Suicide Squad Review - (Spoilers - Plot/Characters Discussion)

(SPOILER ALERT – I am trying to inject more details into my critique that allows me to go into the positives and negatives of the film. This means that I can be honest about my thoughts on the film and showcase the different parts of the film that are in need of analysis. So, check the last few paragraphs of the film to get my overall thoughts and rating for this film if you wish to avoid spoilers and really get my two cents on it right away.)

Well, it seems like the summer has begun to wind down for big budget, Hollywood films and this year has been mostly a dud for them with the exception of the smaller, independent films breaking out and actually being enjoyable to watch more so than the expensive big films being released at the moment.  With the lukewarm response to Warner Bros. /DC's second film within their Cinematic Universe called Batman V. Superman, the weight of hype and anticipation to justify the creative choices and existence of these films rests with an offbeat, villain team up adventure film from writer/director David Ayer (End of Watch, Fury, Sabotage) based on the comic book series called Suicide Squad.   With a stellar cast portraying prominent and comic book exclusive characters from the series and DC books along with a director utilizing his experience with cast chemistry and group characters dynamics, it seems like a reliable combination to inject some world building and interest for more films set within this story universe.  Does the film succeed in being not only a fun, entertaining film that serves as a good way to inject some energy into a stagnant cinematic universe where Man of Steel and Batman V. Superman faltered in doing so, or is this yet again another compromised film that has some great moments of drama, character development, and action but nothing to really hold it together in its narrative structure in the script and/or the fast, loose direction that David Ayer is known for in his previous films? Let’s dive into it and see why these crazies and criminals were recruited in the first place.

It has been some time after the battle in Gotham City/Metropolis with Doomsday as well as the loss of Superman, allowing for the world to recognize him as the hero he inspired to be in life. This gives a certain, shrewd woman known as Amanda Waller (Viola Davis) a concern regarding humanity’s defense against the growing appearances of Meta-Humans and the dangers they bring to the world. She proposes to the higher ups of the CIA and Military that she wants to form a special operative group filled with criminals and villains with abilities and skills to fight the battles that humans are unable to called Taskforce X. She runs through the dossiers of a series of villains from different DC comic worlds such as Deadshot (Will Smith), a crack shot assassin who kills for the highest bidder to take care of his daughter as a father until his capture. Next up, Harley Quinn (Margot Robbie) crazed acrobat and squeeze for The Joker (Jared Leto), whose agility and quick reflexes allow her to be versatile and deadly in combat. Followed by Diablo (Jay Hernandez), a flamethrower Meta-Human that can produce massive heat with his ability to scorch people out of existence. You also have Captain Boomerang (Jai Courtney), an Australian thief that utilizes gadgets and techs via his boomerang to steal before he was captured. The rest of the team are Killer Croc (Adewale Akinnuoye-Agbaje), a deformed reptilian man who craves human flesh, Slipknot (Adam Beach), with the tech and skills to grapple and climb around with ease. They are all kept under the thumbs of both Waller and Colonel Rick Flag (Joel Kinnaman), a war veteran who is in love with an archaeologist Dr. June Moone (Cara Delevingne) who houses within her a spirit of a witch entity called Enchantress as well as being protected from the squad with a Japanese Swordswoman Katana (Karen Fukuhara) wielding a spiritually fueled sword upon killing a person with it, absorbs their souls into the sword to suffer eternal torment in it.

The main players of Deadshot, Harley Quinn, Diablo, Colonel Flag, and Enchantress get backstories via flashbacks and their stories are tied into the main conflict of the film regarding a dimensional rift that takes place at the heart of Midway City (DC’s version of Chicago, Detroit). This prompts the government to approve of Waller’s formation of Taskforce X and inject convicted members of the team with Nano-Bombs that can be detonated and explode their necks/heads (?) if they try to escape from the mission site. This is the main incentive for them to be kept in check before they discover the truth behind the incident and realize that their pettiness towards good and evil must be put aside for a threat that could end up destroying the entire world. They eventually have to put aside their differences and become the heroes they never were able to be, despite being the bad guys to save Midway City and the world.

There were a few story arcs and character moments that did pique some interest for the film. The first one is with Joker and Harley Quinn’s romance, which happens to be the most fascinating story line regarding those characters despite not receiving enough time to develop their relationship. While it does have a few clichés and the execution of the father/daughter dilemma especially near the end is quite goofy and cheesy as hell, Deadshot has the most empathetic story of the cast and is easy to follow as the supposed lead of the group other than Flag. The setup of the squad and their flashback stories was actually interesting to watch unfold and kept the pace even in developing them before the start of the mission. It is also worth mentioning that the bar scene is the one major time we get to see the characters truly work off of each other and you see the true potential that this film had to establish a really memorable team-up. While these story/character components make for the only legitimate good elements to be present here with the plot, there is a slew of issues with the overall narrative that feels disjointed and lacks any sense of cohesion to each of the scenes.

The story is very simplistic in its conflict but overloaded with new characters entering this expanded cinematic universe that Warner Bros./DC are trying to introducing in this film. The majority of it happens to be a series of flashbacks and exposition for at least 40-50 minutes to develop these characters before the mission. That’s right, a chunk of this film dedicated to character development without really moving the plot forward or providing a legitimate reason for the formation of Taskforce X. While the principal cast gets development and arcs to their characters from start to finish, the majority of the cast is left on the sideline and barely impact the story at all which includes The Joker ironically enough. This pertains to the supporting cast of Slipknot, Katana, Killer Croc, and Captain Boomerang as they have distinctive looks and skills but literally zero character development outside the few moments we focus on them for a so called joke/gag or moment with them. The Enchantress ends up being the villain along with Incubus (her brother statue) and they are almost like kinsmen to the lame, forgettable Marvel villains of previous films along with their performances coming across like a really goofy Power Rangers villain of the week. The whole mission is straight out of the plot for the last disaster of a Superhero film Fantastic Four or even the original Ghostbusters with the dimensional rip in need of closure before it tears the entire world apart, just like those climaxes. It was a moronic, uneventful mission to justify the use of villains with and without powers to stand up to the greater threats. While the story has a few moments of great, intriguing plot-lines to develop particularly with Joker/Harley Quinn as well as the full backstory for Deadshot, Harley Quinn, and Diablo, there is barely enough character development, exciting action beats, and smooth pacing to really make this into nothing more than a mediocre entry in this cinematic universe for DC yet again.

It is also severely compromised as a film focused on villains being evil but also having to be the heroes of this adventure as well. The use of the deformed zombie army of the Enchantress was to the determent of the tone and energy of the film as it results in dull, darkly lit action set pieces with the occasional lit one in the office building. These baddies are so generic that they seem to have been created solely to not violate that precious PG-13 rating this film wants to maintain, effectively neutering the grit, violent, and dangerous edge the film wants to achieve but never earns it. This also means lots of awkward cuts within the action set pieces to keep us from seeing the brutality of their skills and abilities at times, leading to some really choppy, frantic edits that disrupt the flow of the scenes to either a halt or a confusing blur of action, making it not so easy to discern in its shot and lighting arrangement. Those components will be explored in details but they tied into why the studio was desperate to make this marketable for young teens when it likely compromised the original idea and vision for this film.

The action set pieces also deserve their own section as these ranged from being decent to just absolutely boring to watch. The only decent set pieces were the flashback moments when we saw it as well as some of the beginning street battles with the Zombie like horde as Deadshot displays the few memorable action beats of the films within the handful of set pieces here. Every other set piece was shot too close to frantically gutted which disrupts the impact and flow of the action along with the repetitive nature of it with the same old horde attack routine that happens too often in the second half of this film. There is also the climax of the film where a few principal and supporting characters get killed and the Enchantress utilizes her abilities magically and physically to fend off Taskforce X. There is also too much time in between set pieces for expositions and characters telling us for the millionth time that they are bad guys as well as discussing their issues with the mission, team members, or the situation. This creates a lack of rhythm and consistent flow to the scenes, making it hard to really feel any kind of tension and urgency to the story. It is a below average action film with a paper thin plot to give some excuse for this mission to happen even if they are responsible for this mess to begin with and lack any sort of legitimate reason for this conflict.

However, the performances with the majority of the cast were the one bright spot with this film in spite of the convoluted, weighty story on display here. Will Smith as Deadshot is finally the wise-cracking, charismatic leading man that we all enjoyed back when his films were entertaining to watch as he displays his skills to be empathetic and enjoyable to watch. Margot Robbie had the difficult task of bringing an iconic character to life on the screen and she succeeds for the most part by really encapsulating the crazed yet manic charm of the character despite being a bit annoying at times with her quips as well as the forced sexualization of her character throughout the film. The real show stopper and amazing performance of the film was Viola Davis as Amanda Waller, the tough yet ruthless operations agent who embodies the brutal nature of the character from the books perfectly even if the writing does make her character do nonsensical actions that really feels like padding or serve to contradict the other characters themselves, namely with Flag. It is also worth commending Jay Hernandez for his performance of Diablo and really attempting to showcase decent dramatic moments with his performance near the end of the film despite his overall uselessness for the majority of the film until the last act. That covers the highlights of the cast...so let’s get to the slew of characters and performances that were literally just there to really campy in its awkwardness.

That is correct, we have a slew of really strange and forgettable performances due to the hackney nature of the editing and the extremely thin script used for this film starting with an iconic villain of the DC universe. Jared Leto as the Joker will be the point of contention in questionable quality in performances as he suffers the most from the extreme edits made that might have made the character have a place in this story. The only major contribution of The Joker was his connection to Harley Quinn and her origins. As for his performance overall, he does not come across as comfortable in the role and feels more like a wannabe perverted gangster, not the unpredictable yet calculatingly evil clown prince of crime from the other interpretations in live action and animated form. However, he is given very little to do in this film (the trailers advertised that he would be a supporting part of this film, not a glorified cameo/trailer for a better film with possibly Batman) and could have been cut from the film entirely with no consequence to the overall plot. While he does tie into the origins exposition of Harley Quinn and their toxic relationship, it is not explored enough to really be impactful to the plot in this film and feels more like a teaser for a better film featuring these characters. With the iconic villain mentioned, we can move forward to the remaining cast that were either were underdeveloped or awkwardly performed.

With Colonel Flag played by Kinnaman, he was commendably gruff but ultimately bland and a mismatch against the charisma of Will Smith and Viola Davis. Captain Boomerang and Killer Croc (Courtney and Akinnuoye-Agbaje) are given very little to work with as they are only there for quips and really lame attempts at humor that barely got a few chuckles in the theater. Katana felt like a token character throughout and was poorly underutilized in this film with the hopes now on a possible sequel to flesh her story out as this film just has members in this team for the sake of it and to have cheap emotional ties that can be used to make a conflict seem important but come across as disingenuous to the observant viewer. Slipknot was literally introduced 50 minutes into the film only for his head to be blown off while escaping just so we can visually see how much Flag and Waller have the squad under their thumbs with the Nano-Bombs. There is also the matter of the villain Enchantress played by Cara Delevingne, who is a generic victim that turns evil in a dime and her chemistry with Kinnaman is non-existent, making the romance between the two characters very awkward and cringe-inducing to watch. She is also given questionable direction to her character and really lacks any sort of threatening presence, as well as being strangely comedic to watch when she transforms into her final form and is moving around like an Egyptian in an extremely funny way. The only memorable and truly good performances are the main players unsurprisingly with the majority of the supporting/ensemble members either being cut/truncated immensely in the editing process and just suffering from misguided direction with their characters.

This leads to one more element to explore with the narrative and performances before getting to the technical/artistic aspects of the film with the cameos featured in the film and their use to set up future films within this universe. They were actually used to good effect without being obnoxious or cringe-inducing to slow the film down like the last DC film that did this clumsily. Batman is featured in the backstories of the characters including Deadshot and his capture as well as his conversation with Waller near the end. While the Flash shows up for a brief moment, catching Boomerang during a diamond heist near his home base Central City, which was cool to see them deliver on their commitment to create a film series around these comic book characters. It does create a conundrum though with their presences established in this film and yet they were not asked for help in this mission especially one capable of destroying the world. It was great to see these characters in another film (especially Batman), but their absence is a bit jarring and creates the exact problem Marvel films have in continuity among the characters and their respective series. 

We move on now to the technical/artistic aspects of the film from cinematography/editing to art/set/costume designs of the characters and locales with editing and the soundtrack/score book-ending this review on Suicide Squad. The cinematography for the film does have more variety in its colors and distinctive environments related to the characters in contrast to previous DC films so far. When the lighting was on point and we see the shots themselves, it looks great and sparkles with juvenile energy and a very youthful style to the film as it looks like Hot Topic got mixed in with a grungy punk rock look with a dash of urban warfare thrown in to the mix. That being said, you have two different visual styles clashing with each other with the campy heist aesthetics clashing with the brutal, dark war aesthetics which makes it jarring to watch the film going from one style to the other. However, it is quite interesting to note that you have one half of this film shot in the daytime and the last half in the dark, making a decent chunk of the action set pieces hard to watch in its continuous use of medium shots and medium close ups that get too close to the action and being lit in the wrong way. It is pleasing to the eyes at time with its two visual styles utilized throughout this film despite making the second half, hard to follow when it focuses primarily on the action for the rest of the film.

With the art direction of this film, it continues the realistic grounded approach to the world by making it have purpose and reason for it to exist. The sets for the Joker’s club, prison cells for the prominent squad members in the cast, and the bar seem to be the ones that stuck out and looked great for the scenes that utilized that environments effectively. The one scene with Axis Chemicals looked fantastic and made this viewer wish for more memorable locales for the story to take place in the present and not in a flashback. The most lavish environments are only featured for a few scenes before it blends into mostly ruined city streets and office/industrial complexes that do not provide much visual flair for the story. That was when the film lacked any unique set designs to really standout, only to really maintain the dark, gritty look of the war torn style for the sets. At times, it looks great and distinctive to the real/fictional world but its reliance to the war-ridden designs of the sets reduce it to being as bland and uninteresting as the story itself.

As for the costumes for each of the characters, it can be a hit and miss with principal characters as well as the supporting characters as well. Deadshot and Harley Quinn look closest to their comic book counterparts with an appropriate amount of modernization to their look. Amanda Waller looks picture perfect like the comic book counterpart minus the distinctive look of the character both in the past and present comic books. The other supporting characters from Boomerang to Killer Croc look well enough to embody those characters from the books especially from the really cool makeup job for Killer Croc despite hindering the performance at times. Katana looked stylized in her design as well as being a combo of having a cool look with a sexual element to it which makes her easy to notice despite having very little to do with the overall film. These characters stood out for this viewer as being well designed in their costumes and make-up to be distinctive to their characters as well as being cool to look at.

Now for the really questionable, ill-conceived looks of the characters that looked ridiculous and just did not mesh with the style and tone of the film. The Enchantress was a combination of being a very grungy dark witch mixed in with a pinch of Japanese horror icons and a ridiculous looking Egyptian goddess look that looked campy as hell on screen. The Joker’s tattoos and costume choices was just odd and contradicting at times with the tattoos just looking unintentionally funny in its try hard approach to look crazy as well as the modern approach to the gangster style of the character today just looks like a person pretending to be an insane criminal psycho rather than being one naturally in regards to the other interpretations. The soldiers including Colonel Flag just looked like typical soldier types with little to no personality or characters to really stand out from the other distinctive, outlandish looking characters. It is a mix bag with the costumes/make up designs that looks on point with the principal characters except two of them while the others range from decent to just coming across like cosplay that looks goofy and unconvincing for it to exist in this world.

We can now get to the real problem of this film and it is the editing, along with the turmoil and possible mishandling on hand here from the studio/producers. There is a distinctive, mismatch of energy present in one half and the other as it starts out rapid fire with music video quality of edits along with the overuse of popular music that undermines the dramatic elements of the story constantly. There was an overuse of scenes, passed off as flashbacks to get the viewers up to speed with each character which means it is a mix of exposition and setup for about 40-45 minutes of this film before we get to the main conflict of the film. It is also worth noting that the issues with scenes getting cut to start and end improperly is present throughout this film as it disrupt the flow of the character arcs and the main plot line developed here. This creates a sense of mismatch with scenes in tone due to the massive cuts made to this film with scenes clearly cut out to keep the film from being too dark in tone as well as making it supposedly fun for the viewers. However, that is just the beginning of the problems with the editing especially in the darkly shot and messy second half of the film.

The second half of the film in regards to the editing is where the film becomes completely different, going from dark comedy heist film to a gritty, brutal war film and flip flops between the two. This also means a ton of action scenes are severely edited to include too many fast cuts with the medium to medium close ups, disrupting the energy of it with the effect being mind-numbingly dull for most of it. There is only one moment of levity throughout this section with the bar scene as it is a crescendo of action after action with the faceless zombie like possessed demon horde for the majority of the film. It also seems like scenes have been rearranged to the point of being out of place and lack a real purpose to develop the world or characters, no thanks to the possibility of this cut of the film being a mish mash between two cuts with one by the editor hired for the film as well as a trailer company named Trailer Parks to shape the film closer to the trailer’s lighter, campy tone. This means that it feels like two films are fighting to come out of what might have been a decent film hidden within these cuts and the hope for a director’s cut may or may not be released to make the film feel coherent and committed to one tone.

This leads to the last point of the technical aspects involving the use of the soundtrack and score (what little there was) within the film which could provide some answers as to why the tone of this film feels disjointed and unsure of itself. The film utilizes a ton of songs in its soundtrack from the 1960’s and 70’s that it feels like it is on par with a Martin Scorsese film in the use of popular/classic music with some modern songs of today in Pop and Hip-Hop/Rap thrown in the mix. There are some good combinations in certain scenes but it is mostly a mismatch with the tone and action of the scene as it undermines the intention of a scene often. It is actually a prime example on how not to use a soundtrack in the film as it can feel out of place too often and it undercuts the drama of the story and action set pieces when it uses a song instead of a traditional score. When it does use a score from Steven Price, it fits the scenes well enough despite being featured prominently in the second half of the film but the use of the soundtrack is misguided and not used effectively other than trying too hard to make the film seem cool and edgy without really owning it. The songs are great on their own but the use of them leads to a lot of mismatches with the direction and intention of the scene that it compromises the film’s purposes within this cinematic universe.

So, after all of the analysis on the major components to the film, it is evidently clear that Warner Bros. and DC Entertainment panicked after the lukewarm, tepid response to their previous superhero film Batman V. Superman: Dawn of Justice by veering away from a darker, violent tone to the film towards a campy, fun-like romp that can please fans, critics, and movie goers alike. It ultimately fails to be anything but a messy film as a result, thanks to the compromises made by said studios and coming across like two completely different films, fighting to come out of what could have been a potentially cool film based around super-villains forced to be good guys to complete a mission. The cast is clearly game for this as they all work wonderfully together and clearly have some naturally timed chemistry among the cast that comes across as fun and satisfying to watch. The problem is the thin, shallow film surrounding them to begin with, as the script is paper thin on plot and motivations for the conflict at hand other than the typical cliché amalgamations of ideas from other, better films (Ghostbusters, Escape From New York, Etc.) as well as having a confusing, mind-numbing expository first half mixed with a dull, repetitive action driven second half that ultimately has a lame, anti-climactic finale that mirrors the dull, unimaginative climax of another superhero film called Fan4tastic. The choppy, epileptic inducing editing from the Trailer Park cut with the slow, pondering yet gloomy edit of Ayer’s cut are mashed into one and neither one works since they seem to be missing the connective tissues of scenes and a consistent tone to maintain the flow of the narrative and development of the characters with the dynamics between them. The music choices are great but the use of them is highly questionable and it distracts the viewer from the intentions of a scene, making certain plot points and character moments lack any sort of dramatic impact because of these sound edits. This is yet again another divisive film for the DC universe of comic books and their vaporware plans for more films are yet again questioned especially with the other announced films other than the ones already in post (Wonder Woman) or in principal photography (Justice League) having no script written out for them. Overall, Suicide Squad may not be as frustrating or misguided as Batman V. Superman but it is a flawed, compromised film that ends up displeasing everyone looking for a good film and for fans of this comic book universe.

Score: ** out of *****

Suicide Squad is the third film from Warner Bros. and DC films to make their cinematic universe of their characters and series to work on the big screen. It is unfortunately another dud as it tries too hard to be edgy and cool with its grungy, Hot Topic aesthetics of the art/costume designs as well as the visual style and tone of the film. It switches too often between being a campy, heist mission film to a brooding, grimy war film that it never settles or commits to either one, leading credibility that the film was severely altered and arranged to make a film that is empty in substance with a ton of style to hide it. The cast is fantastic to pretty decent despite the very hollow script to develop their characters and make them standout or have a purpose to this really simple yet dull mission to introduce this team of characters from unknowns to icons/fan favorites in popular culture. The action is also rather repetitive in their choreography and uninteresting to watch especially when the characters are either fighting awkwardly with the editing or just set dressing for the scene. This is another frustrating film that had potential to be subversive and memorable to the genre but it ends up being nothing more than a clearly commercialized, unremarkable action film that underwhelms and only provides a few sparks of greatness in the cast and modernization of a great concept hidden with the sloppy mess of this entire film.