Rating: 2.5 out of 5 Stars
For starters Suicide Squad is considerably better than Batman v Superman.
Second of all, I went into this movie curious. There has been a lot of buzz for this movie for well over a year. There was considerable excitement over the first released trailer; It was thought that Suicide Squad, about a group of DC comic villains getting together to save the day, would be the money monster to jump start the DC movie universe, especially after the lackluster said Batman v Superman movie.
Then the movie reviews started coming out, none of which were encouraging. Most of them bad. The sudden news of expensive re-shoots to bring the same tone from the trailer to the movie also didn't bode well, if this news was true. Again, not encouraging.
I went into this movie not knowing quite what to expect. Would it have the same humor and sparkle as the trailer? Would it be messy like Batman v Superman? Did DC finally get their act together to prove competition to Marvel?
My answer to the first question is a so-so. There was humor and good moments. There were also a lot of corny lines that felt miss placed. Now, it isn't all humorous, which is a good thing. There were some depressing moments, particularly surrounding the backstory for Will Smith's character, which worked. Parts of the movie had the right tones for what this movie was wishing to convey.
The second question, would this film be messy? Yes, yes it was. But not nearly as bad as Batman v Superman. (BTW, I completely forgot Superman died in that movie. Completely left my mind. That's how forgettable it was. I can't even remember if there was a hint if Superman survived. I should check wikipedia . . . later.) There weren't any random dream sequences created to trick the audience, feeling like some kind of drug trip of sorts. The first half of the movie was a lot of set up, dragging the pacing and timing of the movie.
Backstories are important, but it felt a bit much, though I understand their necessity. With Marvel's Avengers each character got an origin movie, and those that didn't were first placed into another movie for proper set up, so when the assembly movie came together we were able to get right to the action. There hasn't been a proper set up in previous movies for the characters in Suicide Squad, so the first part of the movie was dedicated to a lot of their set up. I didn't know anything about Will Smith's Deadshot. Margot Robbie's Harley Quinn I had familiarity with thanks to the animated DC series, which my younger brothers watched when we were kids and I occasionally watched as well.
The third question, does DC hold a candle to Marvel? Not yet. One thing DC has been struggling with, which Marvel accomplishes in spades, is good storytelling. DC struggles with telling a strong fluid story with good character development and sequence of events.
Margot Robbie's Harley Quinn is a thing of beauty; she nailed the character. Jared Leto's take on The Joker is appropriate and terrifying. The Joker had to be completely different from Heath Ledger's portrayal, and it was, fitting the tone of Suicide Squad.
In the end Suicide Squad isn't my cup of tea. Never was. Evil fighting evil is an interesting concept, but I guess I like the idea of evil becoming good, and finishing that thought would spoil stuff. I'm not a fan of glorified violence, though many didn't share my thoughts, reflected by the fact that this movie made $65 million yesterday alone, on track to make around $145 million opening weekend, according to Box Office Mojo.
Maybe DC finally found the movie to boost their movie universe after all.
MPAA: Rated PG - 13 for sequences of violence and action throughout, disturbing behavior, suggestive content and language.
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