You may recall back in March, I mentioned in the Dawn of Justice review that there are two controversial movies this year. Suicide Squad is the second movie. This movie has garnished so much hype amongst the fan community since its opening day and... I honestly don't know why. There are some cool moments that I did enjoy, but I think the bad outweighs the good, here. However, as I said in the previous review, I needed some help with this movie, so we're having four different people carefully examine Suicide Squad and focus on different aspects of it. Please read all of them, as we will have different content in each review.
The Reviews:
AGuerrero1991: Where do I begin with DC's newest attempt at a movie? As a regular movie goer, not a comic fan, I am insulted.
The explanation of each member in Suicide Squad was cool, but I felt the font of the bios were juvenile. Was this for a kid or an adult? Some members were not properly introduced. I enjoyed Deadshot's introduction; his skills were demonstrated very well.
DaveEddiePowers: This movie, overall, just gave me a headache. Does it fail completely? No. In fact, there were several good moments. Harley Quinn and Joker are together live for the first time. Harley shows off what she can do in the elevator scene. Deadshot shows off his skills several times. El Diablo was a character I didn't care about at all going in and the writers made him more human than any of the other main characters. The problem is, it feels like the creators of this movie wrote down a dozen scenes they wanted to shoot and haphazardly pasted in filler to get from one scene to the next. Most of the characters fall flat, with cookie cutter personalities. Most are not terribly consistent in their motivations or personalities.
DaveEddiePowers: This is not a super hero movie. This movie is about a group of hot topic rejects saving the world. That feels like such an easy shot at the movie, but it's so true I don't know how to avoid saying it. I read comics and love these villains because we have a rich diversity of characters all with their own angles, motives, and goals. This movie does not share those features. All the "villains", with the exception of El Diablo, are generic thugs. They care about looking tough, having bling, and watching BET (not even joking). We don't get villains. We get 2D caricatures of street gangs. I can see that for free at the mall. I don't need to waste $10 on that. None of these characters are deep or have real motivation. They constantly refer to themselves as "bad" or "evil" which is absolutely pathetic. Decent villains, real villains, don't think of themselves that way. Lex, Zod, and Ra's saw themselves as heroes. Falcone, Marconi, and Penguin are pragmatists, treating people the way they got treated, just trying to end up on top. Scarecrow, Riddler, and all previous versions of the Joker are just doing what they enjoy and don't care about the world's perspective. The Suicide Squad gang have the basic attitude that "we don't do good things, like save the world" despite that they would all die with everyone else. Logic and reason are not this film's strong suit.
Skyeraptor59: Suicide Squad... good grief, where to begin? I will start off by saying that every time I see a movie for the first time, I try to see it with as little preconceived expectation as possible, like a kid seeing things for the first time. Despite the trailers that were released (and I did see all of them, just to gain some glimmer of hope and maybe catch a few lines from Waylon Jones, AKA Killer Croc, but more on that later), and partially because of one, I did have a smidgen of optimism about this movie. And you know what? It met my expectations. Sadly, said expectations were set quite low. Comics fan aside, as an amateur movie critic, dabbling film maker, and sci-fi/fantasy writer (and I complain a lot about the bad writing in this review), I wasn't impressed. However, as a lifelong music lover (and drummer), the soundtrack was excellent. But I'll give a rundown on that later.
The Complete Character Breakdown:
Amanda Waller
Watchman300: Viola Davis is the best actor in this entire film. She plays Waller as a tough, no nonsense, ruthless government official that creates the squad in order to stop threats that the government can't do on record since Superman isn't active during the period in the film. Davis does an exceptional job playing this woman. I have no issues with her.
AGuerrero1991: Amanda Waller is exactly what I was hoping for. She did what she was supposed to, no more, no less.
DaveEddiePowers: I grew up on Waller and fully expected this to be a cheap knockoff like we've seen before. Viola Davis, despite not having the stature of Waller, pulled off her attitude completely. She felt more imposing than her slight frame should've been able to project and was one of the highlights of the film. That said, they made her weak whenever they thought they could get a "cool" scene out if it. She tells Deadshot to kill Harley or she will kill him. He disobeys. She lets him. Yeah, she'll do whatever it takes unless she's against an actor with top billing. Then, she just falls through completely and becomes castrated.
Skyeraptor59: As has been mentioned, Viola Davis played Waller perfectly. The right amount of ruthlessness, the right amount of confidence, the right amount of "your lives belong to me, so get back to work if you don't want to have your heads blown off." I have no complaints about her. In the comics, Waller is designed to be hated because of how callous and vicious she is, and in this instance, the writers of Suicide Squad wrote the character true to her comic personality. Of course, it helps to have a highly decorated actress like Davis backing up some decent writing for this character, a rarity in this movie.
Rick Flagg
Watchman300: I have issues with Flagg. Out of all the criminals and psychos, he represents the voice of reason and leadership to the team. In the movie, it's obvious that he's only Waller's lacky and that he has little control over his crew, despite being the "team leader." Not to mention he's extremely unprofessional for a "by-the-book" type of solder, since he has a romantic relationship with Enchantress. In short, he needed much character work.
AGuerrero1991: Rick Flagg was, in my opinion, just a regular soldier; there isn't anything special about him. Again, just as a movie fan; I don't know about him from the comics.
DaveEddiePowers: Speaking of castrated, the tough army guy who has to be in charge of the league of losers is a complete wuss. He literally gives up and lets all of them walk away without consequences. He starts off as a generic army character, which isn't that different from how he is in comics, but becomes a mindless milksop whenever they want Deadshot to look tough.
Skyeraptor59: Flagg in the comics is supposed to be a tough, no-nonsense soldier, the man who keeps the Squad focused on the task at hand. And while there are many instances during which he loses control of the Squad members, it is never for lack of trying. He is a military leader and strategist. He doesn't take crap from anybody. Not so with this movie.
Flagg, whilst still a strategic military commander, is leashed, castrated, and sort of bland. He's forced into the job of the Squad's babysitter (and whilst that term has been used in the comics, based on this movie, it fits better) by Waller when she pretty much threatens to chain up his metahuman girlfriend Enchantress if he doesn't cooperate. He leads, true, but many times, he leads the Squad from behind because the Squad doesn't want him to die or they'll die. It makes sense to some degree, but this movie takes it to an extreme. One scene in particular gave me the impression of Flagg as, not a leader, but a diplomat under the protection of mercenaries, unable to fight lest he be taken prisoner. The Squad responds in kind by encircling him and not letting him fight, despite his feeble protests. So much for the Squad's leader. There's even a moment when it looks like all is lost and the Squad abandons Flagg. Does Flagg, who has a job to do and the "love of his life" to save/stop, give a stirring pep talk to rally his troops? Nope. He says they can do whatever they want, but he needs them to save his girl, but they can do what they want. Some pep talk.
Deadshot
Watchman300: Lawton is one of the first characters we're introduced to in the movie. For the first few minutes, I enjoyed how it demonstrated his skills of being an expert marksman and how he has a loving, yet flawed relationship with his daughter. There are interesting moments with him, but he doesn't act like Deadshot. Instead, he acts like Will Smith in any standard action movie. That's not playing a character. That's playing himself. However, I will give him points in the action department. My friend will cover more on him soon.
DaveEddiePowers: Well, Will Smith is playing Will Smith again. Whoop-dee-doo. I don't know why he is playing Deadshot. I don't think they did any research on this. Deadshot isn't a "bad guy" who does things because he is "bad". He does what he is good at. He's worked on the Suicide Squad and the Secret Six. He's a gun for hire; he does a job and expects to be paid, but not in this incarnation. He doesn't commit to his job and expects everything to be given to him. He keeps going on about his daughter, but is going to let the world burn until Flagg reminds him she exists. Every bit of this character is writing so that he appears to show whatever emotion they feel is right for the scene, but has nothing to do with his actions five minutes ago or five minutes later. He get paid two million dollars for his work and he insists the government cover his daughter's college. He only cares when it is convenient for him. We get a mindless thug, not a Southern gentleman. He does manage to steal the show most of the time, and we get the best actions scenes from him, but the character has no grasp of reality and just does stuff to make the audience scream or sigh. Please, let's have a basic character arc for your main character.
Skyeraptor59: As my third favorite Batman villain (I will not be doing the full review of this character, as Daveeddiepowers knows more about Lawton and covers him in more detail), I was interested to see how Will Smith portrayed him. I wasn't crazy about the casting originally, as Smith, despite being a great actor and highly entertaining to watch (and one of my personal favorites because of this), is one of those actors who plays himself in mostly everything he does. I normally don't have much issue with this, but when it comes to characters with established personalities, it shouldn't happen. Sadly, Smith did just that. Whilst I did enjoy several moments of Smith as Lawton, especially scenes with his daughter (which decently captured his troubled relationship with her, how much he loves her, and vice versa, yet how much his life conflicts with being able to be the father he wants to be) and scenes where he demonstrated brilliantly why his alias is Deadshot (notably his conversation on angles as he helps his daughter with her math homework, his holding the line single-handedly when confronted with a small army of enemies, and his sniping capabilities), he was not Lawton as he should have been. Heck, there was even a point where Flagg gives him something connected to his daughter, and instead of at least decking Flagg for withholding anything connected to his daughter, Lawton practically pledges his life to him (slight exaggeration, but still). I get that there is gratitude for Flagg for doing that, but at the same time, Deadshot would not let that pass without at least getting him back. His lines take some fault for this, as they do with most of this movie. DC needs to get some better writers.
Killer Croc
Watchman300: Croc is a fascinating Batman villain, but they don't give him much of anything to do. He has a handful of good lines, but it's all wasted potential. My other friend will cover him in full detail, so I don't want to take anything away from him, so to wrap it up, Croc didn't have the screen time he needed.
AGuerrero1991: Killer Croc seemed cool and I was disappointed we did not see more from him.
DaveEddiePowers: Croc is like Katana. He is mostly just there and window dressing. He doesn't do a whole lot and whenever they need a cheap jokes they forget his character. I don't know why someone who literally lives in the sewers even knows about BET, but that's what he cares about.
Skyeraptor59: Waylon Jones, AKA Killer Croc, AKA, Croc, AKA Waylon, has been my favorite Batman villain since the Batman Animated Series of the 90's. Aside from me being highly partial to more his more reptilian designs, this character and his backstory, that of a kid born with a form atavism that gives him scaly skin and superhuman strength who ends up being a circus freak and eventually a criminal with a unique look in Gotham, fascinates me. There was even a brief time when he was trying to clean up his sewer croc look and dressed up in a fancy suit. He actually became a legit mob boss for a time, though, of course, his animal instincts kicked in, so it didn't last, but it still added to the character's evolution. So when they announced that Waylon was going to be in the movie, I was excited to say the least. "My boy! Waylon! He finally gets a big screen live action debut!" And then I find out he was the second choice after King Shark. Left me a little miffed. But I quickly forgot about that when I discovered that Adewale Akinnuoye-Agbaje, one of my favorite actors from Lost, was playing him. I had to keep reigning in my excitement, seeing how they were messing with so many characters (i.e. Joker, Harley). I didn't want to get my hopes up too high. So, cautiously optimistic at least about Waylon, I watched.
Verdict--there wasn't enough of him. They gave him very few lines, most of which were spot on ("I live undergound. Ya'll are just tourists." Now that's Waylon!) and hardly any backstory at all (he's a croc man; he looks like an animal so they treat him like one). I wasn't crazy about the hoodie and jacket look. It looked cool, but that's not his way. Wife-beater shirt and pants. Some hand wrappings. That's it. The makeup wasn't horrible, and I liked what they did with his eyelids. He looked a little saggy when he does get bare-chested, but he still throws down mostly as Croc should, though again they don't show a lot. They had so much potential that they could have tapped into with him, but they barely touched him. I had a problem with two of his lines. When Waller threatens the Squad, then leaves the room, shouldering Waylon aside, he says, "I like her." Whilst it was one of the funnier moments in the film, if someone did that to Waylon, he would have at least growled menacingly, if not tried to start something. I don't care if you're Amanda Waller, you do not shoulder Killer Croc aside and him respond with affection. It just doesn't happen. Also, he requests BET. Not cable. Not a bigger swimming cell. Not better meat. BET. Really? Talk about out of character. Aside from those issues, I liked Croc, and honestly, he would be the only reason I would see this movie again.
Captain Boomerang
Watchman300: Harkness is my favorite character in this movie. He provided the bulk of the humor, which is sad considering Harley Quinn and Joker are in this movie. More on that later... Boomerang is the first Flash villain that has a cinematic appearance and it wasn't horrible, but it could have been better. In the comics, he does have a bit more of a professional attitude, even though he's a thug. Just flesh him out a bit more and we're good.
AGuerrero1991: Captain Boomerang was funny, but I don't see how someone with boomerang skills fits in with the rest of them.
DaveEddiePowers: He is pretty much dead-on. My only complaint is he didn't throw nearly enough boomerangs. They could have given him more screen time, but at least they didn't screw him up.
Skyeraptor59: Whilst I did enjoy Harkness in this movie, it wasn't for character accuracy. He was the comedic relief, and my friends will tell you I laugh way too easily. Harkness' antics were entertaining and hilarious, but he had no true purpose on the team, when in the comics he at least has more skills and knowledge the team needs. Here, he was just a drunk secretly obsessed with unicorns (part of the humor stemmed from this, but still). He even leaves the team the first chance he gets (that is, the first chance he gets without the threat of death by exploding head) and then comes back without so much as an explanation. He's got little motivation to be with these people, and he could actually get out of danger without much of a problem. They also hardly even touched upon Lawton and Harkness' feud. The two have been known to scrap with each in nearly every rendition of the Suicide Squad they are both on. It's a staple for those characters to fight, even when they are cooperating. But aside from some weak back-and-forths, it wasn't covered at all. Add another to the tally of death by bad writing.
Katana
Watchman300: Katana is not needed at all in this movie. They say she's Rick Flagg's bodyguard, but she's horrible at her job. Seriously, the villains save Flagg more often than she does and she even leaves him near the end of the movie. Her existence in this film was mostly pointless. The team didn't need her, just her sword to kill the main threat (even though she didn't make the kill shot...).
AGuerrero1991: Katana seemed to be a random character they just dropped into the group.
DaveEddiePowers: She's just kind of there. She's basically window dressing. She is supposed to be Rick's righthand, completely loyal and honor bound, but when he wusses out, she just leaves him to go drinking. They could have done more with this character. They mentioned how she talks to her dead husband but, please, don't have a conversation because deep character moments would undermine the fluff of this movie. She wasn't done horribly, but you barely even notice she's there.
Skyeraptor59: They could have fleshed her out more. She was somewhat 2D (bad writing again), and whilst her sword was necessary for the mission, she wasn't moving much at all. And she wasn't the best body guard for Flagg, but to be fair, she did try. I will give credit for that.
Slipknot
Watchman300: Slipknot has zero development, but his point was to illustrate how dangerous the mission is. And, well, he did exactly that. Not much to say here about him.
AGuerrero1991: ...... Moving on.
DaveEddiePowers: Well, I don't know if there are any Slipknot fans out there, but this guy is useless. They did not give him a backstory. They didn't even pretend that they were not going to just kill him. They could have a had a watermelon play this part. Seriously, if Flagg injected a watermelon with the bomb to show that it was real it would have served the same purpose. At least in Assault on Arkham, they gave KGBeast the same intro everyone else got so that there was a chance you could have been caught off guard by his death. His death was written in flashing neon lights and you have just spent more time reading this than he had time on screen.
Skyeraptor59: ...who now? Oh, the "man who can climb anything"? The dude nobody cared about in this movie, not even the filmmakers? Yeah, he illustrated why the mission was dangerous and that their lives were on the line. He was less a character and more of a plot device. Bad writing takes another one.
El Diablo
Watchman300: I enjoyed how El Diablo was written. Out of all the villains in this film, only Diablo is genuinely repentant for his crimes and actively seeks redemption. This makes his character arc incredibly fascinating to watch and the payoff is nice.
AGuerrero1991: El Diablo, I understood a bit. Some may say he was a stereotypical Mexican gangbanger, but that makes sense. He was the only one who did not want to use his powers due to remorse. Usually, those who have lived his lifestyle, they regret their past decisions.
DaveEddiePowers: This character is the biggest success of the movie. He is the one character that doesn't fit in with all the others. He wants some kind of redemption. I don't remember ever reading any stories in which he played a major part, but I enjoyed him. He is a little goofy with his powers sometimes, but overall he was the best surprise of the movie.
Skyeraptor59: One of the few characters I actually cared about. A gangster seeking redemption for his crimes. Fire powers (at minimum). Yup, I was sold. Actor Jay Hernandez gives this guilty gangbanger some true feelings of heartache, loss, and remorse. You can truly feel for him and him not wanting to let his powers loose again, lest he lose control and hurt any innocents. And the big reveal regarding the true extent of his powers makes for an exciting moment in the movie, one that's not all just flying bullets and random explosions (though, obviously, fire is involved).
Enchantress
Watchman300: She is a creepy character as the main threat for the team. Which I don't have a problem within itself, but I don't understand what her evil threat is supposed to be. Not to mention she hardly had any interaction with the other characters, which makes her character simply bland.
AGuerrero1991: One big issue I held was with Enchantress--what was her plan? I get it; she's a witch, she is evil, and the Squad needs to stop her. Stop her from what, exactly? She mentioned building a machine, but I didn't see one. So, I ask again: what was her plan? Along that thought, what is the deal with DC bringing in villains' relatives? Why did we need Enchantress' brother? Why can't we just have the villain alone? In Justice League, the villain will not be Darkseid, but his uncle Steppenwolf. Who's going to be the villain in Wonder Woman? Ares' cousin?
DaveEddiePowers: I don't know what the actual bad guys were doing here. June Moon and Enchantress are two beings sharing the same body, but there is supposed to be a balance. There is no balance here. It's all one or the other. June doesn't want Enchantress to be let loose ever but goes along with everything and, of course, everything goes as badly as she expects. June has no personality and neither does Enchantress. She wants to build a machine to destroy the world because humans worship machines. I don't even know what she was building. This is the ultimate MacGuffin. They don't even pretend to care what her plot is and if they gave her the neck bomb that everyone else had, they would have saved themselves a lot of trouble.
Skyeraptor59: She was legit creepy, as she should be, but... she... her plan... um... hmmm. Okay, let's put it this way. She was pissed at Waller for keeping her on a leash, but it didn't make sense for her to be on the team, as she was too much of a liability and got out fairly early on. She was more of a wildcard than Harley Quinn, and definitely more dangerous. Her plan seemed to be to get back at Waller, and mankind, for trapping her and for not worshiping her anymore by conjuring up some "machine" to rule the world. It looks more like, as Deadshot put it, a "floating circle of trash in the sky" with lightning and dark clouds. Said lightning can target important government facilities and resources with pinpoint accuracy. However, you hardly get to see this "huge threat" in action. And it really doesn't do much aside from look menacing, shoot lightning, and acquire more bits of the city. Plus, Enchantress needed a body guard in the form of her brother Incubus (non-comic book canon) who literally acted as a magic battery and meat shield for her. Based on what little I know of her, she doesn't need a body guard. Yay, bad writing!
Incubus
DaveEddiePowers: Way to pull a F-list villain that no one cares about. No personality. No story. Just wants to kill people and accept worship. Pointless and cookie cutter.
Harley Quinn
Watchman300: She is one of my biggest complainants about this movie. Harley Quinn was originally written to be a character with a good heart, but often sidetracked by the Joker and other villains. Also, she's only devoted to Joker and won't get romantically involved with other people.
This movie, however, took a rush job of her origin and horribly warped her personality and appearance. What was meant to be a lighthearted jester character with good humor and a complement to Joker, is now just reduced to telling bland jokes and flirting with most men she meets out of sheer boredom. Yes, she's crazy, but her character was a psychologist; she is meant to have intelligence. I also can't understand why she's with the team on this mission. If the mission was to infiltrate Arkham Asylum, then I could understand. She worked there and knows all the secrets to the building. In a risky job like this, you shouldn't hire someone this unstable.
Another thing I'd like to point out is that Joker and Harley have little interaction together. This was a brilliant opportunity for one of the most famous comic book couples to finally be onscreen. As both a DC and massive Joker & Harley fan, this was a moment I've been waiting years to see! And, yeah... It met far below my expectations. Not only do they have limited interaction, they have bad chemistry in this film. The writers had Robbie portray an extremely watered down version of a character that they had twenty years of material to choose from.
AGuerrero1991: Harley Quinn was... different. Margot Robbie's portrayal was certainly not what comes to my mind when I think of Harley. As for the other characters on the team, I am honestly not familiar with them, but I can share few likes and dislikes.
DaveEddiePowers: Margot Robbie is probably the worst actor in this movie. Everything felt fake. It always felt like she was trying to make people think she was crazy. Nothing felt genuine. She didn't have the positive attitude that is Harley's trademark. I could go into this more, but I'll leave it to Watchman300.
Skyeraptor59: Before my review of this character and Joker, I need to give a little background. Watchman300 and I have been friends since we were kids, and we joked that he was Joker and I was Batman (best frenemies forever!). Because of this, much of what I will say on both Harley and Joker is based on knowledge acquired from knowing him, as well as my own research and comicbook reading.
Now, Harley Quinn. Watchman300 recently showed me a meme that showed Quinzel's looks through the years, starting from the classic Harlequin black, red, and white costume from the Batman Animated Series, to her costumes in the Arkham and Injustice games, to Suicide Squad. The caption? "They only noticed me when I started taking my clothes off," or something to that effect. This accurately illustrates the devolution of this character, from the sweet and dangerously crazy, yet bubbly and intelligent girlfriend of the Joker, to the oversexed random wildcard we have in Squad. Again, I blame poor writing. From what I understand, Margot Robbie is actually talented as an actress (ignoring the whole Wolf of Wallstreet thing, here), but that wasn't really tapped into. They could have gone into Quinzel's psych evaluating of Joker more fully and actually show how her at first objective view to the Clown Prince of Crime slowly, through subtle manipulation on his part, became that of admiration and adoration, and then love. They could have shown how fluctuating their relationship was. But no. They decided to make it Joker being super obvious about winning her over and her being somewhat blind and dense about anything psychiatric at all. Also... what's with the phone? She randomly has a phone right after they suit up and is constantly texting Joker. They didn't think to take it away? She's a criminal on a nanite bomb leash and you let her have a phone? Hey, DC writers? You're fired. To be fair, though, when they had a dream sequence for what Harley wanted out of life, it was actually spot on with what she really wanted, so I have to give them credit there.
Joker
Watchman300: My favorite villain of all time is the Joker. The majority of his incarnations in all media have shed different lights on this character, but they all made sense with either the setting of the story or with his personality. Jared Leto is the fourth live action interpretation of the character, and, as I predicted, he's the worst one.
First, his appearance is horrendous. Joker represents a clown. His themes are playing cards, circuses, carnivals, amusement parks, gags, jokes, and laughter. His weaponry look like toys, but with deadly outcomes. He takes his appearance seriously and only wears the best tailored suits that fit this theme. A "gentlemanly psychopath" is what he goes for. He doesn't need tattoos to show how "edgy" and "dangerous" he is. He does that by his actions and reputation. He wears purple, because it's a royal color and he is vain to the point of believing himself to be royalty. He is called the Clown Prince of Crime!
Let's also breakdown his personality. Contrary to popular belief, there is always a method to the madness and in the long run, it makes sense. Leto's personality is all over the place and doesn't mesh well with with any preconceived notion of the character. The most offensive thing he did was pimp out Harley to some random guy. Joker would NEVER do that. Harley is only his. He hates sharing and wouldn't even attempt something so ludicrous as even a trap or joke. No one touches his stuff.
His other significant relationship is with Batman and they never meet face to face on film. His greatest rival and they never meet. This is a glaring sin. He tells no jokes, he rarely smiles, he doesn't have the signature bombastic laugh (he laughs like the Penguin for some reason). Leto's acting reminds me of a cracked mirrored version of what Heath Ledger accomplished in the Dark Knight. It's simply outright disrespectful and makes the audience aware that he's afraid to make this character his own. I have no idea if it was Leto, Ayer, Warner Brothers, or the writers, but in my opinion, for only ten minutes of screen time, this wasn't impressive in the slightest. It really would've been better if they referenced Joker instead of showing him.
AGuerrero1991: Joker, I will admit, was not what I expected. Jared Leto did okay as the Joker, but he could have done better. The tattoos did not make sense to me. He had very little screen time. I could not hear many of the things he said. I believe we can determine that DC couldn't decide what to do with this character. Was he a pimp, club owner, or a gangster? Apparently all three. One of the most infuriating scenes is the first scene where we get to see Harley and Joker interact. I'm not entirely sure what was said, but basically Joker was pimping out Harley to a gangster played by Common. There are several reasons this upsets me: 1) Joker would never let anyone touch Harley. She is his and his only. 2) Joker spoke in a manner that was difficult to understand. 3) Common played a gangster. The reason the last one gets me upset is because Common cannot act as a tough guy. I have seen him cast as a "tough guy" on several occasions and I am never convinced. Why not give the part to a rapper who can do the job well? Or better yet, an actor?
DaveEddiePowers: We did get what they advertised. A guy with tattoos and a grill who doesn't tell jokes, but has green hair and white skin, so good enough. I'll let Watchman300 tear this one apart.
Skyeraptor59: This guy was not Joker. He had some semblance to him, but he wasn't the true Clown Prince of Crime. He wouldn't get tattoos, especially not on his face, because he values his appearance way too much. And he certainly wouldn't rely on a tattooed smile on both hands to capture his signature grin. That was one of the worst things Squad did to Joker. Here, again, I think poor writing (and definitely poor costume and makeup) cut this character down from what he truly is in the comics (so I blame Leto mainly for his acting choices; he could do better than that). He was all about Harley and everything shiny, from his gold plated guns to his purple-tinged chrome-plated car. That's not how Joker rolls.
He means business (funny business, but still) and any flashiness is either from his impeccable suits or explosions from his toys. Leto reminded me less of Joker and more of a minor celebrity who is trying to be a hardcore gangster (emphasis on trying). He didn't even have his Joker Gas. I know Heath Ledger's Joker didn't have that either, but he didn't need it. Leto having the gas would've saved him some, if only a little. He told no jokes, laughed in a very halted manner, and even tried to pimp out Harley. As Joker said in "Batman: Assault on Arkham" (a far superior Suicide Squad movie): "Oh, Floooyd!" *shoots at him* "Don't touch my stuff." Who/what was he referring to? Harley! Despite how tumultuous and downright abusive Joker and Harley's relationship is at times, Joker does love Harley in his own way, and he would never even pretend to offer her to someone else. I'll stop there, as I'll risk repeating what was already said by watchman300 and a.guerro if I go on.
Batman
Skyeraptor59: Yes, I'm making a brief commentary on a cameo character. He's my favorite DC character and second favorite superhero (real original, I know). Despite my surprised approval of Ben Affleck's Batman in Batman v Superman, there are two issues I have with his cameo appearances.
1. Bruce, in spite of his quest for justice, would not ambush Lawton in civilian attire in front of his daughter. He said he didn't want to do that in front of his daughter. Well, you kind of are!
2. Aside from the throwdown with Deadshot, Batman's only other cameo is chasing after Joker and Harley. Forget the fact that he should have had another cameo with Killer Croc. All Bruce does is hop on Joker's car, pull Harley out of the wrecked car, and give her mouth to mouth (which he wouldn't do; the only time something like that has happened that I can recall is in the animated series when Harley kisses Bruce; he does not reciprocate). No actual confrontation with Joker. Talk about a serious letdown.
However, he does make one other appearance, as Bruce Wayne himself, and he plays it well.
Final Thoughts:
Watchman300: In conclusion, save your money for this film. It's just flat out bad. As I mentioned before, there are some genuine moments but they don't save the film. For the most part the acting is standard, the editing is choppy, the lines are either above or below the audience. This is not something I would recommend to a DC fan, an average movie goer, a kid, or an adult. Just save your money for either reading some comics. If you're interested in seeing a much better Suicide Squad film, watch Assault on Arkham.
AGuerrero1991: There was a lot of action in this movie but it takes more than that to make a good, solid film. Do I completely hate this movie? No. Would I watch it again? Maybe. Overall I give it 2 out of 5.
DaveEddiePowers: 2/5 stars. There are a lot of fun scenes in the movie, but you cannot watch this movie and have your brain working at all.
Skyeraptor59: On the technical side of things. Having studied filming techniques and various manners of onscreen storytelling, this was what I would expect from anything Zack Snyder touched. Dark-lit for no real reason, horrible transitions, missing plot points. Though it did have slightly more of a sensible plot than BvS, which isn't saying a whole lot. Something that bugged me right off the bat was the introductions of the Squad members. I felt like I was watching a commercial (and a cheesy one at that) rather than a feature-length film. Introducing a character with a still of them, overlaid with weird graphics and a brief official dossier desrciption is more the tactic of a middle school movie maker who thinks it's cool to make every movie like a weird indie heist game. They also only did it in the beginning and they didn't even include everyone on the team (a notable team member left out: Slipknot; see? even the filmmakers don't care about him). Come on, guys, if you're going to pull this kind of thing, be consistent with it, at least.
In addition, the reasons and motivations for the characters were sorely lacking or very weak for the most part. Aside from the whole death by nanite bomb in head threat, they had very little motivation (or rather, very little motivation was pointed out) for what they did. Case in point: Boomerang coming back after leaving. No explanation, no excuse. He dips out, then shows back up as if nothing ever happened. And this kind of thing happens throughout the movie. There was so much that good writing could have fixed or filled in, and they simply attempted to let it be a cheap action movie, oh, and there are super villains who say they're villains even though most villains don't even see themselves as bad guys. Yeah, DC, that's what the fans want.
The one thing that everyone I talked to who has seen this agrees on is the soundtrack. I'm unashamed to say I will buy this, as it featured excellent selections from several genres. We all know Bohemian Rhapsody makes an appearance. Other notables include Norman Greenbaum's Spirit in the Sky, Eminem's Without Me, and The White Stripes' Seven Nation Army. And that's just barely touching the list. In many scenes, the songs were played to excellent effect. For instance, when Waller enters Bellerive Prison to see the members of the team, the Rolling Stones' Sympathy For the Devil is played. I don't like that song for various reasons, but it had the desired effect for Waller's first meeting with the team.
Overall, this movie was a solid C, and that's me being extremely generous. It had a lot against it (poor writing; choppy editing; Zack Snyder; bad costumes) but it did have some good going for it (many landmark onscreen live action debuts of characters, whether good or bad, and Waylon for me personally; humorous and entertaining moments; a fantastic soundtrack). I'd really only see this again for Waylon Jones, as I said before. Advice to movie goers: wait til it's available at Redbox. Or better yet, watch it on TV.
And there you have it, a comprehensive and fair review of DC's Suicide Squad. Many thanks to those who took the time to contribute.
Next time, Magnificent Seven.
