Suicide Squad is the latest film in Warner Bros. Pictures’ DC Extended Universe, following director Zack Snyder’s Batman v Superman: Dawn of Justice. Written and directed by David Ayer (Training Day, End of Watch), Suicide Squad sets out to further expand on the DCEU by introducing audiences to Task Force X, a hand picked group of super criminals following orders from the tenacious Amanda Waller (Viola Davis) in return for reduced prison sentences.
The film has already been out a few days and has not fared well with critics. At the time of me writing this review, the film is scored at a staggering 26% on RottenTomatoes.com and has even lead to the creation of an online petition to shut said website down. Surprisingly, the petition has gained over 20,000 supporters since its launch.
Seeing the film somewhat late in theaters with the knowledge of its negative criticism, I did enter my glorious local IMAX 3D theater with an open mind. Being the resident DC fanboy at With An Accent, I have to admit I did view this film with some bias. I love DC Comics and I was looking forward to seeing several of these characters I know and love make their big screen debut. I’ve watched all of the trailers numerous times within the past year, dissecting every piece of footage I could in anticipation for the film’s theatrical release. But as I sit down to write this review I realize I have to put my biases aside and give you my objective critique and let you know what worked and what didn’t work in this film. All that being said… I loved this movie!
The Good
Suicide Squad delivers a fun, action packed story with compelling characters and a few strong, standout performances. The film’s story is definitely simplistic and by-the-numbers, but it’s eclipsed by said characters and performances. Standing out from the pack are Will Smith’s Deadshot, Margot Robbie’s Harley Quinn, Viola Davis’ Amanda Waller, Jay Hernandez’s El Diablo, and Jai Courtenay’s Captain Boomerang.
Deadshot is easily the most well thought out character in the bunch, and is the one audiences can relate to most. An assassin for hire, Deadshot is your typical villain with a heart of gold who longs to be reunited with his daughter. Will Smith’s charisma adds a lot to the character, and while I did enjoy his performance, he really is just playing Will Smith with guns. But it works.
Margot Robbie’s Harley Quinn is very true to the source material and while we never exactly see why she falls for the murderous gangster, The Joker (Jared Leto), we do get a sense of how in love the two are with each other. Robbie does the character justice by staying upbeat and fun throughout, while showing hints of sadness and anger when necessary, though the costume choices for her are questionable.
I don’t think there’s anyone who thought Viola Davis could deliver a bad performance as Amanda Waller. Fortunately Davis meets our expectations as the hard-as-nails puppet master behind Task Force X. She knows what she wants and isn’t afraid to screw over people to get it. Early on, even her counterpart Rick Flag (Joel Kinnaman) finds reason to dislike her. There is one problem with her plan, though, but that is more a criticism of the film’s story rather than her character, so I’ll revisit it later.
Other standouts included El Diablo (Hernandez) and Captain Boomerang (Courtenay). El Diablo has taken a vow never to use his powers in battle following certain events that landed him in prison. As the film progresses we learn why this is so and it makes for a very sympathetic backstory. Captain Boomerang is just fun and funny throughout.
The film is set up in a way where we spend the first 20 or so minutes being introduced to the characters through flashbacks. Although there is a lot of expository dialogue in place to describe these characters, overall I enjoyed seeing their origins play out on screen. Deadshot’s and Harley’s are probably the most intriguing and feature a cameo from a certain Justice Leaguer. Though brief, it was great seeing this character on screen once again.
Once the backstories are complete we are thrown into the film’s “story,” and from then on it’s a fast paced adventure to the film’s climax. As I said before, the story is very simplistic and could be compared to characters in a video game fighting their way from level to level until they reach the final boss. I can see this aspect of the film turning a lot of people off, but for me it worked. I was never bored and had a lot of fun watching the impressive visuals and action sequences. The conclusion of one action scene in particular even lead to a short applause from a few audience members in my IMAX 3D theater.
It wasn’t just Harley’s shorts (though it was those too). She was just framed so much as an object on display. Like, why wasn’t she in a normal cell like everyone else? Why was she in that cage in the middle of the room where everyone could see her? There’s no explanation given for it, and so it really did make her seem that much more on display. Contrast her introduction with Deadshot’s; I don’t mean their backstories, but I mean the very first scenes in the prison with them. Obviously they are going to be different because they are different characters, but Harley’s wackiness still could have been introduced without it just being said over and over again, both by the script and the way it was shot, look at the pretty but crazy lady, but isn’t she pretty?
I definitely got the Guardians of the Galaxy vibe as well. It felt like someone at DC realized the basic similiarities between GotG and Suicide Squad, so when they were trying to make Suicide Squad they just popped in a dvd of GotG and copied some elements. The constantly changing pop soundtrack stood out a bit more here (the soundtrack switched between songs back to back much more frequently, and didn’t have the same framing device built into the film that GotG did). And then the bit in Guardians that always strained credulity to me – that suddenly they feel like a family, that “We Are Groot” in the end when they spent most of the film arguing with each other, was even stronger here. Suddenly at the end they’re all bff’s? They have been through a ton together and they were all more united against Waller/Flag, but even so, given that these are supposed to be hardened criminals, and without it being made clear it felt to me like they were only together as Task Force X for like 24 hours (if it was more than that, it wasn’t obvious at all), that seemed like a lot.
That being said, I enjoyed it too. Those are my nitpicks, but I did think it was fun, and these are my favorite characters that the DCEU has given us so far. I really could do with less Joker, but that’s because I want more of everyone else! My favorite Harley has always been post-Joker, running off doing crime with Poison Ivy Harley, and I got a similar vibe here with her and the others. More explanation for Katana and Killer Croc! They were good, so I want more, and as you say, hopefully the home release will deliver, and they’ll make a sequel expanding these characters even more.
I can see the Squad growing closer together in the few hours they spent together, but you’re right. When El Diablo drops that “family” line, it just didn’t feel warranted. Like yeah we’re cool with eachother, but family? Definitely doesn’t have the same impact as the “We Are Groot” thing.
And as I said, it is just a quibble. I’d like to see Harley grow by having to chose between Joker and the squad, and growing to realize the squad is better for her.