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nSuicide Squad (2016)
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nSuicide Squad is all about this top secret governmentnproject called “Task Force X” that unites a group of villains who are under thencustody of the federal government (read: in jail) in order to have them do thengovernments dirty work. So as it turns out, these villains end up being thenheroes, because an even more villainous witch called ‘The Enchantress’ is hell-bent on taking over the world. Innorder to achieve this, she brings to life her once dead, but equally powerfulnbrother. The Suicide Squad’s supposed to stop this all powerful entity. Willnthey achieve their mission? Or will their collective insanity tear the groupnapart?
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nIf you have seen Ayer’s body of work, then you will know why I was anbit disappointed here. I mean, Harsh Times (2005)? An amazing picture! End ofnWatch (2012) and Sabotage (2014) were both highly watchable in my book. Let’s not forget that Mr. Ayer was a greatnwriter before successfully transferring his talents to the directingndepartment. Before becoming a successful film director, he wrote amazingnscripts like Training Day (2001). So yes, I’m perplexed as to why Suicide Squadndidn’t blow me away story wise. With Ayer at the helm, I was expecting more ofnan edge to this film. When the film starts, you are first lambasted with a tonnof background stories for each character, which I thought was a mistake becausenwhat ends up happening is we get a bunch of fast forwarded versions of eachncharacters origin story. Hollywood’s forgotten that mystery is one of the majornelements of cinema, we don’t need to know every single little thing about everynsingle character; especially not in an ensemble piece like this one. I mean, ifnwe’re watching a solo Harley Quinn movie then fine, give me that full blown origin story. Otherwisenit’s too much, too fast. As it is, you get these little snippets of everybody’snstory squeezed into an already cluttered film. That’s problem number one.
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n It’s The Joker andnHarley Quinn that you want to see the most of. Sadly, the Joker isn’t on thenfilm as much as you’d think he is. Don’t know what the general consensus onnJared Letos Joker is, but I do know that the decision to make him The Jokerndivided fans. Me? I was happy with the choice; I’ve always thought he was an underusednactor. In my book he is one of the greats of his generation. His Joker is thenfirst to feel like a real gangster, like a crime boss, a guy who’d dabble in sellingndrugs in a night club while screwing his hot psychiatrist, I mean, he wasn’t so cartoony, he felt evil. Each representationnof the Joker has been special for different reasons, but I like where Leto isngoing with it. He wasn’t so much a comic book character, he felt closer to thenkind of gangster you’d find on the streets, only with make up on his face; lovednwhenever Joker and Harley were on screen. That scene of Joker rescuing HarleynQuinn while shooting a machine gun from a helicopter while laughing maniacally?nYes please! More of that!
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nWhere the DC cinematic universe is failing is in not givingnequal importance to each character. Some are the stars of the show because theynare played by the big stars, while characters like Killer Croc, Katana andnSlipknot are treated like throwaways. That’s something that Marvel movies neverndo. Even the smallest, weirdest characters are given their moment to shine in anMarvel movie. While in DC, the weird characters are simply that, weird. Sometimesnthe way they are portrayed makes you wonder why they are even there. Thatnboomerang throwing villain, why was he there? He does very little. Oh, he’s supposednto be the comic relief? He doesn’t do a good job of it either. Then there’snSlipknot a character introduced at the last minute, like that namelessncharacter that comes along for the mission on an episode of Star Trek, the one younjust know is going to bite the bullet. And so on. By comparison, in Marvelnmovies even Ant-Man gets epic!
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nOn the positive side of things the film does have itsnmoments which for me dealt with Harley Quinn and The Joker, and let’s face it.nThese two characters are the main draw of the film; it’s why the kiddies arengoing to see it. You think they care about a Boomerang throwing dude? Nope,ntheir butts are in those seats to see Joker and Harley fall madly in love. Thenvisuals that come out of that origin story are some of the best the film has tonoffer. I would have preferred seeing a Joker/Harley Quinn solo film instead ofnthis film, but whatever; maybe Warner Bros. will wise up and release it fornnext Valentine’s Day or something. The squad goes up against powerful villains,nalmost too powerful for the Suicide Squad, but that’s what this film is allnabout, it’s less about super powers and more about the tricks these charactersnhave up their sleeves. In the end, the film is told in a choppy manner. It’s messynstory wise and doesn’t flow. Some scenes feel forced, so much so that you cannpractically detect where they squeezed in those re-shoots. Still, thoughntroubled in certain areas, there’s fun to be had with Suicide Squad and thanksnto Harley and The Joker, it’s a success at the box office, but I’m going tonhave to side with the general consensus on this one, DC needs to start makingnbetter movies instead of making mediocre ones.
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