When Warner Brothers announced their DC Extended Universe following the success of Man of Steel, it looked as though Marvel would have some competition. Sure the Marvel Cinematic Universe is basically its own empire with great action, humor and characters, but their films are based around the lower tier of superheroes like Iron Man and Captain America, who were both at a point in time considered a joke. With DC going all in on this whole franchise/universe thing all us superhero fans jumped up in joy. Finally, we were getting to the good stuff. Finally, we would see a film with Batman and Superman. Finally, we would get the first ever live action Wonder Woman movie. Finally, the Justice League were going to be on the big screen.
Not only that, but we would get something that DC undeniably does better than DC: Their Villains. Villains like The Joker, Harley Quinn, Lex Luthor, Doomsday, Deadshot, Killer Croc, and many more. And for those who don’t in the DC Universe, some of these villains have their own team in the form of the “Suicide Squad”, a last resort team of villains sent in to take down something far worse than them. That sounds like a brilliant idea for a movie. Which begs the question what the hell happened with Suicide Squad, a boring, messy, tonally inept film that completely wastes its colorful cast of characters for a bland and predictable story.
Following the (Spoiler Alert) death of Superman, government official Amanda Waller (Viola Davis) decides create Task Force X out of a group of villains in case anything non-human comes to attack Earth. After a presence like this appears, it’s up to this “Suicide Squad” to save the city and the world.
Where did it all go wrong? The casting for every character seemed perfect from Margot Robbie as Harley Quinn all the way to Davis as Amanda Waller. David Ayer who brought us fantastic films like Fury, Training Day, and End of Watch emerged as a solid choice as writer/director of the project, and the first trailer that broke the internet with its fantastic use of Queen’s “Bohemian Rhapsody” was exceptional. Add in a soundtrack including a new theme from Twenty One Pilots and everything seemed to be riding high, until the film ended and it dawned on me that one of my most anticipated movies of the year was just as bad as last year’s Fantastic Four.
The plot of the film is completely generic, with the bad guys need to stop the evil guy idea seeming fresh but then the story delves into cliché after cliché after cliché after…you get the idea. Nothing about the story seems interesting, you know how the movie is going to play out from scene one, and any “twists”, if there even are any, are spotted from a mile away, the story abandons its great cast and characters with a boring pseudo origin-story that never throws a wild card at you.
The dialogue between characters is especially clunky, with several moments identifying as “Character-building” moments seeming awkward, like all of actors forgot how ridiculous their lines were and couldn’t believe what they were saying. The one-liners don’t stick, the comedy falls flat, and anything fun seemed to be thrown in there because Warner Brother realized Batman vs. Superman was about as fun as suffering a concussion.
With all of this in mind, most of the cast does keep things entertaining. Will Smith brings as much charisma as he possibly can as Deadshot, Robbie as Harley Quinn is the best part of the movie, even though the film doesn’t show enough of how tragic a character she truly is. Jai Courtney is great for the ten minutes of screen time he actually gets, and everyone on the team does a decent enough job to make you want this team to succeed. While Viola Davis does her best “I’m a complete bitch” impression and does it beautifully.
The actual “Suicide Squad” is fine, while Cara Delevingne is over-the-top as the film’s antagonist The Enchantress, but everyone wants to know: How is Jared Leto as The Joker? Now, the last live action portrayal of this villain was Heath Ledger in The Dark Knight and he was ok (Sarcasm) and before that The Joker was played by the magnificent Jack Nicholson. So needless to Leto did have some huge shoes to fill, and he took one look at those shoes and decided to take a massive shit in them. Leto is truly awful in Suicide Squad. His scenes are undoubtedly the film’s lowest points, even lower than the horrible story and action. Every time he was on screen I stared in awe wondering how the hell Leto thought a performance like this would win over the masses. He’s the human equivalent of a coked up Chihuahua and you just hope he shuts up so we can get to any scene that doesn’t include him in it.
Suicide Squad is a complete wash. A loud incoherent mess that proves the DC Extended Universe has a long way to go. When a studio and filmmaker miss the mark with a cast like this playing memorable characters like this there has to be something fundamentally wrong with those involved. Funny enough at the film’s New York premiere David Ayer screamed “Fuck Marvel” to a loud ovation. Trying to stir the pot of this called rivalry I see? That’s cute. If this is a rivalry, Suicide Squad is a massive win…for Marvel.
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