Suicide Squad (2016) review (Semi-spoilery)
(TL;DR? Want the lowdown but not the spoilers? Skip to conclusion here)SPOILER WARNING!
DO NOT GO BEYOND THIS IF YOU DO NOT WANT TO BE SPOILED!
I'VE WARNED YOU!
LAST ONE!
OKAY, IT'S ON YOU NOW. READY?
It can be agreed upon that Marvel started the whole superhero-movie trend of the 21st century with the release of the X-Men movie in 2000. However, the DC Extended Universe's (DCEU) Suicide Squad, directed by David Ayer, is not about heroes, it's about a group of locked-up super-baddies (and crazies) forced to play the role of saviors. And, as the movie tag goes, "Worst. Heroes. Ever."
Despite the difference, Suicide Squad left an impression that the DCEU is trying hard to play catch-up with the Marvel Cinematic Universe's (MCU) eight years of churning out blockbuster after blockbuster. Here's a tweet of mine, from after seeing the 2016 San Diego Comic Con Suicide Squad trailer, that will succinctly describe the movie:
Just realized, #SuicideSquad is DCEU's nega-Avengers w/ Amanda Waller=anti-Nick Fury, Nick Flag=anti-Maria Hill...etchetera— was @mjangelacruz (@prodigalpowtato) July 27, 2016
Aside from the parallel, antithesis aspect, the makers of Suicide Squad took so many other elements from the MCU's movie-making book. If the DCEU were to mash-up and remix the MCU, this is the physical representation of that. Some of the glaring similarities were, obviously the team-up element from The Avengers (2012); the magic and large, all-powerful enemy sidekick cum distraction from Thor (2011); and the awesome soundtrack, that includes The Animals' Rising Sun and Queen's Bohemian Rhapsody, that is definitely a Guardians of the Galaxy (2014) thing. They even threw in a bit of Deadpool (2016) with some curse words and mild obscenity. There was a shortage on blood, though, which is strange for the grimness espoused by the DCEU.
Unfortunately, in their rush to make up for all the lost time and money that an expansive movie-franchise would give, they forgot the most important thing about stories—heart.
 |
| Suicide Squad poster |
The movie's attempt at winning the audiences' affections were not all in vain, even with heartless characters, both figuratively and literally. Funnily enough, it's the literally heartless one and Suicide Squad's ultimate antagonist, Enchantress (Cara Delevinge), who was easier to feel for; not even the person whose body she was inhabiting, Dr. June Moone.
Most of the consideration for June Moone is as an offshoot from sympathy for Rick Flag (Joel Kinnaman). Being her love-struck boyfriend, his dilemma of saving the world and saving his love is what fleshes them out.
Meanwhile, of the squad's members, it was Deadshot (Will Smith) who was the most successful at eliciting sentiment. His backstory and motivation were very human, and even succeeds at making Batman look like an asshole. This, for a movie about villains taking the lead, is a good thing.
Another unlikely placer in the likeability game was Killer Croc, played by Adwale Akinnuoye-Agbaje. His character was summarized by Viola Davis' Amanda Waller with the line "he looked like a monster, so they treated him like a monster, and he became a monster." Even with the life he had, he was one of the effective team-players in the story. It was uplifting when he confidently said he was beautiful, after openly being called ugly by Harley Quinn (Margot Robbie) who also quickly concurred with him.
El Diablo (Jay Hernandez), who Deadshot was constantly "trying to get there" after the former's self-imposed avoidance of using his abilities, had a backstory that was also trying to get the audience into sympathizing for him. Unfortunately, it felt a bit flat, not in the sense that his story wasn't tragic, but it was more on the pacing and how it was revealed.
There was a scene dedicated to generating condolence for the greatly under-utilized Katana (Karen Fukuhara), who was a grey-area good guy, but the scene seems mishandled, being out of character and coming up out of the blue. Giving the character—a somber, samurai wielding warrior— a midriff outfit also seemed a strange choice.
As for Captain Boomerang (Jai Courtney), well, the only things that make him emotionally accessible are his humor and attachment to a stuffed, pink unicorn.
Surprisingly for one of the main draws for Suicide Squad, and having the most flashback scenes, Harley Quinn didn't solicit much on the feels department, except during her heart-break scene. For it to work, though, they had to pull the cliche crying in the rain, then pretending to be alright once her teammates arrived.
It did not help that her backstory and flashbacks mostly served to introduce Jared Leto's Joker. One of these, which was partly featured in the trailers and was one of the most intriguing scenes, came up in the most unusual of moments that it could've been cut-out of the movie and the story would not be affected at all. It would be a waste of a good scene, agreed, but it would've been better used in a stand-alone Harley Quinn or Joker movie.
Speaking of Joker, now, I love Jared Leto as a fan of his band, but I've never seen any movie of his. His portrayal of Joker, though, seemed off. It was like he was reciting lines while pretending to play the Joker. However, his purr was quite impressive, sounding like a very formidable big-cat purring before they either cuddle or attack. Himself not being a part of the Suicide Squad, only popping up in flashbacks and interludes, there was a great want for more scenes of the Joker, especially since the marketing promised much. There was news stating that most of Joker's scenes ended up in the cutting-room floor and even Jared Leto was not happy about this.
HERE IS WHERE I GET MORE SPOILERY. WATCH OUT!
With there not being much to make the characters endearing, the death (or possible death) of some(one) of them felt more like an acceptable fact than something to mourn about, and was quickly brushed off. This is unusual for characters who are supposedly part of the film's leads.
There was also a throw-away character whose sole purpose was only to demonstrate to the audience the actual existence and lethal quality of one of the plot devices. His scene could've been entirely removed from the story to save the company some time and money, but then, an actor won't have a job, even if it was a lousy one.
Despite it being hard to connect to the characters, there was one who was easy to hate. Amanda Waller was a cold, manipulative, and spoiled official. Having no character growth of any sort throughout the movie, even up to the mid-credit scene (yes, there is a mid-credit scene, so stay in your seats) she easily becomes very unlikable and even worse than the movie's antagonist. If this was what the DCEU was planning for the character, then they accomplished it.
Another problem for this movie was the great McGuffin that was supposed to unite squad members. The doomsday device was never explained (making it a great McGuffin) even after it was destroyed. All it did was give a sense of impending doom, but it was only a vague sense since the precise purpose of the device was never disclosed. For instance, if there was an outbreak of a virus that kills humans, and an outbreak of a virus that kills humans by turning them into rabid zombies, the latter would be more alarming.
All things considered, the movie wasn't at all that horrible as a lot of early reviewers would have you believe. It has its deficiencies, but all movies have these. On the flip-side, it's not all that great either due to the aforementioned drawbacks. If anything, it's a middling movie, still entertaining but not really one that is going to be lauded. For that, it deserves this star:
