing while watching the movie. This dreadful film, which tried to disguise itself as DC’s answer to “Guardians of the Galaxy”, is one of the biggest disappointments of the year. The marketing (the flashy colors and fun pop music) behind the film is brilliant but it stands in front of a tone imbalanced movie that horrifically tries to execute rather interesting characters.
The film is actually directed by the talented David Ayer, who, up until this point, was known for making good films. Ayer’s previous directing efforts include “Training Day” and “End of Watch”. “Suicide Squad” currently sits with a 26% on Rotten Tomatoes but still managed to have the biggest August opening weekend ever with $135 million. It’ll be interesting to see the film’s numbers come its second week (given all the negative press after the film’s release). As of writing this, the film has garnered $146 million domestically and $133 million in foreign sales (worldwide total: $280 million).
Grade: F
What’s upsetting is that this movie should have exceeded. It has a wonderful cast, a more than capable director and a rich universe of characters to base itself on.
I’m a giant DC Comics fan and to see their films continue to suffer is highly frustrating. When will they learn?
Should I give up on DC films? “Wonder Woman” isn’t coming out until June 2017.
Where does it stand in the plethora of Superhero movies (or should I say super villains)?
“The Punisher” (2004) > “Suicide Squad” > “Fantastic Four” (2015)