Suicide Squad

52 Replies

Anything I say about Suicide Squad needs to be weighed against the possibly discreditingbatman v superman fact that I liked Batman v. Superman. It was a mess, I’ll give you that. And a whole lot of it didn’t make a bit of sense, even by superhero standards. While there were at least a couple dozen things that I wish had been done completely differently, I walked out feeling exhilarated, as if I had just witnessed the start of something huge. And, for all that Marvel has done right, it’s never really produced a film (with the possible exception of Civil War, which hadn’t come out yet) that felt like such an event.

With Batman v. Superman, I was prepared for the worst. Even the trailers couldn’t hide some of the movie’s bigger problems. With Suicide Squad, which many had dared to hope would save the DC Extended Universe and put it back on the right track, the trailers were filled with bizarre and exciting images and I couldn’t wait to see how they fit into the larger story.

suicide squad 2By now you’ve probably read that a lot of people have felt let down by Suicide Squad. I was too. Its missteps aren’t as embarrassing as BvS’s were but its best moments weren’t as impressive either. Actually, while BvS ended with me feeling like I’d seen the biggest movie of the year, Suicide Squad ended with me wondering “Was that it?”.

Like in BvS, Suicide Squad has a lot to get done and a lot of characters to introduce and ten minutes in it becomes pretty clear that they have no idea what order to do it all in and just decided to throw scenes at you at random. This disorganization continues the whole way through.

As Harley Quinn, Margot Robbie steals every scene she’s in. Clearly insane and easy to suicide squad 1love, Quinn is the only character in the whole ensemble whose actions always make sense and Robbie is the only actor of the bunch who never makes a false move.

I’m a little less enthusiastic about the rest of the team. They include the ruthless hitman and unspoken group leader Deadshot (well, sort of a hybrid between Deadshot and Will Smith, played of course by Will Smith), Australian boomerang nut and notorious asshole Captain Boomerang (Jai Courtney), human flamethrower and recent pacifist El Diablo (Jay Hernandez), Reptilian cannibal Killer Croc (Adewale Akinnuoye-Agbaje), and rope specialist Slipknot (Adam Beach, who as the trailer suggests is barely in the movie). They don’t always come to life like they should but are at their best by far when they interact with each other. That’s the whole fun of the Suicide suicide squad 3Squad. Unfortunately, they don’t get nearly enough chance to just be themselves and play off one another. Like BvS, it’s far too interested in its needlessly complicated plot than it is in its characters.

Jared Leto’s Joker is the biggest disappointment. Not that it’s a bad performance. The Joker is every bit as menacing and captivating as he should be and Leto makes some very interesting choices but he’s barely in the movie and, when he is, his scenes are rarely relevant to the larger story. Leto’s take on the character never really gets a chance to resonate and deserved a film that used him better.

Suicide Squad has some terrific scenes and gets a lot of things right but overall it’s a missed opportunity to get the Extended Universe back on track. What’s worse, it doesn’t give much reason to hope it’ll get any better in future films.

52 thoughts on “Suicide Squad”

    1. Matt Post author

      What’s disappointing is that there was so much speculation and anticipation about how he’d fit into the story. It’s really too bad that the answer turned out to be “he doesn’t”.

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  2. garethrhodes

    This sounds like a life-sapping chore of a film to endure. I’m drawn to Margot Robbie as Harley, but the rest can swivel. I’ll make no more effort than to see this one idle late night on terrestrial TV. It’s a shame, ‘cos I’m a fan of all this jazzy superhero stuff. I wanted this to be great.

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    1. Matt Post author

      Me to. I root for DC over Marvel and hoped this would be amazing. I’d still recommend it for Harley alone but catching it on TV is probably your best bet.

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  3. Sean

    Extremely disappointing. It is a mess of a film and you’re right, there is nothing here to suggest this series is going to get better.

    The trailers for Justice League and Wonder Woman both look good though, and they can’t possibly screw those movies up, right?

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    1. Matt Post author

      Haha well put, Sir. I thought both of those trailers seemed promising en, especially Wonder Woman. There’ll be no excuse if they mess that one up.

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  4. Brittani

    D.C just needs to take their time, they’re rushing to compete with Marvel despite the fact that Marvel took their time to get to where they are. I still want to see this, but it’s disappointing to hear it isn’t as good as the trailers suggest.

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    1. Matt Post author

      Yeah, the trailers are definitely misleading. There were panicky resorts and post-production changes that a lot of what’s in the preview didn’t even make the final cut.
      I agree with you that they’re rushing.

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    2. allendemir

      That sounds like a common theme with the dichotomy between fan excitement over the trailers and fan disappointment over the films. I’d say I’m lucky I grew up reading Marvel.

      ..but that was during the ’90s.

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      1. Matt Post author

        Yes, you are very lucky because Marvel seems to be consistently pleasing its fans. That’s all a little light for my taste but I have to admit they’re doing a good job. I’m a DC guy so my hopes are dashed quite often.

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  8. vaderdarth1230

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  10. Widdershins

    I wasn’t impressed either … it felt like after the … let’s be nice and call ’em ‘issues’, with BvS everyone panicked, and this is the result.
    I don’t know if Marvel was the first franchise to actually put out a release schedule but since then it feels like everyone else thinks they have to do it too and be faster.
    Silly humans. 🙂

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    1. Matt Post author

      They need to slow down and stop trying to catch up to Marvel which had a five year head start. And they do have to stick to their guns a little bit. I’ve heard a lot of positive reviews of an early cut of Suicide Squad and I think they should have kept it as is.

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  11. ruth

    I just finished my review of this today. It’s a travesty what they did to Leto here. I don’t think he was as mesmerizing as Ledger in the role due to how the character was written but still, he deserves a film that utilizes him better.

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    1. Matt Post author

      heath Ledger’s interpretation will probably never be matched or topped but I thought Leto’s Joker showed a lot of promise and differed significantly enough from Heath’s to avoid the comparison. There’s just no telling though because the movie really didn’t give him a chance. I have no idea what happened, what the rationale could have possibly been for cutting everyone’s favourite character out of the movie.

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  13. Courtney Young

    You and I are in agreement with this one…it was lacking so much inspiration and direction. I didn’t mind Leto’s Joker; I preferred to watch him and Harley 1000x more than the rest of the forgettable cast. Have you seen interviews with Leto?? He’s so genuinely disappointed that nearly all of his scenes were cut. It’s so sad! Check out my review if you get a chance…I was pretty fair in my assessment.

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    1. Matt Post author

      Their scenes were very watchable. He was unnerving and charismatic at the same time and she was just right on the money. It makes no sense to me whatsoever that they cut out so much of the Joker. That’s who everyone wanted to see! Leto is clearly annoyed, you’re right, and I don’t blame him.

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      1. Matt Post author

        Maybe but I feel like the reactions were pretty positive once the previews started airing. I wonder if they thought that a lot of his scenes would be too dark for the lighter funnier version they tried to edit together at the last minute.

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      2. emmakwall

        Did all the fans moan about his make up then? Sorry I’m a little late to the party lol. What happened when they released picture?

        Apparently he was in the movie for 8 minutes! Mind you so was Judi Dench in Shakespeare in Love and she won a f*cking Oscar!

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      3. allendemir

        I think the general consensus (with which I had to agree) was that it looked like he was trying to hard, writing out “HAH HAH HAH” in tattoos. We get it, you’re the Joker. He definitely looks better from the other shots I’ve seen since then.

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  15. Wendell

    Messy? Sure. Deeply flawed in other areas, too? Absolutely. And I still enjoyed the hell out of this one. I loved the performances almost across the board. I am particularly fond of the work turned by Robbie, Smith, Hernandez, and Amanda Waller.

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  16. Matt Post author

    Yes to Hernandez! I regretted not getting a chance to compliment him in my review so I’m glad you brought him up. He’s my second favourite character in the film. I have to admit that I was disappointed with Viola Davis a bit. I mean, she’s never bad but I didn’t think she had quite the presence that Amanda Waller should have. I thought she was fine but she’s such a great actress I wanted her to just nail it.

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  18. Matt&April

    One of the more positive reviews I’ve seen for the movie. Most don’t seem like they know jack shit about the source material and are just whining about a flashy movie that they didn’t like. It’s no where near perfect, but it’s a good popcorn flick. I agree that it’s hard to see where this fits into the overall DC Universe though.

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    1. Matt Post author

      Thanks. I don’t think Suicide Squad was a good movie AT ALL and even as a popcorn flick could have been so much better but I do think the more negative reviews miss the point a little. I don’t think that this will fit into the DC Universe at all except for as an introduction to the Joker.

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  19. chbrown6

    I think that one of the most intelligent things done in this movie (which I completely loved by the way) is the linking it to a larger piece of the DC Cinematic Universe. It was nice to see the Flash pop in and the introduction to the other characters (ie Harley and the Joker) which will have a larger impact in future DC movies.
    Check out my review and blog if you’d like.
    https://fromustoyousite.wordpress.com/2016/08/14/suicide-squad-why-all-the-hate/

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  20. Matt Post author

    I liked a lot of it and thought the introduction of Harley Quinn and the Joker was promising enough but I was disappointed by the Flash cameo. I would have rathered they hold off until they could introduce him properly in the Justice League.

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  21. Khalid Rafi

    Ughh. This was bad. I start hating this movie the more I think about it.
    So many basic flaws, flaws you don’t expect from the most substandard films like; a cohesive narrative, proper editing, directing that allows you to understand exactly what’s going on. Yet this movie fails in all those areas. Such a mess…

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  22. Lloyd Marken

    I agree with a lot about a lot of things Matt. I also feel like as frustrated as I was by Batman Vs. Superman it sparked a larger reaction in me. The things I liked I really liked. Civil War which I can find few faults with just didn’t stick with me the same way. Suicide Squad like BVS drove me insane with what it got right being undermined by what they got wrong.

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