To hell with the critics!!! It is beyond the realm of thought to consider that ‘Suicide Squad’, directed by David Ayer, is actually sitting at a 26% overall rating on rottentomatoes.com. In no way, shape, or form should this film have been as lambasted as it has by mainstream critics. That being said, the audience rating (the rating that truly matters) for RT.com is currently showing 74% liked it, and judging from the crowd I saw it with last night, it was indeed a crowd pleaser to boot.
The good? The characters. Oh my, these characters were brought to life so brilliantly by the principal cast. From Will Smith (Deadshot), Margot Robbie (Harley Quinn), Jai Courtney (Boomerang), Jared Leto (The Joker), Joel Kinnaman (Rick Flag), to Viola Davis (Amanda Waller) it was easy to buy into these proceedings. Sure, this wasn’t some academy award winning tale, but in my opinion a comic book film needs to succeed in two key areas: make the characters likable, and give the audience something to smile about. Mission successful on both of those accounts. Moreover, I loved how the Suicide Squad’s arc fit into the DC “multiverse” of films– it picks right up after the events in Batman V Superman, and from the rest of the film onward you’ll be treated to a couple of key cameo appearances in the form of some other familiar DC heroes.
I can’t emphasize enough how easy it was to feel empathy towards the bulk of these so called “bad guys”, etc. That is not an easy thing to accomplish, let alone juggling more than a baker’s dozen of new faces throughout the story. More importantly, by the end of the film, I didn’t want it to be over. I wanted to spend another two hours getting to watch this motley crew do their thing, as well as wondering if perhaps we’ll ever see them team up with ‘The Justice League’??
I also have to give honorable mention to Ms. Davis, who brought such a kick ass injection of gravitas to the Amanda Waller character– Every single time she was on screen you could feel how intimidating her presence was as the lead government official that came up with the idea for creating this squad of anti-heroes.
Even the soundtrack had some excellent choices to keep the adrenaline pumping (which I won’t spoil for you). Although it’s easy to say they copied what Marvel did with ‘Guardians of the Galaxy’ and its soundtrack by using classic songs, it doesn’t matter because it simply works while coupled with the film’s mise en scene.
The Bad? Some of the primary reviews for this movie tend to knock the story, claiming it’s too “cut and paste”, but that wasn’t my main critique here. Of all things I felt that in some cases the use of the cheeky one liner jokes went a little too far. Case in point, by the film’s third act there were some exchanges (in the midst of chaos) that really needed to be left out. It felt forced, and I surmised this probably had something to do with the 4 months of reshoots that Warner Bros had ordered prior to the film being finished. Seriously, enough with trying to emulate the Marvel Comic book films. Stick to your own brand, and by that I mean DC comic book films typically have this visual and moody aesthetic that is akin to getting to play cards at the adult table as a kid, which is nothing short of awesome! My hope is that with future films they don’t turn it into laugh track.
The primary villain in this film known as ‘Enchantress’, although not the worst villain I’ve seen in a big budget film, was probably one of the weaker aspects of the story. However, it still didn’t overly taint how I felt by the end of the movie.
Last but not least, The Joker, played so effectively subtle by Mr. Leto, was noticeably absent throughout most of the film’s running time. The majority of his scenes are done via flashbacks, and that my friends was quite the pisser. Leto managed to leave a mark anytime his character was on screen, and made his version of Joker his very own. Here’s to hoping he gets featured more in another DC comics film…
Final Verdict: This was a fun comic-book flick. It was by no means politically correct (which is a good thing in this case), and provided a nice escape for its 2 hour running time. Don’t go into it expecting ‘The Remains of the Day’ and all will be good. Nuff said:)
3.5 out of 5 stars
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