Retro Review: Suicide Squad
Written 09/11/2016
I just got out of Suicide Squad. That was something. I can’t say it was all good, but it wasn’t all bad. If you haven’t seen it, I’m not going to spoil it for you.
For those that are unfamiliar with it, this is the third film in the DC cinematic universe. I could start with discussing Man of Steel and Batman v. Superman, the previous two entries into the DCU, but I feel like those films have been beaten to death. What I will say about it was that overall this was something completely different and I enjoyed it and it can be judged on it’s own merits.
From the opening it was a different tone from the Snyder films. It had a comical sense to it while keeping with the universe already created. If you don’t know what you’re about to watch, it won’t take too long to pick up on everything because you dive right in. It’s chaotic and if you miss something, it’s almost just better to go with it.
Deadshot gets taken down by Batman, Harley Quinn is locked up, and Amanda Waller has a contingency plan for the next time a superpowered metahuman doesn’t play nice with the world. We meet Rick Flag, the natural born leader and military man, and Enchantress, an other-worldly metahuman that very quickly proves to be a danger, and a handful of other characters and we’re off. That was how they rest of the squad was treated. Deadshot, Harley, Rick Flag and Waller are the stars of this film.
It disappointed me that we got so many great characters with some rich and amazing potential, but they barely got a focus. It was impressive that the actors were able to do what they were able to do with the screen time that they were given. Everyone has a scene later on that gives them a moment, especially Diablo, but it’s right before the third act. The entire first two thirds of the movie are kinetic popcorn summer movie fodder but trying to keep track of everyone is a challenge not worth trying.
Back to the plot: the squad gets thrown together and enters the fray of a their rescue mission. If anyone attempts anything funny, Waller kills them with a chip implanted in their necks, thus giving the movie it’s title.
With all of this going on, I’ve skipped over a very major star and recognizable character: the Joker, this time played by the very capable Jared Leto. Leto had the hardest role. The Joker is iconic.
No other character in this film has as rich of a history than he does. Every time that he’s been portrayed has added to a monolith that the next actor will inevitably be compared to. The best word that I’ve heard to describe Leto’s Joker is ‘thug’. It wasn’t like any of the jokers that have come before him. He played him mean, brutal, commanding, and psychotic. It was a joker to be feared and he did a commendable job.
Any complaints of the portrayal can be aimed at the script and the writers. This is a very different Joker than what I’ve seen in the comics. The closest material was in Joker by Brian Azzarello. He was written as a straight criminal with an empire.
The chaos from Ledger is gone, the comedic nature of Jack Nicholson is none existent. Leto brought something old to the role, it was a sense of theatrics from an actor from the 40s and harkened back to the golden age comics Joker.
My second complaint is that while Joker was re-imagined to fit into this world, and he certainly worked and I’m interested to see where he goes, he didn’t serve a purpose to the story. I was waiting for him to get tied into the rest of the story, but he serves Harley’s story arc and disappears. His story is a separate B story that could have been cut completely and a small re-write would have covered things so no one would have noticed it was ever cut.
The only reason the Joker was in this was to serve to introduce Harley Quinn. Margot Robbie’s Harley didn’t need the Joker though. The character of Harley is rooted in Joker, no arguments with that, but besides the initial origin, Harley can stand just fine on her own. As the movie exemplifies, Harley doesn’t need anyone to help her, she’s as crazy and capable on her own as the Joker or anyone else in the squad. Margot Robbie stole all the scenes she was in and it’s understandable why they’re discussing a stand-alone movie for her.
Once they hit the second act break, the movie shines. It felt like they knew where they wanted to get to and this was it. We finally learn about these characters we’ve been following. We get to see them as tragic figures, individuals who have lost so much (personified in Diablo) and we really get to connect with them and the rest of the squad gets to have some lines and banter. It’s the down-time that they weren’t given earlier in the film that was so desperately needed.
My biggest complaint with the movie has to be the the threat. It’s not a complaint with this movie alone because it’s the same crime that so many other movies commit. I was impressed with the villains of the film, they were overpowered and more than a challenge for our anti-heroes, but their plan was global destruction and domination. It’s generic. It was pure CGI barf on the screen, in a film that had plenty of it all the way through. They could have relied more on the on screen presence of the actors and actresses and made it more personable. When they did, it was fantastic and gave weight to the story, because they played that groundwork minutes prior. Again, the ensemble worked well together and was capable of propelling the story through it’s narrative without the need for a global threat.
If you’re looking for a deep movie, this wasn’t it. If you’re looking for something to tide you over till Wonder Woman, definitely check this out. It was fresh and mindless fun while introducing some interesting and new takes on characters for DC’s cinematic universe.
