Suicide Squad
Year: 2016
Director: David Ayer
Starring: Viola Davis, Cara Delevingne, Joel Kinnaman, Margot Robbie & Will Smith
Runtime: 134 mins
BBFC: 15
Published: 24/08/21
Director: David Ayer
Starring: Viola Davis, Cara Delevingne, Joel Kinnaman, Margot Robbie & Will Smith
Runtime: 134 mins
BBFC: 15
Published: 24/08/21
To say Batman v Superman: Dawn of Justice was a disappointment for Warner Bros. would be an understatement. Whilst financially successful, being one of the highest grossing films of the year, the film was torn to shreds by critics and fans who loathed the incoherent story and extremely dark tone. In fact, it gave DC and Warner Bros. such a scare that the next film in the DC Extended Universe, Suicide Squad, was rushed into reshoots and hastily re-edited to give it a more upbeat tone. It seems as though Warner Bros. didn’t learn from BvS that rushing something, and forcing it to fit into a shared universe, doesn’t make for a fun experience.
In the wake of the death of Superman, U.S. Special Forces officer Amanda Waller (Viola Davis) convinces the government to greenlight her Task Force X project. The task force comprises of many of the United States most dangerous ‘meta-humans’ that will be sent on impossible missions, such as fighting the next Superman. The squad comprises itself of hitman Deadshot (Will Smith), the criminally insane Harley Quinn (Margot Robbie), the highly flammable El Diablo (Jay Hernandez), the deadly thief Captain Boomerang (Jai Courtney), and the abomination Killer Croc (Adewale Akkinuoye-Agbaje), and theur commander Rick Flag (Joel Kinnamen). The final squad member, Enchantress (Cara Delevingne) seizes her opportunity to escape and free her brother from captivity in the process; together they plan to destroy mankind…unless Task Force X, the Suicide Squad, can stop them.
In the wake of the death of Superman, U.S. Special Forces officer Amanda Waller (Viola Davis) convinces the government to greenlight her Task Force X project. The task force comprises of many of the United States most dangerous ‘meta-humans’ that will be sent on impossible missions, such as fighting the next Superman. The squad comprises itself of hitman Deadshot (Will Smith), the criminally insane Harley Quinn (Margot Robbie), the highly flammable El Diablo (Jay Hernandez), the deadly thief Captain Boomerang (Jai Courtney), and the abomination Killer Croc (Adewale Akkinuoye-Agbaje), and theur commander Rick Flag (Joel Kinnamen). The final squad member, Enchantress (Cara Delevingne) seizes her opportunity to escape and free her brother from captivity in the process; together they plan to destroy mankind…unless Task Force X, the Suicide Squad, can stop them.
Much like Batman v Superman, if you’re going to watch Suicide Squad you need to watch the Extended Cut, otherwise you’re just wasting your time. The theatrical cut of the film is an incoherent mess that has been put together by trailer production company, with all creative decision stripped from director David Ayer by Warner Bros.
But the Extended Cut doesn’t fare a whole lot better. Whilst the extra twenty minutes does allow for the story to be more engaging, provides more depth to the characters, and Ayer’s vision in the editing allow for a much better viewing experience, there’s only so much you can polish a turd.
I don’t mind the story; in fact, I like the more simplistic approach in comparison to Man of Steel & BvS’s bloated melodrama. But I feel like Enchantress is a bad villain whose motives don’t stretch any further than wanting to destroy humanity for shits and giggles. Those kinds of motivations are fine when backed up by good character development and a memorable performance to match, but neither are present with barely any time dedicated to Enchantress as a character, and Delevingne doing nothing more than talking in a booming voice whilst standing still at the top of a staircase doing some weird kind of belly dancing.
The dynamic between the squad itself is good and arguably the best part of the entire film. Smith and Robbie in particular have excellent chemistry and bounce off each other brilliantly. I feel like Akkinuoye-Agbaje also doesn’t get enough recognition for his performance, bringing a great amount of personality to Croc who has by far the least to actually do out of the squad.
The second act, where the squad has been brought together and sent out into Midway City, is the best part of the film. It allows the actors to really stretch their legs in these characters and has a good balance of action and dialogue.
If there’s one performance that can go down as awful though it’s Jared Leto’s interpretation of the Joker. Thankfully for us, and much maligned by the actor himself, he’s not in it much (because most of his scenes were cut out, even in the Extended Cut); but he’s there enough for Harley’s character development to put a bullet in the character for the rest of the DCEU. Some of it definitely isn’t down to Leto, as the character isn’t written like the Joker in any recognisable way; but Leto tries to swing so hard in the opposite direction from Heath Ledger’s portrayal in The Dark Knight that the character is simply unrecognisable as the clown prince of crime.
But the Extended Cut doesn’t fare a whole lot better. Whilst the extra twenty minutes does allow for the story to be more engaging, provides more depth to the characters, and Ayer’s vision in the editing allow for a much better viewing experience, there’s only so much you can polish a turd.
I don’t mind the story; in fact, I like the more simplistic approach in comparison to Man of Steel & BvS’s bloated melodrama. But I feel like Enchantress is a bad villain whose motives don’t stretch any further than wanting to destroy humanity for shits and giggles. Those kinds of motivations are fine when backed up by good character development and a memorable performance to match, but neither are present with barely any time dedicated to Enchantress as a character, and Delevingne doing nothing more than talking in a booming voice whilst standing still at the top of a staircase doing some weird kind of belly dancing.
The dynamic between the squad itself is good and arguably the best part of the entire film. Smith and Robbie in particular have excellent chemistry and bounce off each other brilliantly. I feel like Akkinuoye-Agbaje also doesn’t get enough recognition for his performance, bringing a great amount of personality to Croc who has by far the least to actually do out of the squad.
The second act, where the squad has been brought together and sent out into Midway City, is the best part of the film. It allows the actors to really stretch their legs in these characters and has a good balance of action and dialogue.
If there’s one performance that can go down as awful though it’s Jared Leto’s interpretation of the Joker. Thankfully for us, and much maligned by the actor himself, he’s not in it much (because most of his scenes were cut out, even in the Extended Cut); but he’s there enough for Harley’s character development to put a bullet in the character for the rest of the DCEU. Some of it definitely isn’t down to Leto, as the character isn’t written like the Joker in any recognisable way; but Leto tries to swing so hard in the opposite direction from Heath Ledger’s portrayal in The Dark Knight that the character is simply unrecognisable as the clown prince of crime.
I feel like the reshoots to make the film’s tone lighter were a good decision, as particularly coming off the back of BvS this film is instantly more fun. But this doesn’t mean it totally shies away from the darker tone DC wanted to go for with the DCEU as the film is considerably more violent than Man of Steel & BvS, netting itself a 15 rating from the BBFC.
It doesn’t do mature as well as Deadpool or Logan however, as it never swings hard enough for either drama or comedy to stand up against either.
Despite its occasional flourishes of colour, the film is also the most visually dark of the DCEU films so far with almost all of it taking place at night in a destroyed city. So, it’s not overly appealing to the eyes, and the cinematography doesn’t compare to Snyder’s ever impressive shots.
It does have a great soundtrack though, but that’s because it’s mostly licensed songs and many of them don’t suit the occasion they’re used for. It’s a haphazard use of some great songs and whilst you’ll definitely appreciate the track list, their inclusion doesn’t strengthen the film in any meaningful way.
All in all, Suicide Squad is best forgotten about. It may not bore you to tears as much as BvS does, but you’ll most certainly never want to watch it again either. Its connections to the DCEU are flimsy at best, even with two sequels (Birds of Prey, and The Suicide Squad) having been released since the time of writing. Plus, the fact that the director doesn’t really want to be associated with the project anymore kind of signals the kind of film Suicide Squad is. Just another black mark in the increasingly underwhelming DC film output.
It doesn’t do mature as well as Deadpool or Logan however, as it never swings hard enough for either drama or comedy to stand up against either.
Despite its occasional flourishes of colour, the film is also the most visually dark of the DCEU films so far with almost all of it taking place at night in a destroyed city. So, it’s not overly appealing to the eyes, and the cinematography doesn’t compare to Snyder’s ever impressive shots.
It does have a great soundtrack though, but that’s because it’s mostly licensed songs and many of them don’t suit the occasion they’re used for. It’s a haphazard use of some great songs and whilst you’ll definitely appreciate the track list, their inclusion doesn’t strengthen the film in any meaningful way.
All in all, Suicide Squad is best forgotten about. It may not bore you to tears as much as BvS does, but you’ll most certainly never want to watch it again either. Its connections to the DCEU are flimsy at best, even with two sequels (Birds of Prey, and The Suicide Squad) having been released since the time of writing. Plus, the fact that the director doesn’t really want to be associated with the project anymore kind of signals the kind of film Suicide Squad is. Just another black mark in the increasingly underwhelming DC film output.