So SUICIDE SQUAD opens this weekend, and I have to say, saying this movie is highly anticipated is an understatement. Warner Bros. definitely has NOT had a strong track record with DC movies, especially since the success of MARVEL’s AVENGERS. It does seem like Warner Bros. has been playing catch up ever since. And after Christopher Nolan’s BATMAN movies, it seems like their DC movies have been miss, after miss, after miss.
But then SUICIDE SQUAD had been green lit. And though I can’t speak for everyone else, for me? I have been SO LOOKING FORWARD to this movie. Not to make comparisons to MARVEL, but I kind of looked at it as their GUARDIANS OF THE GALAXY. Something that could sit outside of the main mythology, and something the studio, cast and crew could have fun with, and hopefully would translate into a solid movie.
Now production news, like the reshoots that were reportedly ordered to add more “comedy”, and the early reviews that stated it was worse than BATMAN v SUPERMAN, definitely left me a little dishearten to go see this.
But make up your own mind, right?
Now I will say, before you get into the main review, I will warn you I MIGHT get into SPOILER territory. Not intentionally, but it might happen. So if you don’t want to risk that, here’s a quick blurb I gave a friend when he asked what I thought…
…it DEFINITELY had it’s issues. But don’t think it was as bad as a lot of the summarized responses you’ve might’ve seen online. But yea, definitely had it’s issues as a movie. But I did enjoy it WAY more than BATMAN v SUPERMAN, and I didn’t feel like I wasted my time.
But if you want me to build on that? Check out the review after the jump.
I can only assume your all familiar with the setup for this movie? Government heavy weight, Amanda Waller (Viola Davis), puts together a team of bad guys to take on metahuman threats?
Well, like I said, this movie does have its issues. Let me see if I can’t break it down…
- THE EDITING: I don’t know where the team was at with the editing. It kind of felt like it was all over the place. Cuts that looked like they would be from the last third of the movie were in the middle, and vice versa. I don’t know if they were trying for a non-linear, PULP FICTION, approach, but it wasn’t working. And for me, left the narrative feeling a little disjointed.
- THE JOKER: I know what you’re probably thinking, “THE JOKER WAS AN ISSUE?” Now let me clarify, Jared Leto as the Joker was AWESOME! Much like Ben Affleck as Batman, I definitely ate crow with my initial reaction to his casting. Leto was fantastic! The issue here was the Joker was SO UNDERUSED, almost like he was reserved for LOST-style flashbacks. And that was definitely disappointing.
- THE VILLAIN: Now the marketing for this movie might have you believe the Joker was the villain of this movie, sadly no. It was the Enchantress (the witch in the trailers & TV spots)… and her brother. Who oddly, really didn’t have a name outside of “brother” in the movie. I can only assume that director David Ayer went with the Enchantress to give moviegoers the “not so obvious” choice for the villain. But, outside of the fact you chose a B-team villain… if you’re having the Joker in there, ESPECIALLY with such a great performance by Jared Leto, it’s just gonna over shadow your Big Bad. And to add harm to injury, there really didn’t seem to be a significant build to the Enchantress’ motivations to destroy all the things. So it just kind of fell flat.
- HARLEY QUINN: Now, much like the mention of the Joker, the issue here was not with the character’s inclusion, or the character herself (which was portrayed spectacularly by Margot Robbie… I think I’m even more in love her, haha.), but more with the fact that so much of the movie was devoted to her. Almost to the point that you could have called this a Harley Quinn movie. It’s no doubt, that even before this movie opened, that Harley was a fan-favorite and probably a big draw. But so much of the movie was focused on her, as well as her origin. Almost, if not more, 3 times the other characters in the movie. With so much focused on her, it seemed to conflict with the main story in terms of what I should be focusing on.
So got a little long-winded there, but I could probably sum it up as the issues this movie suffered was a disjointed story, and poor character development.
I don’t know how much of the issues I had with the movie were a result of studio influence & the reshoots. But I would DEFINITELY be interested in seeing a Director’s Cut when it’s released on disc, because I have a feeling it will be a different movie, and not the marketing ploy of simply adding cut footage just to make a longer cut.
I sure after reading all of that, I’m sure you probably think I hated the movie? On contrary, I enjoyed it quite a bit. It was fun, hilarious, and action packed. I already raved about Jared Leto’s and Margot Robbie’s performances, and although all the cast was awesome in this movie, Viola Davis’ Amanda Waller was a BAD ASS!
OH, and this was SO MUCH more enjoyable than BATMAN v SUPERMAN.
Seriously, I think there’s a solid movie in here. And like I said, I had fun in the movie. I just want to give you a head’s up about issues I saw, as a girlfriend told me once, “I’m just trying to manage expectations…”
So go, check it out, and have a good time. Because the movie is fun, and really, the way this movie was marketed, isn’t that all you want?
