Perhaps this is why the mindlessness of Suicide Squad was enjoyable to me. The film is facing widespread condemnation by critics and there are plenty of justified reasons for that but many of these reviews aren't concerned with those issues and focus on trivial interpretations of minor aspects or their cultural and political effects. The film released is not particularly good but there is a good film within it.
It feels like many went in expecting a shitshow, which after Batman V Superman: Dawn Of Justice, I can hardly blame them but Suicide Squad is actually a wobbly step in the right direction. It doesn't escape the swamp and much of the shit from BvS still clings to its feet but it attempts to step away from the garbage tone, style and writing of Zack Snyder's mainline trainwreck.
The comedy is very hit and miss with Deadshot appropriately never missing and Harley Quinn being mostly on point too. Harley, Deadshot and Rick Flag are undoubtedly the leads of the film, proving far more engaging in acting, entertaining in dialogue and developed in writing than their fellow teammates. A particular mention to Viola Davis' performance as an excellent Amanda Waller though as well.
Yes, even Rick Flag, Mr G.I Generic is given the best possible chance to be interesting with some heart, humanity and reason to care about his motivations. I remember seeing the first promotional image of the entire squad and seeing two identical armoured mercenary gun grunts in Rick Flag and Slipknot. I was pleased to see some effort being put into Rick whilst Slipknot is handled pretty much exactly as I'd hoped.
Sadly other characters like Katana and Captain Boomerang are not explored as much as the central trio due to the cramped and fast-paced nature of the film but they have their moments. El Diablo's arc basically reflects his storyline from the New 52 comics which is no bad thing but is handled clumsily here at times. Enchantress loses a lot of depth and intrigue as a character once she becomes the main villain as a generic genocidal goddess.
Killer Croc and Boomerang are mainly comic relief characters but Croc doesn't manage to fill this role as well due to a thick accent and a heavy voice distortion making him nigh indecipherable most of the time. Yet again my screening suffered terrible audio mixing overall that I can't confirm is fault of the film or the cinema.
A baffling criticism I saw a lot was the lack of Joker in the film. In the lead up to the film I actually hoped for a restrained amount of Joker because he seems to overtake every remotely Batman-related story he's in and very often, as is the case here, the central plot is not his story. Pleasingly I think there's a good balance struck here, with Joker very much commanding plot B in the background, doing what Joker should which is screw up everyone else's plans.
As for Jared Leto's performance, it is sadly just...fine. Whoever followed on from Heath Ledger was going to suffer intense scrutiny and despite many now calling Leto "the worst Joker eva!" his performance certainly isn't bad it just isn't magnetic like some others have made the role. The style feels like a gangster infused shadow of Heath Ledger's from The Dark Knight rather than something wholly new but like I said, it seems odd to complain about Leto's Joker not stealing the show when it's not yet his show.
I found the writing overall to be solid and effective with the stakes raising suitably as the film progresses and no one breaking character even if these interpretations of Amanda Waller and Harley Quinn do take some aspects to new extremes or different avenues of thought. To return to my original statement, I think there is a good, even a great film somewhere within Suicide Squad but its primary problem is everything that's happened in post and I don't think it's unfair to say the editing has absolutely butchered this film.
Good editing is difficult to mention because you don't notice it. It's like the turning of pages in a book. If Suicide Squad were a book, every page turn would be booby-trapped with electric shocks, superglue or excerpts from the author's son's mixtape blaring through a crude speaker in the book's spine.
There is a clear attempt at a Guardian's Of The Galaxy vibe but the pop soundtracks feel too numerous and too forced despite setting a refreshingly lighter tone in places. The opening of the film is not exactly a cold opening so much as cryogenically frozen as the logos are unceremoniously dumped in front of us like a slab of wet spam falling from the tin. The following scenes for about half the film are then a quick succession of slaps to the face, given no time to breathe, no concern for rhythm or pacing, simply rushed out the door trying to pack as much into the runtime as possible regardless of effect.
The edits are jarring and abrupt, often choosing a poorly composed camera angle or a shot completely unimportant to the scene. The introductions to the characters and their brief backstories are schizophrenic seisures of flashbacks, scenes cut from the final edit and warped, often daft looking visual effects.
The lighting is also hugely detrimental to the film with some of the CG and costumes looking great, some looking a little Joel Schumacher and others not clearly looking like anything because the scene's far too dark to see anything. This also creates moments of CG clusterfuck confusion the likes of which I haven't seen since Transformers where objects and creatures collide into a vague mess of incomprehensible expensive animations.
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| There's a fodder enemy that up close is a writhing mass of eyeballs but otherwise looks like gravel people... |
I remember the editing being a surprisingly overt issue in BvS and I now worry that there's some kind of guide going around for all DCU films that says hire a cocaine-addicted homeless busker with sponges for hands and give him half an hour to edit the entire film whilst studio executives shout contradictory adjectives at him through a supermarket tannoy.
So those are some actual technical issues with the film but the ones many people are talking about likely wouldn't even register on most radars in comparison. People have brought up that Batman punches Harley Quinn in the face after she tries to stab him and by knocking her out he manages to save her life...Or rather people have brought up this scene as far as the word "face". It's a brutal punch to the face I'll grant you but what about this new DCU hasn't been gritty and brutal? Batman sounds like a Terminator, Superman is a scowling mass murderer and moreover how can film plots actually progress if a hero isn't allowed to ever punch a villain?
If that's what stood out most to you in the film then you clearly weren't looking at Killer Croc's weirdly noodley body for a supposedly giant monstrous crocodile mutant.
Suicide Squad is a hard film to recommend because whilst I enjoyed it, many parts were disappointing and I think I was lucky that my love for the concept and many of the characters (plus I like any film where lesser known characters get the spotlight) pushed the scales in favour of it only just being ultimately worthwhile. The pacing, editing, visuals and sound are rough a lot of the time but the core plot and the characters, which for many are the main appeal are handled well and their interactions are the most entertaining parts of the film.
It's not a must-see film but it's not the atrocity many are saying it is either. I'm glad the film is doing well commercially because I think the potential for a great sequel is definitely there. Suicide Squad is bursts of mindless fun and action with weird occasionally wonderful characters, it isn't a glowing example of effective or even competent filmmaking and storytelling.
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