Suicide Squad (2016)

*spoiler-free*

Everyone who sees DC’s latest and greatest film will inevitably compare it to Marvel’s surprising hit Guardians of the Galaxy, which isn’t a completely unfair comparison; after all, both films take social misfits and team them together to fight evil, all with a jukebox playing in the background. Unfortunately, Suicide Squad does this so much less successfully, and it’s largely because of the film’s failure to create an engaging story and inability to make all of its characters interesting.

Suicide Squad opens with government official Amanda Waller (Viola Davis) proposing that a team of the world’s most dangerous criminals be assembled to fight the next superhuman threat, whatever that may be. The team – comprising of Harley Quinn (Margot Robbie), Deadshot (Will Smith), El Diablo (Jay Hernandez), Captain Boomerang (Jai Courtney), Killer Croc (Adewale Akinnuoye-Agbaje), Slipknot (Adam Beach), and Enchantress (Cara Delevingne), along with good-guy Katana (Karen Fukuhara) and led by Rick Flag (Joel Kinnaman) – is quickly called into action when a supernatural force attacks. With the threat of death looming over their heads for any disobedience, this team of bad guys must work together to do good for the first time in their lives.

THE GOOD

Viola Davis as Waller is probably the second-best part of this movie. Her hard determination to get her way, along with her willingness to do anything necessary for the task at hand, makes her a formidable character who you almost fear more than any of the so-called “bad guys” because you never know how far she’ll go to get what she wants done. Davis has an innate toughness that has always shone through in her acting – even as Aibileen in The Help – and she is able to show with little effort that she is not someone to be messed with. The best part of this movie, however, is Will Smith’s Deadshot. Smith is a fantastic actor, but the best role he plays is himself: goofy, full of attitude, but always grounded, and this movie thankfully gives him the chance to just be himself…and it’s so refreshing! He has many great one-liners here and clearly has a fun time on-screen, but he is also the one that brings the most emotion to the movie, which it sorely needs more of. Deadshot is driven by love for his daughter, and every moment that he spends showing that is both believable and brings tangible stakes to the task at hand.

THE DISAPPOINTING

Harley Quinn was the character I was most looking forward to here, and I was sure that she would be my favorite part…she’s just a fun character! Unfortunately, she was ultimately a let-down for me. Don’t get me wrong: Margot Robbie puts forth an admirable effort, and I certainly wouldn’t call her portrayal “bad,” but it’s Harley’s poor usage in the film that really disappoints me. Though she has her moments to show off – a scene when she takes down a couple of attackers in an elevator by herself comes to mind – her primary roles in this movie are to act as sex object first, Joker’s property second, and strong female character third. There are very few moments during her time on-screen when attention is not being drawn to her short shorts or how attractive she is in general. She is attractive, yes, but why does that have to be her main appeal? The scene in the elevator I mentioned is probably so good because there aren’t any men there to ogle her in that moment, but, sure enough, as soon as the fight is over we’re given a view of her backside as she strides through the crowd of men as they look on incredulously. Had Harley been given more opportunity to just show off how capable she is on her own, I would have liked her much more.

THE NOT-GOOD

Since I was just talking about Harley, I’ll go straight into what I believe was the worst part of this movie: Jared Leto’s Joker. Every promotional shot or trailer that featured this new, psychotic take on the character left a bad taste in my mouth, but I was open to being proven wrong – as I always am when I have preconceived notions – in the context of the movie. And no, this isn’t about comparing it to the late Heath Ledger’s Joker in The Dark Knight (my review)…Leto’s Joker is, frankly, just bad. I don’t know how else to put it. The Joker has always been about his relationship and back-and-forth with Batman; he does what he does to antagonize the Caped Crusader. It felt strange in this movie to have his character be motivated by his need to rescue own Harley because that’s not who the Joker is. Every scene that has Leto in it suffers because of him, and the story as a whole suffers because his character is largely unnecessary to everything else that is going on.

All the other characters in this movie I have yet to mention are just flat. Uninteresting, unmotivated…just boring. Kinnaman’s Rick Flag finally starts showing some real emotion towards the end of the movie right when the other characters need motivation, but it’s a moment that doesn’t feel earned. Of Killer Croc’s ten total lines, maybe two of them are intelligible. El Diablo’s emotional backstory is not all that emotional either because he spends the whole movie moping in the corner – although, admittedly, his moment in the spotlight during the climax of the movie is pretty cool. The villain, though, who I won’t spoil here, is just a joke. A poor backstory leads to poor motivation, and by the time the climax of the film rolls around you know that our “heroes” are going to win, so there’s no threat or stakes at all to give the fight credibility.

Characters aside, the story and editing are a jumbled mess. The first fifteen minutes or so had me optimistic because it introduces some cool stylistic choices that would have been great had they been featured throughout the rest of the film without being overused, but alas, they disappear without a trace by the 30-minute mark. The fight scenes are basically the same thing regurgigated three times. (For the record, I thought that the climax of the film was overall pretty fun!) The jukebox I mentioned earlier? It seems broken because it changes songs every two minutes; no joke, there are probably 6 songs featured in the first 5 minutes of the movie, and it doesn’t slow down after that. The money that went into music rights would have been better spent on a good musical score, which, unfortunately, doesn’t live up to composer Steven Price’s usual quality.

*rant ahead*

The goal of The Cinescope Podcast is to talk about my favorite movies, and, in general, I aim to be as positive as I can when watching because liking things is more fun than hating them. That being said, I can’t and won’t overlook flaws for the sake of positivity; yes, Suicide Squad does do some things well, however few, and I would argue that it’s not as bad as others might have you believe (RottenTomatoes.com gives it a 26% approval rating, which I think is unfairly low), but the truth of the matter is that it is far from being a good film. Too many issues plague the plot, the editing, the music, and the majority of the characters for me to recommend this movie for everyone.

However, I know some people who did enjoy this movie for what it is, and that does not make them wrong. In fact, that makes them happier because they enjoyed this movie more than I did. So while I may not personally recommend this movie, you need to be the judge for yourself. Movie critics – including myself – do not exist to tell you that you should not see a movie; we love movies just as much as you do. We exist to share our opinions and to generate discussion, so if you feel like seeing a movie because you think you might like it, do it. You be the judge. We’re all critics because we all evaluate what we consume. So go out there, watch movies, and tell us what you think!

-Chad

DOES NOT RECOMMEND

*unless you want to go see it, in which case, do it!

MPAA: PG-13 – for sequences of violence and action throughout, disturbing behavior, suggestive content, and language