Mainstream Media - Movie Review (suicide Squad)

I m not a big fan of reviewing movies, simply because everyone has their own opinions on what s good or not and I m not here to convince, but what I can say for sure is that some movies just do not live up to the hype. Suicide Squad was one of those.
There are many reviews out their that will detail information about the background of this movie in extreme depth (such as filming info, behind the scenes, funding etc...) but, to be quite frank, I don t massively care about this political stuff. I knew very little about the suicide squad outside of this movie except what I watched on TV through the cartoons and TV shows e.g. Smallville when I was growing up. In terms of whether the actors fit the character roles correctly, whether the history of the comics was lived up to...i don t know nor particularly care. There are real fan boys and girls out there who can deal with that. I m simply someone who likes watching superhero/villain movies, has a couple of favourites and goes to watch movies at the cinemas very rarely (unless there is a particular movie that catches my interest). Suicide squad was one of those instances.
So, before I review, why was I interested in this movie? Like I said, my knowledge on the background of this movie is very limited. I don t really follow the actors, nor read the comics. I was interested in the movie for what was being sold to me by the media, fan previews and general information from the movie experts and my gut. DC and Marvel movies and superhero movies in general have been big business for companies ranging from the blistering Hollywood budgeting to the meagre youtube created. They have garnered all sorts of praise and hatred ranging from being the best in decades to simply being forgotten and never spoken of again (not even a hundred remakes will fix those bruisers) but Suicide Squad came across, to me, as something different for a while. Not since Watchmen, have I gone to the cinemas to watch a superhero movie. Whilst Smallville is still, to this day, one of my favourite superhero TV series ever I have never gone to watch a superman film in the cinemas. Whilst Batman was the typical anti-hero that I wanted to be like when I was 8 years old, I not once made the effort to go watch it in cinemas. Why? Because all of these movies, to me, feel like they ve been done before. The ultimate good guy vs ultimate bad guy, where the good guy comes across an issue (physical, personal etc...) and has to overcome these and eventually beat the bad guy i.e. the John Cena movie effect. It s been done so many times that I ve become familiar with the age-old concept - now I m genuinely expecting these twists and turns in movies because, well, they are always being incorporated (except the Christian Bale Batman flicks - RIP Heath Ledger, personally one of my favourite portrayals of a superhero villain ever). And in the same way, Watchmen was different. I liked this movie because it made the heroes seem normal. Despite their powers, they weren t out of this world (not to be taken literally). They had weaknesses and were afraid. They were vulnerable physically (that opening sequence) and mentally (Rorschach). Watchmen made a movie where it wasn t just good guys vs. bad guys. There were plots, sub plots and twists that really made one think. The storyline was intelligent, convoluted to the point of making it seem realistic where the superpowers weren t the highlight of the show as in typical superhero films. The heroes and villains weren t chess pieces with a clear side. It combined realism and fantasy to make a movie that was still a superhero movie, but with a dark realism to it that no superhero movie to this day, that I have seen, has managed to replicate. Sure, Avengers was fun and Thor has a nice storyline but, again, they follow the age old John Cena style of movieing. They are fun, enjoyable to watch but definitely not unique in style. Suicide Squad, despite its raves and marketting, was simply one of these movies and it really shouldn t have been because the main characters of this movie did not lend themselves to this.
This was the selling point for me. Not really has their been a superhero movie that has been based around a collection of villains. Villains, that at one time or another, crossed the boundary of being a good guy and bad guy. I am going to say this again, Suicide Squad was a movie based around a collection of Villains and one of my greatest dislikes of this movie was the directors/writers completely forgot this and tried to portray them, throughout, as simply misunderstood good guys e.g. Batman, Hancock etc... It failed. These are guys deemed in the movie as the worst of the worst, people that killed others for personal enjoyment (as Deadshot pointed out) and caused so much issue in the marvel universe that not until the Batman vs Superman scenario were they even considered for such a taskforce (and that movie sucked also). Other than lazy attempts by the writers/producers to point this out through the dialogue of the characters (which was not nearly enough for the casual audience to get to know them) and the rare attempts to break away from the supposed good guys , which all ended predictably, this movie did nothing to make the audience think of these guys as bad guys. These guys were vicious killers, working together, to save a world that had left them to die, that hated them and that they hated in return. Where was this hate? The first thing this movie failed for me was making this seem unique, as on paper the problem seems to be. It had many opportunities to make the audience despise and hate the main characters, as it should have done (Deadshot was a great example of a character that only had 1 single good bone in his body, his daughter) yet the movie focussed on this so much it drowned out the effect of his villanaious nature. It put him on par with Batman. Bruce Wayne s parents died, love of his life died and yet a man who enjoys killing, enjoys doing bad without a reason too is portrayed as doing everything for his daughter? As a loving father? One or two scenes would have been enough for this effect but all of Deadshot s scenes involved his daughter and not the actual killer deadshot. It doesn t seem the right approach. The fact his daughter knows, and supports this, I m inclined to say she s a bad guy too but the film didn t focus on this skewed concept (something Watchmen did really well). It instead, went for the misunderstood villain angle. It did this with all of the characters, even killer croc, and came across as cheesey and unoriginal.
Secondly, character development. Will Smith s Hancock + mask = Will Smith s Deadshot. Hancock was a dude with issues, Deadshot was portrayed as a dude with issues. Hancock was a good guy, Deadshot was a bad guy. Hancock wanted to be left alone. Deadshot enjoyed killing. So why the hell, was Deadshot being portrayed as a loving father instead of a killer, which he sacrificed his own family to continue doing? Additionally, deadshot s selling point was he can shoot a gun from anywhere and hit the target. He never misses. Why the hell wasn t he the team s sniper? Why was he playing the Hero and shooting at the frontline? Character fail. At no point in the movie, except the beginning (I actually liked the first 30 minutes of the movie) was Deadshot presented as 1. A villain, 2. A crack shot. He was basically Smith, with a gun, in any movie he has a gun. Margot Robbie s Harley Quinn began as a crazy, psycho chick (as she should have) and I was eager to see Joker s looney sidekick in action. Fast forward 30 minutes and Robbie s time on screen consisted of bad puns, numerous ass shots (which Michael Bay would have been proud of) and generally was made to look as simply a girl in a crazy love sequence. I get it, she loves the Joker. I understand, deep inside she isn t such a bad person. Wrong. She was a villain. She killed many, many innocent people and, again, the movie failed to address this Harley Quinn character of hers. Other than shooting at Batman, I did not see throughout the movie anything that made her a villain. She was a good guy in love with Joker. Captain Boomerang likes throwing his Boomerang, which also comes back to him...At least he stuck with his gimmick, unlike Deadshot. Probably came across as the average A hole rather than a villain though, enjoyed when he left but confused why he returned. Killer Croc...was in the movie. Eats raw meat. Lives in a sewer. Is Beautiful on the outside and likes big booties. Seemed a classic case of misunderstood and bullied personality rather than a killer. Enchantress (admittedly gets top marks for looking hot) but strongest meta human ever? I doubt that from what I was seeing. And what was the machine she was buidling? Amanda Waller stabbing her heart didn t do long term damage to it? (On the positive, I really liked Viola Davis as Amanda Waller. Probably came across as the most evil in the team - like a more ruthless, evil Nick Fury who clearly has a good agenda but doing it all wrong). El Diablo who portrayed the typical villain turned good, with immense power that doesn t want to hurt anyone anymore and blah blah blah, killed his family etc... everyone s trapped and he uses his power anyway. And, oh, he s going to sacrifice himself for his group against a god but that s ok because This is my true form ...WTF? So many plot holes and unexplained random rubbish with this, I m not going to even bother. Let s just say El Diablo was the physical manifestation of those movies where things just happen to work out at the perfect moment. He s like M. Night Shyamalan in every one of his cameos...he seems to have the answer for everything. The scenes he didn t want to fight, that didn t make it seem like he didn t want to kill either because he was grieving over his family. It made him seem like a coward because of how the other characters were being portrayed. And finally, the other minor characters. Katana is a superhero, so why was she hanging out with the villains? Interactions between superhero and supervillains...She hates them, yes, and in fact...I actually think she did a good job. Good job Karen Fukuhara. Rick Flag - giant douchebag in love. Essentially portrayed the parallel to Harley Quinn but this was not eluded to in any way whatsoever, would have made for a great bust-up. Slipknot slipped up and got all tied up too. I couldn t care less. Nothing to make me like or hate him for that matter.

Good points, some good characters: Amanda Waller, Joker, Katana. Storyline was a nice idea - Suicide Squad caused the entire problem to begin with i.e. Enchantress was a member of their team, so technically the group idea was suicide in itself. Some nice laughs. A decent/good opening 30 minutes, that really set the story going. Superheroes/Supervillains interactions brief but as they should be.

Bad Points, poor character portrayal: Deadshot!!!, Harley Quinn post 30 minutes, Killer Croc, Slipknot, El Diablo: Plot holes, Shymalan fever. Michael Bay ideas. Story didn t pick up, slow down or do anything after 30 minutes. Went at a constant pace. Fight scenes were too focussed on weapons and not enough of their villainous nature. Would a true villain really do what Deadshot did the first time they encountered the blowfish head creatures? No evil...whatsoever from the suicide squad. They just seemed misunderstood people.

All in all, I m going to say that this movie was fun at the beginning until you realise that the ride hasn t changed pace or direction half an hour in. Better than Batman vs. Superman but no where near the enjoyment of Marvel s franchises nor reaching into the darkness of our minds like Watchmen took us to. It was a good superhero movie and, in that sense, failed for what was advertised...a supervillain movie. Watch it, don t watch it. Just don t expect it to give you anything unique. 5/10