A Mission Not Worth Dying For: Suicide Squad Overview

Suicide Squad Overview by Bryan Quevedo

As a disclaimer, I would like to let all my readers know that I desperately wanted to try and love this movie.  I went in with an empty head, hoping to God that Warner Brothers would release something worthwhile within the DC movie universe that wasn’t a complete mess.  Sadly what WB delivered were the remains of what could have been a fun movie, torn apart and smashed together into something they desperately wanted to call a film… and with that lets get into the details!

Suicide Squad can best be explained as a movie where writers had all the right parts to a jigsaw puzzle, started placing them all together and had their momma and pops come in and say it wasn’t good enough to compete with the big boys and made it their own mess.  With Warner Brothers coming in mid production to change the tone of the movie to a much lighter and funnier tone to make it more appealing to audiences, the only joke the studio left us with was the entirety of the film, if you can even call it that.  This isn’t to say that Suicide Squad was as terrible as Batman vs Superman or Man of Steel, seeing as remnants of what could have been a good movie are found within the mess, but many factors such as how the characters are portrayed and how the plot progresses made me want to suffer Joker’s torture methods more than wanting to finish this painfully dull movie. 

Basic survival necessities

Plot Development

What plot?  Before I begin any further, I will leave a massive spoiler label, warning any potential readers that passed this section, THE MOVIE WILL GET RUINED. 

Disclaimer: I have warned you, so don't you be coming to me crying about how it got spoiled

The movie begins with the introduction of Amanda Waller, who then introduces the future recruits of the Suicide Squad.  We get a brief introduction of everyone except for Harley Quinn (because you know…its Harley) and Deadshot (because it’s Will F**KING Smith) who get almost complete backstories of how they ended up in prison.  We are treated to some lovely cameos of Flash and the Bats, the movie progresses with the introduction of The Enchantress who basically becomes the conflict in this movie.  The Enchantress tries to find escape from Amanda, she manages to free her brother instead, they cause massive chaos within Midway City, the squad is assembled AAAANNNNNNDDDD the rest of the movie is shown with them trying to figure out their places, freedoms and trying to make it so that we sympathize with these villains.  Yes we can water down all superhero movie plots in such a manner, but the biggest concern this movie had in progressing this plot forward was its introduction of the antagonist.  When we see The Enchantress becoming aware of potential freedom and becoming Amanda’s ignition to assemble the squad, it made it seem like the writers had no idea how to continue the movie after the creation of the first act.

”So we got our Suicide Squad, we gave Will Smith and Margo Robbie their AWESOME scenes, we done right?”

“Wait did anyone think of the villain to this movie?”

“S***, quick grab one of the characters…MAKE HER THE PROBLEM…that’s it! Alright now we have to…make these ex-cons seem like they got good morals!”

I honestly thought we were going to see more of her in the squad

What should have been the biggest weapon of the entire squad became the silliest plot twist of the entire movie.  It didn’t feel creative enough and seemed like this was all slapped together last minute with poor one liners (Harley, I am so looking at you right now), badly edited and acted transitions and moments that should have been “AHA!” were more dull than anything.  This wouldn’t have made any sense, until the realization hits that Warner Brothers meddled with the movie during production to alter its tone and direction.  This is still no excuse for what was delivered but this sure does start to question the idea (at least to casual movie goers) should studios even be messing this much with a movie?

Other smaller sub plots such as Deadshot’s story did grab my attention, giving viewers a chance to see a different side of a villain and giving him “justification” for his actions.  The Harley Quinn/Joker side story was more of an added bonus that didn’t do anything special to the film (besides adding sex, sex, SEX and the Joker to the movie) and the “we were never really going to save the city just trying to escort Amanda Waller out” twist was more annoying and useless than surprising.  She ends up getting caught anyway and switches the purpose in another direction in a very sloppy manner.

Character Development

You would think that the overload of characters would create a mess during the progression of the movie, when in truth it never did.  Some viewers and reviewers may disagree but hear me out.  The movie made certain characters shine more than others and this benefitted my sympathy for these characters but others who tried to shine brighter than most others seemed desperate for attention and just never hit the mark of getting the spirit of the character.  I stand to believe that when you examine how a character is portrayed by someone everyone is entitled to how they believe is true representation of the character; in these instances this still remains true.  So take my observations as you will and agree or disagree with the statements being put within this article.

Deadshot: Will Smith made this character his and made him the shining star of this entire movie.  It seemed as if the entire movie was primarily based around him, his wanting to be with his daughter and his justification of why he does the things that he does.  He wasn’t bad and I would even argue that he was probably the most enjoyable part of the entire movie, but that’s when I realized that I wasn’t seeing Deadshot rather, I was watching Will Smith play Deadshot as if he were Will Smith.  Let me explain, when we look at what Robert Downey Jr did to Tony Stark, we see that the actor portrayed the character by defining key traits, adapting them and making the character his and giving us a real life interpretation of Tony Stark.  When we look at Downey in his other movies, we still see Downey Jr. portray these other characters and not Stark.  Examining what Will Smith did to Deadshot, I never once saw Deadshot as the comic book interpretation, rather I saw Smith’s character from I Am Legend because Will "f**king" Smith but now he can shoot without missing. 

He's playing himself basically

Harley Quinn: Sex.  Do I really need to say anything else?  On a personal level, I don’t find Margot Robbie attractive at all, and Harley has always been this flirtatious piece of fruit you really want to get your hands all over but know you can’t because SHE’S PSYCOTIC.  I want to believe that the writers knew how to portray Harley Quinn, many of her lines and actions in the movie were very Quinn like but what ruined this portrayal was Robbie’s performance.  I’ll give her credit where it’s deserved and this was in some of her lines where she did catch the very soft jokingly “Mr. J” loving jester we all know in a couple scenes but that’s about it.  As a comic relief, she had very poor one liners with very few moments of awkward Quinn moments I can appreciate (“Harley Quinn, nice to meetcha.  Love your perfume, what is that the stench of death?” *insert cheeky smile).  Visually she was horrendous and I got nothing that basically showed her to be Quinn besides the short cameos of her hammer…and jester outfit…and hammer…  As for her justification on being in the movie, it’s obvious she was never needed.  The elevator fight scene was clearly an attempt to sell her as a potential asset to the team (because you know, she’s the only one who has no special ability) and only served as a key to include the Joker.

El Diablo: My sympathy for him came too late but appreciation for him and Jay Hernandez is still there.  Probably one of the closest interpretations of what I believe to be a comic book character in this movie is seen by him, with him hiding in the shadows afraid of his own power and then helping the squad at the very end when he finally understands that he wasn’t born all evil.  The entirety of the movie, I was hoping to see more of him and I am glad I did at the end because he was one of two characters I had any sort of sympathy towards and somewhat showed how the group of misfit convicts had human morals at some point before ending up in prison.   

The Joker: Too little of him within the movie to actually make a proper analysis on how he can hold up in future movies, which is a great thing actually.  Jared Leto’s take on the Joker was rather weak on some points and not at all intimidating...for now.  In no way should anyone compare him to Heath Ledger, mainly because every actor who has portrayed the Joker has had their own take on him that makes him unique in every installment.  With this in mind, the Joker still has to strike an uncomfortable feeling when watching him on screen.  What is he going to do next, what is he trying to get at, IS HE MAKING ANY SENSE AT ALL?! Your pulse should race and the feeling of wanting out of this mad man’s sight should be the only thing you want.  His laugh should creep into your very soul and make it leave your body making you want death because you know sparing you could potentially lead you to an even more painful end.  This wasn’t the case with Leto’s Joker... YET! I firmly believe there is potential there for him to nail the part.  Until he receives a full on part within a movie can we truly see a full Leto Joker (and hopefully he can make his laugh more intimidating).

Amanda Waller: This woman is nothing short of a boss a** b***h who won’t take s*** from anyone and will do what she wants and get what she wants no matter what the cost.  You see her and you fear her, you listen to her and obey everything she says because she will always have something against you or possibly at that moment everything she says makes complete sense.  Viola Davis looked the part, but writers failed to sell her to me.  I get it she’s human and she has every right to be damn scared when she is surrounded by freakish looking soldiers, but I keep asking myself, why the hell did she lose her cool so much?! Honestly this is probably my only complaint about her but it’s a major problem from a character development perspective.

Everyone else: …fillers.  Katana barely did anything and mainly tried to fit in as the control in case anything went wrong. I didn’t really sympathize for her because…well when did I ever have the time to really care?  Killer Croc served as the Hulk of the squad and really didn’t talk much (which I really wish he did because he’s capable.  You know, just make me excited for him…at least try…no?...okay fine).  Captain Boomerang tried to be comic relief but all his jokes came crashing back to him, although I can appreciate his trying to be relevant at times.  Rick Flag made looking like a badass military man look like a joke and his caring side was overshadowed by his attempt to look like the man in control of everything.  Slipknot… was nothing more than a waste.  Wait you don’t know who I am talking about?  That’s fine because he was literary in the movie for like 15 minutes before getting his head blown off in a failed attempt to escape (WHAT WAS THE POINT?!)  

And only in 15 minutes you too could look like this!

  

Cameos and Mid-Credit Scene Analysis

I’ll admit to this, the Easter eggs and cameos in this movie did get me all giddy at some point.  Batman’s intro after Amanda told the agent she phoned in a tip got me excited to see Batfleck once again and Ezra Miller’s Flash appearance was quick but so so satisfying.  Harley Quinn’s and Joker’s little dance in the dark was an amazing little inclusion to one of my favorite pieces of art from DC and Quinn’s illusion of what she really wants in life given by The Enchantress is something small fans of Harley Quinn will understand, given that she is dressed in 60s style clothing and pictures a family friendly home with her little kids and Mr. J alongside her.  The Joker mobile was a nice inclusion but the modern take on this car was short lived and somewhat bland. 

AAAAAAAAAAAHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH!!!! *pants

As for the mid-credit scene, it was dull and completely out of place.  We see Amanda talking to Bruce and initiating a new group by handing out profiles to Bruce Wayne.  We then see that these files are from Barry Allen Flash and Aquaman making us assume that this this start of the Justice League.  Ummmm…hang on, when did Amanda ever help start the Justice League.  Oh that’s right…NEVER!!! (Again I am just assuming that this is basically the start of the JL)

And to Finish it all up…

I really didn’t want to dislike this movie, more than anything I wanted it to be decent enough to successfully kick start the DC movie universe.  With so many components out of place it’s hard to say this movie was good, but at the same time this movie wasn’t a complete waste of my time.  With minor moments that made me smile or chuckle I can say I enjoyed what David Ayer tried doing for this movie.  Deciding whether or not it’s a successful DC movie is up to personal opinion, so take this review as you will.

And on a final FINAL note, whoever picks the music for these movies and trailers need to stop… whatever the reason behind it is, it’s unforgivably cringe.