Suicide Squad review

SUICIDE SQUAD:

A FUN BUT MISGUIDED ANTI-HERO MOVIE! 

By Nico Beland

Movie Review: ** 1/2 out of 4

WARNER BROS. PICTURES

Amanda Waller, The Joker, Harley Quinn, Deadshot, Col. Rick Flag, and Captain Boomerang are the chaotic new team of heroes, Suicide Squad

            Boy, DC Comics is having a rough time getting their cinematic universe going, aren’t they? The first film in the franchise, Zack Snyder’s 2013 Superman reboot, Man of Steel was a success commercially but the reviews were mixed upon release, honestly it wasn’t a terrible movie, nor was it great, it was a decent re-imagining attempt for Superman, different but passable (Not to mention movie-goers were already spoiled by Iron Man 3 and Star Trek into Darkness that summer, but I digress!).

            The second film in the franchise, Batman v. Superman: Dawn of Justice, also directed by Snyder, released earlier this year in March was when it started to go downhill. It boasted a profit but the film was slammed critically, and I can see why, the movie suffered from cramming in too much into one movie and just served as a starting point for the Justice League movie, although Ben Affleck and Gal Gadot were pretty cool as Batman and Wonder Woman, they weren’t enough to save the movie.

            However, when it came to DC films, there was one movie I was curious about, that film being Suicide Squad, directed by David Ayer (End of Watch, Sabotage, Fury) and starring a colorful cast of characters, all nutty. When I first saw the trailer it looked like the DC equivalent to Marvel’s Guardians of the Galaxy, really when you get down to it both movies have very similar premises, a group of outlaws not respected by the world join together to save the world.

            After sitting through Batman v. Superman: Dawn of Justice, I can say this movie is a lot more entertaining, but it doesn't quite deliver on the zany, fun ride that it promises. The characters feel a lot more lively than previous DCEU attempts and it looks like the actors are having a fun time portraying them, but the script is an inconsistent mess and the tone is just all over the place. 

            Suicide Squad, while flawed isn’t dull and boring, the characters in the film crack jokes, they talk to each other, have distinct and unique personalities, and Jared Leto (Fight Club, Panic Room, Dallas Buyers Club) gives a very...interesting portrayal of the infamous Batman villain, the Joker.

            After the events of Batman v. Superman, intelligence operative, Amanda Waller (Viola Davis-Doubt, The Help, Prisoners) assembles a team of criminals for a chance at redemption. An evil witch who has possessed the body of archeologist, Dr. June Moone, known as the Enchantress (Cera Delevingne-Anna Karenina, Paper Towns, Pan) and her brother, Incubus plot to build a demonic machine to destroy all of mankind.

            So instead of calling someone like Batman or The Flash, she calls in assassin, Deadshot (Will Smith-Men in Black trilogy, I, Robot, Hancock), crazed supervillain, Harley Quinn (Margot Robbie-The Wolf of Wall Street, Focus, The Big Short) and girlfriend of her “Puddin”, The Joker, man with reptilian traits, Killer Croc (Adewale Akinnuoye-Agbaje-The Bourne Identity, G.I. Joe: The Rise of Cobra, Thor: The Dark World), fire shooting former gang member, El Diablo (Jay Hernandez-The Rookie, Ladder 49, Bad Moms), expert martial artist and master swordsman, Katana (Karen Fukuhara), and assassin who utilizes deadly boomerangs and unhealthy pink unicorn fetishes, Captain Boomerang (Jai Courtney-Jack Reacher, A Good Day to Die Hard, Terminator: Genisys) to destroy the witch’s spirit and save the world, and in return they will be granted their freedom (or at least a latté machine in their jail cells).

The film also features the return of fan-favorite, Batman (Ben Affleck-The Town, Argo, Gone Girl) in a chase sequence between him, Joker, and Harley, and in a scene involving Deadshot.

Overall, Suicide Squad is more of what I was looking for in the DC Extended Universe, at least in tone, dark and harsh stories, but with a sense of fun. However, the script while less messy than Batman v. Superman does bring the film down, it never really establishes the Suicide Squad members very well aside from Smith's Deadshot or Robbie's Harley Quinn, the main villains are bland and boring, and it feels like the film doesn't know what it wants to be, a heavy, grittier comic book movie like Deadpool or something kids can watch, you can't have it both ways and because of that Suicide Squad doesn't really live up to its full potential. 

However, as flawed as it is what makes the film enjoyable are the performances by Will Smith and Margot Robbie who had previously worked together on 2015's Focus. Both of them add plenty of charisma to these characters, they're funny, and also sell the dramatic moments, particularly Smith's character and how he's trying to set a good example for his daughter, they're definitely the most developed out of the Suicide Squad members. 

            Margot Robbie is a perfect Harley Quinn, we’ve never had a Harley Quinn depicted in live-action film yet, but she fits into the role very well, she’s wild, crazy, funny, sexy, and she kicks ass, everything Harley Quinn is known for, Will Smith is also great as Deadshot, kind of a traditional type of performance with him but he has fun with it and he cracks a few one-liners that get a laugh.

Jared Leto's Joker on the other hand is pretty odd, granted he isn't in the movie for very long (Which is very disappointing because if you're going to have the Joker in your movie, you better do something with him!) but something about his appearance, delivery, and the fact that Jared Leto did a bunch of crazy sh*t onset to "Get in character" Yeah, I've never read the Batman comic where the Joker mailed a bunch of used condoms to Viola Davis, did you? Don't get me wrong, when given the right material Leto is a phenomenal actor but here his Joker is definitely different I'll give it that, but I don't think it's in a good way, he doesn't really have any of the iconic traits or characteristics from previous Jokers like Jack Nicholson from Batman (1989), Heath Ledger from The Dark Knight, or Mark Hamill from Batman: The Animated Series, Hell, Cesar Romero from the campy Adam West Batman show from the 60s understands the character better than Leto does. 
Suicide Squad is a mess, but has things about it to be admired like the style, performances of Will Smith and Margot Robbie, and some of the action sequences can be fun at times. Unfortunately, they get bogged down by a generic, uninspired script and lack of character development and the film ends up being an entertaining time waster rather than an engaging and unique comic book movie.