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Rating: 1.5 out of 5
I decided to watch every movie of the DC Extended Universe. The Universe has been the unwanted stepchild behind the massive and extremely popular Marvel Cinematic Universe. Marvel is a class of their own, and DC is so far behind the eight-ball that I don’t even know why they are trying. The whole universe is a mess, with some movies being good and some being downright trash. During my movie adventure, I decided to rewatch the first Suicide Squad. I remember when it first came out, and I watched it in theaters. Was it bad back in 2016? Yes, it was. It was a mess of a film. Now that I am older and wiser, I wanted to see if it was still bad or if my thoughts about the whole thing changed.
Suicide Squad is the third installment in the DC Extended Universe, written and directed by David Ayer. In the aftermath of Superman’s death at the end of the terrible Batman v Superman film, the world seems worried about what will happen. Badass and strong black woman Amanda Waller, played by the excellent Viola Davis, is like, “Not on my watch,” and convinces the US Government to greenlight Task Force X. What is Task Force X, you might ask? It is a team of criminals and supervillains tasked with fighting off metahumans who threaten the United States. Waller has complete control over them using nanite bombs implanted in each criminal’s neck. Waller is not messing around but states that the criminals will have their sentences reduced.
The film moves along with showing Dr. June Moone (Delevingne), an American archeologist who rolls up in a cave and finds a statue. The statue has the essence of a witch called Enchantress. Enchantress possesses Moone, and Waller takes her heart as it is the only way to control and wound the powerful witch. Waller’s subordinate, Colonel Rick Flag (Kinnaman), is also in a loving relationship with Moone, which complicates things, and Waller makes him team leader of Task Force X. You see where this is going? Shit is about to get real and messy. When Enchantress betrays Waller by bringing her brother Incubus back, conquering Midway City, and turning citizens into caviar-head-looking monsters, Waller initiates Task Force X to bring Enchantress down.
Waller hand picks each member of the task force consisting of famed hitman Deadshot (Smith), who Waller gave up to Batman; Harley Quinn (Robbie), the crazy but beautiful psychiatrist who became the girlfriend of the Joker (Leto) and Queen of Gotham; Australian thief Captain Boomerang (Courtney); a pyrokinetic ex-gangster El Diablo (Hernandez) who doesn’t kill anymore and wants to be left alone; Killer Croc (Akinnuoye-Agbaje) who is a mutant that eats people and wants to watch BET and finally Slipknot who is only in the film for like 30 seconds. Helping Flag keep these villains in line is Katana, a Japanese swordswoman who sword harbors the souls of everyone it cuts down.
That was clear, was it? Well, the film had a way of messing everything up and making it confusing as hell. I see what DC was trying to do. They saw how good Guardians of the Galaxy was and thought we could do the same thing. Guardians have heroes that have yet to be heard of; let’s make villains no one has quite heard of, and it should work! Let’s copy and paste the whole film. Guardians had a fantastic soundtrack with their movie; we can have a great soundtrack with ours. It was a complete copy and paste of the film, and it didn’t succeed.
The story is all over the place, even with its copy-and-paste mentality. It has one of the quickest background stories for the cast you can think of. That is one of the major problems with this film. When Waller explains each member, they give a short background; after a while, you don’t have a connection with them. If all of them actually died, you would shrug your shoulders and move on. There was no connection. The story seemed to throw everything into a blender and hope for the best. In one direction, the team goes out to stop Enchantress, but along the way, they save Waller. You sit there and wonder why she is in the city and why the team isn’t focusing on the main threat. I’m sorry, but what the fuck was with the Joker scenes. Yes, he was trying to get his woman back, but he was a waste of movie time. It made no sense. When the team returned to fighting the Enchantress, it was so bad and unentertaining that you want to hit the hurry-up button.
The film focuses more on Smith’s Deadshot and Robbie’s Quinn. Since they are the main stars, I see why. Actually, this film is more about Robbie Quinn than anything else. She has all the crazy lines and is the most fun to watch. Seeing her strut her stuff in those short shorts was nice to look at, and everyone and their mom was cosplaying that outfit. With this, everyone takes a back seat. Even though the film tries to force us into the Joker realm, he is overshadowed by Robbie. It was nice to see that the DCEU decided to have a Quinn’s spinoff film.
I am trying to figure out what was going on with the filming of this film. It was freakin DARK. I don’t mean the story was dark, but the lighting was dark. It was hard to watch because it seemed like it was filmed in the sewers or darkest alleyway. Batman movies are dark, but the lighting in those films was good enough to see what was going on.
As far as the cast goes, many of the characters are forgettable. Let’s talk about the ones that stood out the most. As stated earlier, Margot Robbie as Dr. Harleen Quinzel/Harley Quinn stood out the most. She was amazing and fun to watch. She was the perfect casting for the character, and I can’t see anyone else playing this character. Robbie showed Quinn as the insane, bubbly, and crazy person that she is in the films. She also had the iconic costume from the Batman Animated Series.
Will Smith as Floyd Lawton/Deadshot was okay. He showed Floyd as a man who is a mercenary during the day but also a loving father. I felt like Smith was alright in his performance, but it wasn’t anything special. I can’t describe it because his performance was meh. Then there is Jared Leto as The Joker. I felt like he got a raw deal. First, he had to follow the legendary performance of Heath Ledger, and then it felt like he was in the film for like 5 minutes when he was promoted as a main draw. It would probably be better if he had more time on screen. In the short time, he showed the Joker as a ruthless and insane character. I have to admit that the tattoos were different.
My favorite character in the whole film was Viola Davis as Amanda Waller. She was a total BADASS. Davis showed Waller as a strong, no bullshit, do everything she can, intelligent BLACK woman!! Besides Robbie, Davis was the BEST part of the film. She talked down to everyone and dared them to try something. When she was rescued the first time, she took out that gun and killed everyone. She did not mess around. LOVE YOU VIOLA DAVIS!!
I think that is enough. Suicide Squad is one of those films that is so bad. If you want to watch it for Robbie and Davis, you will not be disappointed. The story is awful and all over the place. The characters are straight-up garbage, and you might as well forget them as you see. Hey, if you want a good laugh and a film that makes you scratch your head, then come on down and hit play.
