Okay, you’ve read it now? Good. Let’s continue.
I will try my very best to keep this review mullet-style. Meaning, a basic, spoiler-free, movie review will be in this post. All the juicy spoilers will be left for a later post.
The best possible way I can describe this movie is this: It’s not as good as expected, but it’s definitely not as bad as you’ve heard.
To begin, I would have to say I was looking forward to this movie for probably over a year, so I had some pretty high expectations. Some were met and others were not, but that didn’t make or break it for me.
Ever since the first set photos were released, which was sometime last summer, along with an unofficial trailer, I had fallen in love with what I was seeing. The marketing team for this movie had done its job; I was hooked. Growing up I was the typical nerdy kid who loved superheroes and comic books, so whenever any of these movies come out I just have to see it. Now, to be quite honest I hadn’t heard of the Suicide Squad comics before the movie, so I wasn’t sure of what to expect. But thank God for the Internet, right? From the moment I heard of a new DC Comics movie, I had to learn as much as I could to have some kind of background knowledge. So, for the next year I studied up on the Suicide Squad. And after I thought I knew enough, I felt like I knew what I was getting into and I could honestly call myself a casual fan.
The Plot
The general plot of this movie can be taken from the comics: A secret government agency, led by Amanda Waller, creates a team of imprisoned super-villains to perform dangerous black-op missions in order to shorten their prison sentences. These missions are considered to be so dangerous, those recruited to execute said mission aren’t expected to survive. If you want a more detailed description of the plot, please read The Plot in further detail piece in the spoilers section.The Characters
Those who know me know I am a huge DC Comics fan. Yes, I like Marvel Comics, but I just happen to prefer DC. I don’t really know why.Those who know me really well know I am a huge Batman fan. Seriously, this fandom goes back to my adolescent days when I would dress up as Batman for Halloween three years in a row. Anything to do with Batman I love. I have such a love for this fictional character I have even begun to love his villains almost as much. I don’t care what anyone says, DC fans or Marvel fans, Batman has the best villains out of any other superhero.
It just so happens that a lot of the characters imprisoned and coaxed into being part of the Suicide Squad are Batman villains. It would also be natural to like his arch enemy, The Joker.
One of the first cast photos released for this film was of the new Joker. It’s no surprise this character is one of the most iconic beings in comic book and cinema history, just look at the famous actors who have portrayed him over the years. What is surprising is when doing my research on the Suicide Squad comics, is that The Joker really isn’t ever a part of them. His love interest, Harley Quinn, is.
I assumed The Joker would show up only to serve as a backstory to Harley Quinn and possibly show up once here and there in the movie. Either way, I knew I was going to see The Joker in this movie, along with other notorious comic book villains.
There are some things about these characters that I can’t say to keep from spoiling anything. I will go in some more detail on some of them in the spoilers section.
Amanda Waller (Viola Davis)
The leader of the secret government agency which recruits the super-villains is Amanda Waller. Don’t think that just because she’s a woman she can’t handle her own, in fact that is far from the truth; she is probably one of the more intimidating characters of the movie. She goes before the U.S. government to plead her case as to why they need this team, and she doesn’t back down. She convinces those in charge that the team is necessary and is given full control of them. She was tough, brutal and fearless, and she was one of the pleasant surprises of the film. She was easily one of the best, if not the best aspects of the film. If Viola Davis doesn’t get at least some nominations for her performance in this movie, then there should be riots in the streets.Captain Boomerang (Jai Courtney)
A lot of people seem to give Jai Courtney a hard time because of his lackluster performances in movies. Some of that is blamed on him being miscast into roles not suited to his acting abilities, or he’s just a lousy actor. I have never seen him in anything else, so I didn’t have anything to go on. And once again I had to do a lot of research on Captain Boomerang to understand who he was. He’s simply an Australian criminal who seems to have boomerang fetish. I wasn’t overly impressed with this character, but I wasn’t completely bored with him either. I’m just on the fence with him; maybe seeing the movie another time or two will I be able to make a legitimate conclusion on him. Could they have found a better actor to portray this character? Yes. But they also could have used a better member of the Suicide Squad. Regardless, Captain Boomerang was a useful character for the movie’s plot, to an extent, and he did make me laugh a time or two. Jai Courtney did well with what he was given.
Deadshot (Will Smith)
I knew quite a bit about Deadshot going into this movie and I really appreciate Will Smith as an actor, so I was really intrigued with how he would perform. As per usual, Will Smith played Will Smith in another movie. Remember his characters in Men in Black, Wild Wild West, I Robot and Independence Day? They were all basically the same character, but it worked. He brought the Deadshot character to life and even though he still portrayed the same character as usual, Will Smith’s Deadshot was amazing. Deadshot in the comics, video games and animated series is known as a deadly marksman who has diarrhea of the mouth. Simply put, he never shuts up. This is what we got out of this Deadshot, and Will Smith did a phenomenal job. The dude was arrogant, funny, charming and above all else hardcore with a skill none can match.Enchantress (Cara Delevingne)
There was a lot of speculation surrounding the Enchantress and what her role was going to be in the film. There were rumors of her being the main villain as well as her being a backup to the Suicide Squad in case they should fail their mission. I was really intrigued with how they used her in the movie. I had never heard of the character, I only knew from doing research that she was a witch with unstoppable magical powers. And as little as I knew about the character, I knew even less about the actress portraying her. Cara Delevinge is a model turned actress, so basically all I knew about her was they were getting a pretty face to play a witch – sounds like an odd combination, but the creators made it work. And though her performance is the most heavily criticized by fans and critics alike, I feel like Cara portrayed the character reasonably well. There were times when I cringed because of her poor acting skills, but she did better than what everyone is saying.El Diablo (Jay Hernandez)
Holy cow this guy was amazing! Without spoiling much, El Diablo is a pyrokinetic, which means he has the ability to create and manipulate fire. Jay Hernandez is an average actor in my opinion and wasn’t quite capable of handling such a large role as Diablo, but he earned a lot of respect from me with his performance.Harley Quinn (Margot Robbie)
I have seen Margot Robbie in a few other films before and she was simply amazing, sometimes shining over veteran actors – see Wolf of Wall Street. So knowing what she is capable of I was thrilled to see her cast to play the iconic girlfriend to The Joker, Harley Quinn. Margot Robbie’s take on Harley Quinn is the first to make it to the big screen. She had a lot of pressure to make this character come to life beyond the comic books and animated series, and in my opinion she did the character justice. She was intimidating, funny and sexy; it was the perfect rendition. I can’t wait to see more of her in future films. Some of her jokes did fall flat, but not all of her jokes are supposed to start a laughing riot. She’s just supposed to be this obnoxious sex appeal, who is just as sinister as The Joker. Margot Robbie was born for this role.The Joker (Jared Leto)
Without giving too much away, The Joker was used as a backstory for Harley Quinn as predicted, but he was also used for other present scenes as well. It was obvious that the two actors portraying the characters The Joker and Harley Quinn shared enough chemistry on and off set in order to make me believe in their romantic relationship on film. As for The Joker, his performance was going to be heavily criticized for several reasons. For one thing, Jared Leto had some big shoes to fill ever since Heath Ledger’s performance as the Joker in 2008’s “The Dark Knight.” This Joker was going to be either something the fans looked forward to see because of how different he was or it was going to be strongly disliked because of who they cast to play him and how different this version of The Joker was going to look. I’ll admit the first photo that came out that showed a wide-mouth Joker covered in tattoos and sporting a grill didn’t sit too well with me, but I liked Jared Leto as an actor, so I was going to hold my judgments until after I see him in action. And after learning a little bit more about this particular Joker I came pretty fond of this version and was even more ecstatic to see him on the big screen. After seeing the movie, he didn’t disappoint. He was menacing and twisted, just what I expected to see out The Joker. Even though he wasn't your typical Joker who cracks jokes all the time, this new interpretation made him look more psychotic and evil and that was just fine with me.Katana (Karen Fukuhara)
Katana was sort of the bodyguard to team captain, Rick Flag, as she was used to aid him in keeping the other Squad members in line, as well as keeping Flag from any immediate danger. Skilled with her Soultaker sword, Katana was very tactical with the blade in hand and probably one of the more accomplished fighters in the film. I did feel that her entrance into the movie was a little forced, as she didn’t join the group until nearly halfway through the movie. She sort of just jumped in just as the crew was taking off into their mission and even though she was properly introduced, it was a little strange for her to come in as randomly as she did. I did enjoy watching her in action however, and the supernatural secret to her sword was pretty awesome. If I am correct, I believe this was Karen Fukuhara’s first American movie she’s ever been a part of, as she usually does performances in Japan. That being said, I felt she held her own among the rest of the cast. With few speaking parts and most of them in Japanese, I felt I didn’t get enough of the character other than her innate ability to wield a sword, to fully understand who she really is. They gave little detail to her backstory, but I suppose they gave enough to roll with for the time being. I would still like to see more of her; she was a very interesting character.Killer Croc (Adewale Akinnuoye-Agbaje)
Killer Croc was going to be difficult character to create and to portray. In comics, animated series, and in the video games he’s supposed to be 8 foot or taller. Originally, yes, he was just at normal height, but still a man covered in scales. I really loved the way they created him for this movie. He was still a regular-sized man, but had all the physical characteristics of a crocodile; it was very interesting to see on film. He was so beast-like he was startling to look portray an actual crocodile. I really loved the line in the movie where they’re talking about Killer Croc acting like a beast, so they decided to treat him like one, as they threw in a large piece of meat into his cell. He didn’t talk much in the movie, and I can see why. It was pretty difficult in understanding what he was saying. I don’t know if that was because of the fake teeth he had to wear or if the creators wanted him have such a deep, raspy voice to sound more animalistic, whatever the reason, he was hard to understand. I can remember whenever he spoke a lot of people in the theater would be turning to their neighbor, probably asking at what he just said. Regardless, I enjoyed his character. Along with his frightening physical appearance, this guy was a brute. He was basically the muscle of the Suicide Squad and in battle he displayed his strength and agility exceptionally.Rick Flag (Joel Kinnaman)
Rick Flag is the unquestioned leader of Amanda Waller’s Suicide Squad. Though, technically not a member of the Squad himself, he is given control of the group as the leader of Waller’s military force accompanying the Squad on their mission. I knew coming in to the movie that Joel Kinnaman had the acting chops to be the stern Rick Flag that the movie needed – look at the RoboCop remake. A lot of his performance is heavily criticized for being so grumpy and grouchy throughout the movie. All I have to say to that is, when was a leader of a secret military force in charge of dangerous criminals not grouchy about his position? The guy had to be the one in charge, control this group of super-villains and complete the mission at hand; of course he’s going to be perturbed, get off his back. Joel did just fine in my book. He was the leader the group needed to take charge of the situation. And he wasn’t always such a grump; he had moments of compassion and some redefining moments of emotion. It was a very realistic take on the character.A slight scare before seeing the movie
So with all this knowledge, with all this hype, and with everything else going on in between, we the fans, including myself, got a huge letdown the week the movie starts to show. Low and behold the movie critics come to bring it all down. With review after review, the critics start to slice and dice this movie and tear it a new one. The first reviews come out, and they’re just awful. Not bad, but awful. Everything about the movie is being heavily criticized. 1 out of every 5 reviews (if not more) from the critics just totally slammed this movie from beginning to end. I start to hear about this and read some of the negative reviews and my balloon of enthusiasm slowly starts to lose all its air and I’m just waiting for it to start flying around the room. With over a year of excitement built up, it all started to crumble in just a few short days before it officially hit theaters. What a bummer…But after seeing this movie several times I am at a loss on what these critics were complaining about. I have no idea why this film has received such a poor rating. Some of the complaints exclaimed that this movie was too much like a comic book… Yes, take a moment to let that stupidity sink in. It’s supposed to look like a comic book; it’s a movie adaptation from the comic books! I don’t know, I’m not a movie critic, well not a “highly qualified” paid movie critic, so I don’t really understand where they’re coming from. This was a pretty awesome movie if you ask me.
— Cory Morris
Four Crossed Logs intern
professional communication major
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