Short Verdict: An interesting concept that is bogged down by a terrible edit, egregious use of popular music and a lack of a singular vision
Disclaimer: please note that I am not affiliated with Rotten Tomatoes, nor have I been brought off by Marvel Studios.
Spoilers throughout
Oh boy, this DCEU thing. Beginning with a film that was never designed to open the doors to a shared cinematic universe (see 2013’s controversial Man of Steel - the film has some interesting ideas but is a complete mess) and the depressing, ill-conceived dud (and that’s polite) that was Batman V Superman, I think it's fair to say that warning signs are ringing in the offices of Warner Bros. Billions have been invested in these films, aiming for the potential of a shared universe akin to Marvel, and there is no turning back. Thus a lighter tone for the Justice League film (and a quietly disappeared Part Two), a stripped back roster of films, a Kevin Feige-type overseer in Geoff Johns (who is aiming to create a cohesive creative direction for the DCEU), a reduced role for “visionary filmmaker” Zack Synder and a seeming rescue attempt on the already “in-the-can” Suicide Squad, the David Ayer directed villain team-up film. Reports have been rumbling of a troubled production and arguments over the tone of the film. The studio, presumably scared by the negative reaction to the grim and dour Batman v Superman (and its subsequent underperformance at the box-office) opted for extensive re-shoots to help lighten the tone of Ayer’s original more dour cut. The lighter cut won out with test audiences and is subsequently the one rolled out into cinemas. The subsequent reaction has been mixed to say the least. Are the post-production problems apparent in the film (akin to 2015’s Fantastic Four flop) or can Suicide Squad turn the fortunes of the DCEU now? More importantly – did I hate it as much as Batman v Superman?
Well let's start with the plot. Amanda Waller, CIA operative, puts her own task force together made up of the worst of the worst in criminals, including Deadshot (Will Smith), Harley Quinn (Margot Robbie) and several other D-list DC characters. Waller concludes in the light of Superman’s arrival (and the potential that future powerful beings won't be as nice as Superman) that the only way to fight evil is with evil. The team will serve as the front line to prevent other powerful beings from bringing on future conflicts. This the newly formed team of disposable convicts are sent on a suicide mission (get it?) to save a prime target in a city which has been taken over by a mysterious evil entity. They are kept under watch by army man Rick Flag (Joel Kinnaman) whilst also being threatened by an exploding chip in their brain if they decide to run off. The team decide to band together to get through this mission alive and, hopefully, get to the other end with their freedom. The plot is the bare minimum needed, my hope being that it would just be a frame work to hang fun character work, funny scenes and a breezy pace – instead we get a confused mess of a film, trying to be its own unique thing, whilst working as part of a wider cinematic universe, trying to compete with other similar films and to make up for the damage that Batman v Superman caused (BvS). The studio were desperate for a lighter film than BvS but ultimately chopped a more dour original cut of the film to form a Frankenstein’s monster of tones and plot lines. The concept of a Suicide Squad its self is flawed. Why would you form a team of regular criminals with no real powers (most just wield weapons) to become the task force to safeguard America and prevent World War III predicated by the likes of super-powerful beings such as Superman and General Zod? In that regard, why send them into a city controlled by a mystical and magical being when they have no means of combating it? Why send these villains when you could use the army instead if you want to send in non-magical beings to infiltrate the city? Oh, they do send the army with them? Then why use villains at all, who will probably try and escape and will probably not follow orders? Why not use…I don't know, Wonder Woman maybe, to try and defeat the evil magical mystical being?
Also, where did Harley get that cellphone?
The major issue with the film are its tone and editing. This is a schizophrenic film so desperate to be the darker inversion of Guardians of the Galaxy that it forgets what made that film so charming in the first place. Character threads are left dangling, as we are expected to like the characters and form emotional attachments with not even the bare minimum of character development provided. One member, Diablo (Jay Hernandez), proudly proclaims at the end of the film that the Suicide Squad are his family, however the film has provided no impetus for the audiences to think so. You have earn those kind of scenes – akin to the scene in Guardians where the characters admit they are losers and thus need to stick together. The editing is the major crime of the film. We are given scenes that often repeat information or have no bearing on the plot. The film opens and we are introduced to most of the major Suicide Squad members before another scene begins with Amanda Waller going dossier-by-dossier introducing each character. Before we know it we are being zipped from scene to scene, from flashback to modern day setting in the prison, creating an incoherent first hour. By the time the scenes begin to calm down and we are watching the team work their way through the city and partake in extended action scenes the damage has been done. We have one nice scene where the team enjoy a final drink together before facing death but is ultimately meaningless because the film has so poorly established why we should care about these characters. It ultimately becomes fairly dull in the middle as we are watching action scenes with no emotional attachment, no real style and nothing propelling the plot forward.
In terms of the characters they range from being serviceable to servilely underdeveloped (despite a broad range of characters, most fall into ethnic stereotyping). Deadshot is the stand out of the film, mostly powered by the very likeable Will Smith, but even he is a fairly basic character – he has a daughter he wants to protect and get back to. Been there, done that cliché but … It’s Will Smith. The only other character (except Harley, who I will get to) given any kind of development is Diablo. A tortured soul with the power to summon fire, he suppresses his ability due to an unfortunate incident involving his anger issues and his family…you can see where this goes. The rest of the cast range from a talking crocodile, a boomerang wielding drunken Australian (who has an odd quirk for pink unicorns...), a silent katana wielding Japanese warrior and an archeologist possessed by the spirit of an ancient South American spirit (who eventually becomes the villain).They are going for the ”loveable losers” without filling out the loveable quota or providing adequate exposition. Quirky doesn't mean quality. Now a film about villains who do morally questionable things in the face of “evil” and in the name of the greater good would be an interesting premise for this film. You would need characters who truly personify the “worst of the worst” type. However, the worst of the worst boils down to struggling father, a misunderstood widower, a woman with a history of mental illness, a drunk and a talking crocodile – which ultimately makes them too likeable (on paper anyway)! Now they do exhibit some morally questionable habits (Captain Boomerang springing to mind, who decides to abandon the team after enjoying a final drink … only to return in the very next scene) but they ultimately do the right thing by banding together to defeat a mystical evil being. The film’s blandness holds back either a warm entertaining film or a darker, more ethical think piece; again I question how much of this was in the original edit.
The only other standout is Viola Davis as Amanda Waller, imbuing her with a real on-screen presence and a hidden sadistic layer. This somewhat makes up for Enchantress, the being who has taken over the city. Taking possession of archeologist June Moon, Enchantress goes rogue against Amanda Waller, who thinks she can control her by possessing her heart (...presented in a hastily edited backstory which involves caves, possession, ancient rituals etc…it is essentially her link to this world and can't exist without it) and using her as part of the team. Reuniting with the heart would grant her freedom but destroying the heart would kill Enchantress…which Waller doesn't think to do until the very end of the film…Again the idea of an ancient evil spirit possessing the body of a fundamentally good person is interesting (Exorcist much?). This is built on further as Waller essentially makes Enchantress a slave to her will but this thread ultimately becomes lost in all the other hastily edited scenes happening in the film. This leaves a fairly bland villain ready the CGI heavy final confrontation.
On a side note Batman makes a cameo in the film, hunting down Joker and Harley Quinn and arresting Deadshot. I dub this version of the character Murderman (due to his high body count in BvS, completely contradicting the character’s strict set of ethics) and he is just as out of character here. Murderman arrests Deadshot in a dark alley in front of his young daughter, likely mentally scarring her for life – similar to another disturbing event event that happened to a young child mentally scarring him for life. Have some levity Murderman! I won't lie – I did get a little kick out of seeing Murderman again (as I do enjoy Ben Affleck as Murderman, despite my many issues with this portrayal of the character) but it is a fairly fleeting aspect of the film. At least they didn't heavily advertise him, unlike another fleeting aspect of the film (which we’ll get)!
The film also presents an incredibly problematic version of Harley Quinn. Margot Robbie does the best she can but ultimately lacks comedic timing to makes this version of Harley anywhere near the complex and funny character from the animated show. We are presented Harley’s backstory in the film which rides an uncomfortable line between the original cartoon and the recent New 52 reboot. In the cartoon, Harley is a psychiatrist at Arkham Asylum and is in charge of looking after the Joker. She eventually goes mad studying him but also ends up falling in love with him. She ultimately decides to reject her normal life, dons a harlequin costume and breaks the Joker free – the two ride off into the sunset to cause mayhem and chaos. The important thing to note is that it is her choice to become Harley. In the film we get half of this (the psychiatrist part) but the other half is replaced by the Joker performing electro shock therapy on her and forcing her to jump into a pool of acid (similar to the Joker’s birth in the seminal comic The Killing Joke) to prove that she will both live and die for him. Note here that Harley’s choice to becoming this character has been stripped away. Add this the controversial abusive relationship aspect of the character (handled more maturely in the cartoon) and we are left with an uncomfortable portrayal of Harley, robbed of the nuance that made her great in the first place. There are scenes of the Joker and Harley together but they don't really do anything to inform about their relationship aside from their crazy (Joker pretty much offers Harley as a sex object to one of his fellow gangsters).
The biggest victim of the edit is The Joker, played this time by Jared Leto, who has no real involvement in the plot and would have been better served as a post-credit tease. The image of the Joker in this film has been very controversial, looking more like Marilyn Manson than the Joker, but I decided to hold judgement until the film came out (people thought Heath Ledger was a bizarre choice but look how well that turned out). There is something fascinating about this version of the Joker and why it doesn't work (and I imagine this is due a victim of the edit) but needless to say this is no Mark Hamill or Ceaser Romero or Jack Nicholson or Heath Ledger. He just becomes lost in a sea of confusing and poorly edited scenes and there isn't enough in the film to make any kind of impact. That said there is a certain fascination with the Joker as presented here and I don't think Jared Leto is an entire lost cause. Given space to breath, Leto could embody a unique version of the Joker but as it stands it becomes an awkward performance. Really the Joker should have been the Big Bad of the film – the team could have faced a villain more on their level and would have helped to deal with the troubling abuse aspect of the Joker and Harley’s relationship. Those expecting him to be heavily in the involved due to his appearance in the marketing will be disappointed.
Suicide Squad will also serve as a perfect example of how not to use music in a film, which plays like a jukebox in the background for most of the film. Nashville, by Robert Altman, is a perfect example of music informing character emotions. Master filmmakers sometimes use music to contrast what is happening in the scene to create uneasy and, if done right, unforgettable moments. While not a master filmmaker, Quentin Tarantino’s use of “Stuck In The Middle With You” creates an uneasy, violent and hilarious scene in Reservoir Dogs. Martin Scorsese is great example of this, in particular during the final 20 mins of Goodfellas where the random music cuts are in keeping with disintegrating physic of the character and the edit subsequently reflects this (smooth longer takes in Act One become frantic and frenetic in Act Three). Guardians made use of a retro soundtrack, which nicely contrasted the tone of the film to create comedic effect or to inform character emotions – plus it makes sense from a story perspective as the only music Peter Quill has is in the cassette tape he left Earth with. Suicide Squad uses music not to inform, emote or suggest but rather inform you of the broadest strokes possible as the edit fails to convey this through the story-telling. It also tries to give a “quirky” edge to the film. “You Don't Own Me” is played whilst we are introduced to Harley Quinn. “Sympathy for the Devil” is used for Amanda Waller (get it? Because she's the villain!). “Seven Nation Army” – because they’re an army and there's seven of them! The first 20 minutes plays like an iPod on shuffle and becomes fairly annoying after a while – I would rather have clear exposition instead. Music is also used to contrast events happening in the film but to no real effect – “Spirit in the Sky” is used because they are flying in a helicopter….and I guess it's in contrast to the dark tone? Decisions like this are fascinating and I feel are more akin to putting plasters over a wound. Or cello tape desperately trying to hold a kitchen table together. And the table is coloured in bright rainbow colours and unicorns – because … quirk?
Did any of the aspect work for me? Well I liked the schlockier elements. A sword possessed by the soul of a woman’s dead partner is played for laughs and is one of the few comedy scenes that actually works. Even though there is no character development given to him, I liked the talking crocodile (and got a couple of chuckles out of me). The bar scene is one the few moments of levity in the film and could have been a fun moment from another film. I appreciate the wide variety of characters and designs, even if it is just surface level detail and stereotypes, and the potential could have been very a fun cast. However, the film is a victim of studio mishandling (6 or 7 cuts were tested), sloppy editing and confused morals. All these fun elements become lost in a bland edit that sucks the life out of what might have been an interesting and original premise. The film ultimately leaves an unsatisfactory taste that does not enrage like BvS but doesn't hit enough correct notes to satisfy as an individual film. I appreciate that DC are trying something different than Marvel, I just bemoan the lack of a clear and original vision to anchor the film.
Long Verdict: While not the disaster that was Batman v Superman, Suicide Squad suffers from an infuriating edit that fails to convey the basics of character building and story-telling beats which ultimately gets lost in a sea of confusing scenes and underwhelming moments. There are good elements to appreciate here, it's just a shame many of the decisions are fundamentally mis-judged. Here's hoping for Wonder Woman...
Rating: 3/10
