'Suicide Squad' | Where DC went all wrong
- Jan 2, 2017
- 3 min read
'Suicide Squad' tells the story of a secret government agency that recruits a group of imprisoned super-villains to execute dangerous black ops missions in exchange for clemency, which inevitably leads to chaos. And what a mess it makes.
Suffice to say ‘Suicide Squad’ was a disappointment to the masses who were highly anticipating the film’s release. It is arguably a poorly made film that verges on being sexist and racist at times, and its soundtrack just doesn’t seem to fit.
The filmmakers tried to create a film with a-list casting, impressive special effects, and interesting character portrayals, but for a film such such great potential, it just fails in every facet.
Writer-director David Ayer reportedly wrote the screenplay in only six weeks, which was clearly not enough time to adapt the comic series into a successful, engaging film. However, this cannot be accepted as an excuse when writers such as Diablo Cody ('Juno') can pen an Academy Award winning screenplay in just seven weeks. Especially considering its budget, ‘Suicide Squad’ deserved a tighter script.
In terms of its editing, scenes quite often don’t interconnect, and dream sequences become marrying when intercut with the present. It views as if the film were edited by a variety of different people with different editing styles, creating a cluster bomb of a film; this often leads to attempted jokes appearing misplaced and often forced – another detriment to the script.
Introductions to characters run for a quarter of the total run time, if not more to properly characterise them; even then, we’re still left feeling as if we don’t really know these weird and wacky characters.
‘Suicide Squad’s only saving grace is the ever-adaptable Will Smith, who brings great comedic timing to the film. That said, the loving father vibe emanating from Smith's Deadshot while understandable seems too forced. Furthermore, the constant reappearance of his daughter reminding him to be a better person comes across as downright annoying. There are a plethora of other ways to remind Deadshot to rise above his circumstance and while his daughter can help to remind him of that, how it was executed became a pet peeve.
The relationship between the Joker (Jared Leto) and Harley Quinn (Margot Robbie) is one of the biggest downfalls in this film. It is easy to see why fans are hoping for a Harley Quinn spinoff film, as their relationship is so complex that there just wasn't enough time dedicated to them, without detracting from the main storyline and ditching the other characters. Thus, the relationship remains barely believable. Harley's heartbreak is emotional but nothing that the audience can invest themselves in. Without that prior knowledge of their relationship as made available in the comics, there are a lot of blanks that leave viewers scratching their heads.
The Joker’s casting was always going to be controversial - a hard act to follow following Heath Ledger's award winning performance in 'The Dark Knight'. Leto, while a fine actor, did not shine in this role. Surely, it was a different interpretation of the character, and it must be remembered that 'The Dark Knight' films are of a completely different set to that of 'Suicide Squad', but that does not make the Joker any less of a compelling onscreen character. There is so much to Leto’s character, and it is obvious he as an actor had so much more to offer, but with poor timing dispersion throughout the film, he did not get the screen time he deserved.
Cara Delevigne's June Moore/Enchantress is disappointing. Delevigne is cringe worthy as an actress – a soon to be dated ‘ 2016 It Girl’ error in terms of casting. Her relationship with Joel Kinnaman's Rick Flagg is farfetched and makes the audience flinch upon every interaction.
'Suicide Squad' beholds no clear protagonist, yet its antagonist was clear. However, even with its league of villains battling a larger, more evil and powerful villain, there was no real leader for audiences to root for or sympathise with. The writers should refer to films that do this right, such as ensemble films like Tony Stark in ‘Iron Man’, Peter Quill/Star Lord in 'Guardians of the Galaxy,' Luke Skywalker in the 'Star Wars' prequels, and Captain James Tiberius Kirk in the 'Star Trek' reboots. It can be done, and it should have been a major priority in this film.
What did you think of the film? What did it get right? Who was your favourite character? Let us know HERE!
Want to give 'Suicide Squad' a second chance? It’s now available on Blu-Ray and DVD via JB Hi Fi in Australia and HMV in the U.K.
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