After the release of “Batman v
Superman: Dawn of Justice” hit theaters, it has divided the fans to a greater
level than any other comic book movie ever has. Not so much of who they wanted
to see win, but rather judging the film overall. Some people think it’s an
abomination, while others say that it’s the film that fans love and critics
hate. It is true that a majority of critics weren’t pleased with the film, but
hey, there are MILLIONS of films that audiences love that critics hate. It’s
not that surprising people. As I’ve stated in my review for it earlier this
year, I thought the film was alright, but I understand where the hatred of it
stems from. The one major complaint that I’ve heard about with the film is that
the tone was just too dreary for a film featuring The World’s Finest. Of
course, tone is extremely subjective, and if you can’t get used to it, then
there’s no way to enjoy it.
Because of the severe backlash that it got, as well as
cowering in defeat at losing to “Deadpool” at the domestic box office, Warner
Bros. called for reshoots with more light-hearted moments to be added to their
next film, “Suicide Squad.” Considering that the release date of this film was
not too far away when the reshoots were called for, you can probably imagine that
some bit of panic was put upon the people who were making this film. After all,
they were already airing test screenings by the time they announced reshoots,
and people were praising the first cut they saw, before telling us the further
cuts weren’t as good. However, since they had David Ayer helming the movie, I
still remained optimistic about the film.
After the events of “Dawn of Justice,” the government is
looking at whatever possible defenses they can resort to, in case they have to
deal with a Superman-like being that could put them in peril. Such a peril
comes in the form of June Moone, an archaeologist who is possessed by a spirit
known as the Enchantress, who plans on laying waste to Midway City and turning
its inhabitance into her monstrous slaves. In response to this, Amanda Waller
suggests recruiting a group of criminals to work under the government, in
exchange for perks of their choosing. So now it’s up to some of the worst of
the worst and some mercenaries to take on this devastating threat.
When critical reviews for this film were released, fans
were outraged at how a lot of professional movie reviewers were upset that
their opinion was negative towards a movie that at the time hadn’t even come
out yet. This got so out of control, that a petition was created to shut down
“Rotten Tomatoes,” because they were believed to be bias against DC…or maybe
it’s because some fanboys are so thin-skinned, that they can’t accept the fact
that a majority of people didn’t like their piece of shit movie.
Yeah, I’m not beating around the bush here people.
“Suicide Squad” was a giant clusterfuck of a movie, even more so than “Batman v
Superman!” And to all those who are going to argue back with, “oh, but there's
a director's cut,” can it! David Ayer had said that his director’s cut was what
we saw in theaters, so he clarified that we were supposed to be satisfied with
that version. Well, guess what David? I was NOT satisfied.
To really go in depth on why makes this film such a
complete pain to sit through, much like “Maleficent,” I’ll be going through the
things that truly aggravate me the most about this film.
#5) The film is trying too
hard to be like “Guardians of the Galaxy” – When you look at the film, simply
through one or two trailers alone, you can easily tell that this was supposed
to be DC’s answer to Marvel’s “Guardians of the Galaxy.” A team of misfit
criminals tasked with saving the world, in a zany fun blockbuster fashion, all
while learning to grow attached to each other as a team. It doesn’t really
work, however. You see, with “Guardians of the Galaxy,” that took over the
course of a few days, and the team’s motivation wasn't originally to save the
world at all, but just to get out of prison and sell off the infinity stone
they found. It was only from finding out what the thing could really do, and
getting their asses handed by Ronan, that they needed to learn how to be a team
and save the day. With “Suicide Squad,” it was “stop a witch and monsters, get
rewarded, or you all die” in the span of one night. It doesn’t really have the
same kind of impact or believability as “Guardians” did. That, and the music
cues, while good choices, didn’t add much to the film. At least with
“Guardians,” the songs had a purpose for being showcased in the film, because
we established that the mix tape that Starlord had was one of the things he had
to remember his mother by. Why does “Suicide Squad” have these songs? …’cuz
can. Also, fuck you for not using Bohemian Rhapsody to it's best potential, like you did with the trailer. But going back to what I said earlier on this being within one night…
#4) The storytelling narrative
is HORRIBLE – I kid you not, the way this film is paced and edited is
absolutely atrocious! After hearing the news about how this film had to do a
few reshoots and extra scenes, it really shows that. Remember how I said that “X-Men:
Apocalypse” had some tonal problems when trying to add humor? Yeah, this was
like that, only much worse. Not only do the tonal shifts really take you out of
the mood, but it feels so forced, and that got really distracting. It’s nothing
but a failed attempt at trying to balance a hard edge with comedy, something
that films like “Deadpool” and “Kingsman: The Secret Service” did so much
better. It also feels like some scenes got cut for time that were part of the
crucial plot, like when Harley falls onto a rooftop from a helicopter, and then
in the next scene, she’s on top of a car near the building she was escaping
from. What?! And at the near end, El Diablo makes a comment about how the squad
is his new family, despite only having ONE scene of them getting along, and
that was the bar scene. You people barely have any chemistry with one another!
#3) The Enchantress is a god
awful villain – Look…I love Cara Delevingne. I really enjoyed her in “Paper
Towns,” and I do believe she has strong potential to do great things…but as the
Enchantress, she just sucked. Not once did I buy into her as an architect
possessed by evil, or as an evil witch queen bent on world domination. Her
character arc is so thin and nonsensical, that it doesn’t make me care for what
happens to this character whatsoever. Her plan is also the same recycled “vortex
of doom in the city, that will unleash evil and destroy the land of the living”
cliché that we’ve seen before, and it’s really starting to become tiresome. Hell,
the whole plot point of trying to get her heart back so she can be unbound
doesn’t make any sense. One minute, she’s needs her heart so she isn’t under
restriction and be all powerful, but after her brother does something to make
her immune, she’s fine…and then at the end, her heart is destroyed and that
completely stops the Enchantress. PICK SOMETHING AND STICK TO IT! Also, what
the hell was up with her dancing during the climax? It…ju…what the fuck was
that?!
#2) The Joker was completely pointless
– Throughout all of the advertising and interviews going about this film, they
were building up that the Joker was going to play a big role in this film, and
that it was going to be quite chaotic. I was a bit skeptical about Jared Leto
being cast as the Clown Prince of Crime, but considering this was a guy who
really disappears into his characters, I was interested to see what he would
bring. And to his credit, he does a really damn good job as the Joker…for all
of 10 minutes he’s there. That’s right…all that hype, all those interviews
about how he terrorized the cast, how he completely went nuts both on and off
set…and he’s only in the movie for 10 minutes? Hell, those 10 minutes don’t
even amount to anything that happens in the story, aside from giving Harley’s
backstory. I mean, give Doomsday in “Dawn of Justice” some credit, at least he
was built up throughout the film! Apparently, there was some discussion on how
they had to cut down Joker’s screen time, in order to keep the film at a PG-13.
But again, why would that be a problem? Considering “Deadpool” outgrossed “Dawn
of Justice” at the domestic box office, you could have really shown some true
balls here and embrace that dark edge that you guys were going for! Also,
despite Leto giving it his all in this performance, the film didn’t do Joker
and Harley’s relationship right, because Joker spends his screen time trying to
get Harley back. Newsflash: Joker doesn’t give a shit about Harley! He only
sees her as just another one of his goons…an obsessed, smart, and very good
looking one that can kick ass, but a servant none the less. It’s an abusive
relationship, but Harley’s so crazy about the Joker, that she doesn’t care as
long as she gets to be with him. If anything, it should have been Harley trying
to break Joker out of prison, not the other way around!...which brings me to my
final complaint about the film…
#1) Harley Quinn – This is the
character that everyone was looking forward to seeing finally adapted into live
action, including myself. However, this to me was the biggest offense. If you
know me, then you know that I’m not a comic book reader. I’ve read a few
comics, but not enough to consider myself a reader or fan. But whether I was or
wasn’t, I still found what they did with Harley Quinn to be completely asinine.
Harley Quinn has been a character that was so enjoyable to watch, whether it’d
be on any of the shows in Bruce Timm’s DC Animated Universe, where she originated, or in the “Batman:
Arkham Series.” Someone who was started out as by-the-books follower, but went
insane when she got that taste for freedom, in the form of villainy. She was
someone who always had a wide array of causing havoc among the crowd, whether
it was for the Joker or for fun with Poison Ivy. However, “Suicide Squad” doesn’t
give us the Harley that we know and love. She barely has any weapons, her
costume looks cheap and childish, and she never really came off as insane. Not
only that, but she served no purpose to the entire film! Think about it: what
was something useful that Harley Quinn did to help out throughout the entire
film? …yeah, that’s what I thought. And the sad part is Margot Robbie was a
really damn good choice to play Harley. When I saw “The Wolf of Wall Street”
and heard that the model/wife of Jordan Belfort was going to be Harley Quinn, I
was absolutely for that choice. But when I saw her in this movie, I didn’t see
Harley Quinn at all. It just looked like that head cheerleader in high school,
dressed up as one sentence synopsis of Harley, from her nerdy friend. This is
supposed to be the best representation we get?! That’s pathetic!!
So with everything that I’ve said, does the film have any
merit to it? Well, the best thing I can say is the production design does look
impressive and some characters like Deadshot and Killer Croc do look cool. As
for the cast, I thought they all did fine. Viola Davis as Amanda Waller was a
good choice, and it was nice to see this actress portray another authority
type, like she did in “Ender’s Game.” And like I said, I thought Jared Leto,
with what little screen time he had, was giving a very unique take on the Joker
that felt fresh. He may not be as scary as Heath Ledger, or as funny as Jack
Nicholson or Caesar Romero, or as all the above as Mark Hamill, but he was a
welcome edition. As for the Suicide Squad themselves, they did fine. Will Smith,
Jay Hernandez, Adewale Akinnuoye-Agbaje, Karen Fukuhara, and even Jai Courtney,
all did fine with what they were given. It’s just a shame that their efforts
all had to be wasted on a film that didn’t give them much to work with.
Overall, “Suicide Squad” easily takes the spot of being
the biggest disappointment of 2016, and it’s definitely going to make my worst
of the year list for sure. I really wanted to like this movie so badly. I had
high hopes that this would be the saving grace for the DCEU, telling audiences
that this film would bring serious competition over Marvel and Disney…sadly,
that’s not going to happen. And I’m going to make this comment now…if “Wonder
Woman” isn’t good, I will not watch “Justice League” next year.
Rating: 1/10
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