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Third Time’s a Charm?

A Film Review of Suicide Squad

At first glance, the idea of Suicide Squad seems like an odd move for DC to expand upon its cinematic universe.  Introducing a collection of marquee villains before formally unveiling the Justice League (which would otherwise be handling these kinds of troublemakers) could easily throw audiences off regarding who they are supposed to be rooting for.  I like giving the bad guys a genuine moment to shine because for the most part, recent superhero films have not produced quality villains and those efforts have harmed those productions.  Of course, Task Force X aren’t exactly the antagonists in this film so we don’t exactly see any of them unleash the beast proper, but if any of them were to be pitted against heroes in a more standard conflict, they should deliver the kind of resistance audiences have been demanding.

Suicide Squad is a very mixed bag when it comes to cinematic adventures.  The plot has a decent hook, but then completely trails off into blandness.  Everyone in the cast produces solid performances, but only two are permitted to round their characters out.  The visual effects are good, but nowhere near to matching the spectacle that preceded it in Batman Vs. Superman.  When was the last time you heard poor editing sandbagging a finished production?  Believe everything you’ve heard about that issue because far too many lines get cut off during this production, and it boggles the mind why so much footage is arbitrarily removed for no other reason than shaving a handful of minutes off the total runtime.  Factoring in all the rumors of constant studio interference, added pressure pushed on director David Ayer for making this production redeem BvS, and an extremely abbreviated pre-production time frame, begins to explain why all these issues existed in the first place.

This production is the furthest thing from flawless, but I cannot be brought to throw this film completely under the bus as the vast majority of the critical community has.  Its saving grace is the cast itself, the real world chemistry they demonstrated as a collective doing promo work at Good Morning America, and it all paid off dividends in their performances in the final cut of this film.  The chemistry begins with Will Smith who found a way to reconnect with his pre-After Earth blockbuster charisma by demonstrating leadership as a character, but also allowing his fellow cast mates (not just Margot Robbie) to play back his energy with their own in genuine synergy.  It brought about incredible surprises such as Jai Courtney who has been on everyone’s list of worst actors in Hollywood for years, but somehow found a way to have fun with this role and actually communicate it to the camera.  It’s capped by Viola Davis whose Amanda Waller is every bit as cold and calculating as any of these “super villains,” but also demonstrates the same enthusiasm as her younger costars, approaching this role as seriously as any other.

“Moving” = 22/33

“Picture” = 21/33

“Story” = 20/34

Overall MPS Rating:  63/100

If you are looking for the redemption of BvS, this isn’t the movie you’re looking for.  If you are looking for a “superhero” flick that doesn’t take itself too seriously, you’re getting warmer.  I’m not going to call out every other review outlet and label them as just plain wrong about trashing Suicide Squad, but I just didn’t think it was that bad.  I wouldn’t credit this film as being something to aspire to, but rather, a promising place to improve from because a bit more planning and time and less studio BS can go a long way for any film production.  It remains to be seen if this is worthy of its own franchise, but it would truly be a crime to never see any of these villains again in any capacity as DC’s cinematic universe continues to expand. 

Regarding Jared Leto’s Joker:  He certainly went out of his way to be as different from Nicholson and Ledger as humanly possible.  I appreciate his antics to “get into” the character along the lines of Ledger’s devotion.  Unfortunately, his efforts paid off minimally as he’s more of a plot device for Harley either explaining where she’s at or where she’s going.  I can understand Leto being upset at all his scenes that were cut, but he should forward his complaints to WB’s executives and the teaser cutting company they hired for the final edit of this film that got released to the public.  Either way, I appreciated Leto’s performance much more than I do the visual design for his character.  The tats, the grill, the bling and the hairdo simply won’t do for me.  Now, if he were being cast as a mutant Joker for the Batman Beyond adaptation …