Genre: Superhero Film
Directed: David Ayer
Stars: Will Smith, Margot Robbie, Joel Kinnaman, Viola Davis, Jai Courtney, Jay Hernandez, Adewale Akinnuoye-Agbaje, Cara Delevingne, Karen Fukuhara, Jared Leto, Adam Beach, Ike Barinholtz, Scott Eastwood
Production: DC Entertainment
If anything, Suicide Squad should be viewed as a cautionary tale for eager film students worried about the perversion of their vision by crass, avaricious and abusive film executives and studios. Thus far Director David Ayer has been towing the line, but there's no telling if and when he'll be lobbing accusations of studio meddling in the near future. Somewhere deep, deep, deep, deep down in the ashy crevasses of this film's soul, lies a good movie. One that has no need for contrived plots and flashbacks doubling as character development. Yet as it stands, the theatrical version of this set of tangentially related scenes is nothing more than a floppy, limping, barely-alive footnote in the joyless black parade that is the DC Extended Universe. At this point the only argument that can be made in favor of this film's merits is that it's not Batman Vs. Superman (2016).
Seriously, how did you dumba**es screw this idea up?! |
If the first rule of visual storytelling is "don't tell the audience what they already know," then this movie not only breaks that rule but sets it on fire then stomps on it. We are introduced to our anti-heroes, their arsenals and their motivations for accepting such a cockamamie scheme a handful of times. At one point the film straight up brings out the files on them, followed by on-the-nose theme music, personifying tile cards and stats resembling a "choose your character" mod on a cheap video game. Then we get the flashbacks oh the flashbacks, which are not there to service the story at all but are there to remind you whether not you like it, Jared Leto is going to be playing the Joker for a while and Ben Affleck is still Batman.
He'll probably sell a lot of T-shirts though |
Likewise Harley is at her best a pale imitation of Heath Ledger's Joker, interjecting El Diablo's tragic backstory with a nihilistic "own that s**t" that she herself doesn't even believe. At her worst though she's a skimpy, studio assembled, polyester sex pot whose strength is undermined by an abusive romance that has pockmarked many a comic book. She holds her own in a few fights and actress Margot Robbie does seem to be having some fun, but the image of her perched atop a wrecked taxi in the rain bemoaning the loss of her "puddin" is enough to dismantle the entire idea that she can be her own character.
There are a few standouts including Jai Courtney as the flamboyantly named Captain Boomerang. He's a cut-and-run jerk through and through and revels in the douche-baggery of his own making. Plus since he's not exactly part of the squads inner-ring, he's immune to the film telling us what he's about three or four times. Will Smith's Deadshot character arc is treated with a modicum of respect which is aptly complimented by the man actually trying for the first time in ten years. Yet even then you can tell that there was a lot of him left on the cutting room floor. The film settles for giving the character the complexity of an average paint-by-numbers anti-hero with a secret heart of gold. A heart that’s not coaxed out by anything more substantial than the budding bromance between himself and Col. Flag.
Please make the voices stop! |
Goddammit! |
Final Grade: F
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