Suicide Squad (2016)

Suicide Squad (2016)

Dir: David Ayer

A new DC blockbuster has hit the screens, coming off the back of the lackluster Batman Vs Superman (BvS). Warner Bros have tried to install a grittier superhero world, transferring the tonal tissue left behind from Christopher Nolan’s Dark Knight Trilogy, which distances itself from their Marvel counterparts. Suicide Squad is the third film in this expanded universe, following Zack Snyder’s Man of Steel and BvS. Now, to start I confess I have a lot of time for Man of Steel, even with its faults I thought it had some great ideas plotted in its first half and Hans Zimmer’s score was brilliant. However I really did not like BvS. It was all over the place. Its structure and pacing was so stop start with no real through line to the whole narrative. Therefore, the reaction BvS received gave Suicide Squad huge expectations to deliver. And it does not deliver at all.

Basically, the plot to Suicide Squad is Viola Davis’ character Amanda Waller wants to band together a group of villains to protect the United States against beings who hope to cause destruction. Leading us to be introduced to characters Deadshot, Harley Quinn, Killer Croc and others in a lengthy expository rich sequence. Then a supernatural being begins to demolish ‘Midway City’ that is conveniently evacuated straight away so Man of Steel/BvS like mayhem can ensue without the threat of innocent casualties. I am trying to be as vague as possible in the attempt to avoid spoilers.

I should start with parts of the film that I did like. What I think may save this movie from being a disaster like Fant4Stic are the performances, as some are very well drawn out. Will Smith executes his portrayal of Deadshot in a very good fashion as we are connected to his motivations with him being a father as well as being a hitman. However on a side note, any character who gets three separate introductions should have built up some connection with the audience. Margot Robbie is a convincing Harley Quinn, possessing that daft loud talking exterior whilst being absolutely psychotic underneath. I’m not affiliated with Harley Quinn’s character as much as say Batman but from I have read in novels such as Hush or seen in the Arkham games, Margot Robbie does capture that essence of the character that was one of the lonely pillars of positivity for this feature. Other characters such as El Diablo, a fire wielding villain with unknown potential of his power was a very conflicted character and probably the best part of the film for me. Jai Courtney’s Captain Boomerang as well, whilst having almost a superfluous part to play in the final battle, was incredibly funny and I really enjoyed his presence every time he was on screen.

Now I am going to try and restrict the amount of negativity I have for this film as some may lead to spoilers. But for anyone intending to see this film I feel certain aspects need to be addressed. Reading and listening to reviews of this film, which I have seen twice now, the main gripe most have is with the structure. It begins with introduction of Will Smith and Margot Robbie and their treatment in this maximum security facility, to then Amanda Waller meeting with government officials to persuade them to endorse her idea of using a group of villains for good. And as she lists through each individual we have little vignettes of who they are and what makes them villains. Even though for this opening to work there has to be plenty of expository dialogue, it does become monotonous after a while. Then for Harley Quinn we see her backstory and relationship with the Joker (played by Jared Leto) and it kind of feels like this film is the sequel to this footage. In the way it is edited as these flashbacks keep occurring and drag us out of the moment, which I found to be quite jarring; reiterating the feeling it’s harking back to a previous film.

Yet after all this and we are introduced to the sub plot of the villain, their motivations aren’t fully formed because Ayer and co. needed to flesh out the central character’s motivations. Very similar to James Gunn’s Guardians of the Galaxy, but we’ll get to that in a minute. So after all this set up and the attack on ‘Midway City’ commences, the Suicide Squad is tasked to enter the city for some reason. I say for some reason because what could a psychotic girl with a baseball bat, a criminal with a boomerang and a samurai master do to a demi-god? And while this elongated 3^rd Act occurs with no 2^nd Act at all, we continue to have these flashbacks with Harley and the Joker.

It’s difficult to escape the comparisons with Guardians as they share similar ideas, where a band of misfits work together in a fun space opera with intelligently used pop songs that works with what’s on screen. Except Suicide Squad ineffectively balances grit and fun whilst having disjointed uses of pop songs. And many people may feel it is unjust to make the comparison to Guardians of the Galaxy but it is completely justified. In the way they try to emulate Guardians upbeat tone but within the DC grittier cinematic universe, just didn’t work and felt incredibly forced. Almost like the studio were trying to find the best of both worlds instead of just going one direct route, gritty or fun. But after the backlash of BvS, there were many reports of reshoots for Suicide Squad in the attempt to make more upbeat and have more comical elements. This really did frustrate me because David Ayer had just come off a superb World War Two drama Fury (2014) which is centred on a small group of soldiers in a tank. The relationships between the characters was engaging and the atmosphere was incredibly eerie and intense. So naturally Warner Bros gave Ayer this project from what must have been a convincing pitch that shared similar aesthetic markers to the style seen in Fury. But because of the reception BvS received, it had that familiarity with Fant4Stic, with how the studio must have intervened into the project. Instead of giving Ayer creative control of the feature and allowing it to fail or succeed in the director’s intended vision.

However, this isn’t the most annoying part of the movie for me. The gold medal for that goes to Jared Leto’s portrayal of the infamous Joker. Now Jared Leto is a brilliant actor, no question about it. His performances in Requiem for a Dream and Mr Nobody back up his credibility as an exceptional performer. But his acting here was just so off the mark. Either he was directed in that way or that’s what he brought to the table and it was accepted by Ayer, but it still resulted in a pantomime version of the Joker. It reminded so much of Jim Carrey’s The Riddler in Batman Forever (1995) as well as the classic Ace Ventura in just how goofy he was. Additionally the marketing for Suicide Squad looks now borderline false advertising, as the Joker featured prominently in every trailer but in the final edit he had no effect on the plot and every time he did appear I wanted the scene to end. His gangster dynamic of the Joker really didn’t work for me either. Jack Nicholson’s Joker did have mobster connections but after his accident his character takes a complete left turn to embody the nihilistic personality. Leto’s character seems to betray this anarchic nature and his disregard to materialism and money. This Joker had a gangster type appearance with gold chains and tailored suits showing he has interest in trends. That indicated to me anyway, that his unique look with the green hair and bleached white skin, was just a fashion statement too. Rather than it being a bizarre appearance that links back to his past.

It’s difficult to quantify this movie as it seemed to have a lot of studio input. And even with the character-driven plot, I can’t really support Suicide Squad as it is just a complete mess with one very well crafted scene in a bar around the middle part of the film. We’ll have to wait and see what Justice League and Wonder Woman have in store for us next year and how after 3 highly divided features, if Warner Bros make a change to their creative licencing for their upcoming projects.

Oh and if anyone knows why Cara Delavigne contorts her body the way she does throughout the movie whilst sounding like Gozer from the Ghostbusters, please let me know I’d really appreciate it.