Suicide Squad is not as bad as everyone says.
I went into Suicide Squad expecting the worst. After Batman V Superman, I didn’t have a lot of faith in this new DCEU movie. Batman Vs. Superman broke my heart. As the worlds biggest Batman fan (no you’re not, I am) BVS should have been the best movie ever for me, but within 20 minutes of that film, I told my friend Lucas, “This movie sucks!” He agreed. And it just kept getting worst. I could go on about why I didn’t like that film, but this is not a BVS review. I’m over it. (Not really.) This is a Suicide Squad review and let me tell you, it’s pretty f#@$%&$ good. Beauty is in the eye of the beholder, and like thinking a girl is pretty when your best friend doesn’t think “she’s all that,” Suicide Squad was pretty. It has it’s flaws, but like someone you fall for, the squad is not perfect. But you love them anyway. From the get go I was like “This is gonna suck.” But it didn’t. And within 20 minutes of the movie, I thought to myself “This is already better than BVS.” (But I’m totally over that film.)
The movie opens with a scene with Deadshot, played by the uber famous Will Smith. When I heard that he was playing Floyd Lawton, I thought that Smith’s stardom would overshadow Deadshot’s character. But Smith is perfect as Deadshot. He plays him with the same darkness, pain and grit that he used for Hancock. Fans of that film will love his performance. Much like Deadshot, Will Smith’s lines find their mark every time. He never misses. The movie goes on with the ruthless Amanda Waller, a high ranking government agent (played by Viola Davis) telling her colleagues about the rest of the members from Task Force X, over a fancy dinner. Imaging Nick Fury, but as a woman. And mean as @#$%!
The beginning of the film definitely stands out. While Amanda tells her colleagues about each member of the squad, we get to see a back story/origin story about the squad. You meet Diablo, Killer Croc, Captain Boomerang and finally in live action, the infamous Harley Quinn played perfectly by Margo Robbie. She’s perfect for the role but I did have some problems with her character. And it’s not her fault. She just needed more screen time. As the movie goes on she starts feeling like a prop or a gimmick, only good for the one liners.There’s also the sword swinging Katana, and June Moone Aka The Enchantress. With a killer soundtrack for each member of the team, we quickly get to meet Task Force X, and get what’s going on. Amanda Waller has them by the balls and if they don’t do her bidding, she will blow their freaking heads off! We also can’t forget about Rick Flag, played by Joel Kinnaman, who surprised me a lot. Didn’t expect to like him. He’s an ice cold soldier, but he’s also the heart of the story. (I did something there you’ll appreciate when you see the film.) He’s in charge of keeping the squad in line. Oh! I almost forgot about Slipknot played by Adam Beach. He’s the biggest joke in the movie and that’s all his character is good for. I’m still laughing at that scene.
After the intro, Squad turns into your typical superhero movie. Big bad evil guy is trying to destroy the world and the Suicide Squad has to save the day or they die. The consensus seemed to be that after the first 20 minutes, the film becomes incoherent and messy. The plot makes no sense and “Blah, blah, blah. All that talking is gonna get cha hurt.” But what’s there to get? Like I said. There’s a demon or whatever that took over Midway City and needs to be stopped. Got it. The premise serves one purpose and one purpose only. A reason for the Suicide Squad to kick some ass. And ass they kick! Well most of them do. I couldn’t get enough of Deadshot’s gunplay, Harley Quinn’s baseball bat, and Diablo is surprisingly powerful. The rest of the team have their moments too, but they come very few and too little. And that’s the problem with Suicide Squad. Like many superhero movies before it, Squad has trouble focusing on every member of the team, and that’s what happens when you have too many characters in a movie. (I’m talking to you Spider-man 3 and The Amazing Spider-man 2.) The Avengers did this best. Reason being that all the characters had been introduced in their own individual movies. You have more room to play when the audience is already invested in the characters.
From the get go, this DC films felt rushed and like they were an after thought inspired by the success of Man of Steel. When characters like Boomerang or Killer Croc say something, you see that they have a certain quality and charm and you wish they had more to do in the movie. The special effect are not great but they work. I wouldn’t recommend seeing it in 3D though. The glasses just made everything dark. OK. Now, “What about The Joker and Batman” you say? Don’t worry. I saved the best for last. Yes, Batman is in the movie and yes Ben Affleck is still a great Batman. He was the best part of BVS and here when he’s on screen, it looks like a page from the comics or a scene from the DCU animated movies. Now let’s talk about The Joker. Yes, he has tattoos. Yes, he has a grill. Yes, that’s not the Joker we’re used to. But Jared Leto is so interesting as the clown prince of crime. He’s different but still feels like the Joker. His voice is perfect and he plays him with a certain depth that I’ve never seen before in the Joker, on screen. You can see a sadness in him. You can almost see all the crazy thoughts swirling in his head. Maybe he’s sad because he’s not in the movie very much, and it’s hard to really get to love Letto’s Joker like we did Heath’s. You just like him. But from what I saw, the mantle of the Joker is in good hands. Suicide Squad got horrible reviews. Yes, it’s no Deadpool and it’s not as good as Civil War, but Suicide Squad is a movie that I had no hope for, and ended up liking more than the the other DCEU films. Both DCU fans and people who just want to see a good summer flick will enjoy Suicide Squad. It’s worth 2 hours and 10 bucks.
7\10
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