Suicide Squad (15)
Synopsis:
Intelligence Operative Amanda Waller assembles a black ops team of supervillains in order to tackle any new meta-human threats that strike in the aftermath of Superman’s death. When a witch from another time named Enchantress resurrects her brother with the intention of destroying the world that turned their backs on them, the Squad are sent in to stop her. Along the way Harley Quinn is pursued by her lover who is determined to “rescue” her.
Review:
Batman V Superman: Dawn of Justice was an exceedingly long camp mess of a film that brought so many unintentional laughs and the most homoerotic fight scene in any comic book movie I’ve ever seen. I liked it, because it was so chaotic and bad that it was good and I liked the extended edition, which added another thirty minutes to its already overlong running time of two hours thirty. The thing was BVS cast a shadow of doubt over the future of the DC Cinematic Universe, which was only in its infancy. So there was a hell of a lot of pressure on Suicide Squad to be good, or at least passably decent. I sat down in a packed screening and my fingers were crossed, would it be good enough to undo all the badness of Batman V Superman?
Kinda. Batman V Superman was very very wide of the mark and some of its creative decisions were baffling, so to make everyone have full confidence in the future of the DCCU they would have had to create the Sistine Chapel of superhero movies. Suicide Squad is more like The Banksy of superhero movies: anarchic and fun with more than a little savagery and smugness mixed in for good measure and that is no bad thing. There was so much to enjoy in this film and not a Martha in sight. There were plenty of crazy comic book antics, which is what Batman V Superman was missing, whereas Suicide Squad is unashamed to be saturated in the sheer ridiculousness of its source materials.
Firstly, I want to address one of the villains in this film and sheepishly issue the actor in question an apology. Jared Leto, I am so sorry for doubting you. If sending live rats to fellow cast members is what it takes for him to get into character then he should keep sending those rats, because he is incredible. It was a shame that his character, The Clown Prince of Crime: The Joker wasn’t in it more, but maybe his brief appearances were a blessing. We saw just enough of him to be utterly chilled to the bone, but we weren’t over-exposed to his character so now there’s plenty to explore in future films. I adored the performance that he delivered, it was an interpretation of The Joker that I had never ever seen before and it was electrifying. It’s not entirely perfect, there is a moment where he refers to Harley Quinn as “the fire in his loins” and that was a little too much, but aside from that his performance is pretty much faultless. He essentially plays The Joker as a very animalistic and savage villain who switches effortlessly from being brutal to sinister to affectionate. His style is impressive too, Leto’s vision of The Joker is a gangsta crime boss that rules over the criminal underworld and revels in the flashiness that his ill-gotten wealth can provide: the shiny purple Lamborghini is a perfect and beautiful example. The temptation to compare him to Heath Ledger is certainly there, but when Heath Ledger took the role nobody decided to compare his performance to that of Caesar Romero, so when it comes to Jared Leto I will not be making any comparisons. It’s reductive and unnecessary.
While on the subject of murderous clowns it seems only fair to mention Harley Quinn as played by Margot Robbie. Her character is one of the more fun members of The Squad, a relentlessly upbeat and joyously unhinged villain who gets plenty of characterisation as the film progresses. Her wacky and energetic performance makes her one of the more sympathetic characters and she is surprisingly easy to empathise with. For those DC fans whose favourite incarnation of Harley Quinn is the original one from the Batman Animated Series then you may be disappointed with the costume in this movie. However, there are a couple of nods to that original animated incarnation that made me grin like The Clown Prince himself. It was great to see Robbie playing a female character that wasn’t a damsel in distress unlike her character of Jane in the lamentable Legend of Tarzan. In all of the spectacular action sequences she was right in the middle of all the chaos, firing off rounds or clubbing heads with her baseball bat.
One of the pieces of casting that I really enjoyed was that of Rick Flag, who was played excellently by Joel Kinnaman. Tom Hardy had signed on to play him, but had to leave due to scheduling conflicts with The Revenant and so Kinnaman got the gig. I am really glad that the casting worked out this way, because I really really like Joel Kinnaman, especially as Alex Murphy/Robocop in the Robocop reboot. I like Tom Hardy too, especially as Mad Max, but he keeps cropping up in films with more and more frequency to the point where I’m actually bored of him. Kinnaman’s characterisation of Rick Flag was excellent, there were moments in his storyline that were very emotional and moving and I legitimately felt myself getting choked up.
Two actors who I have no time for are in this film and they are actually really good in their respective roles. Will Smith plays Deadshot: a marksman that never misses a shot and someone who is an expert handler of every weapon in existence. Smith is really charming and effortlessly funny in this role and there’s a scene where he stands on top of a care and fires off volley after volley of shots at waves of enemies in what is a really cool sequence. The slow motion shot of spent shells clattering to the ground is beautifully executed. The charisma vacuum that is Jai Courtney plays Captain Boomerang, an Australian thief that uses boomerangs with lethal efficiency. He is probably the funniest member of the squad with his bad attitude and endless string of insults. It was nice to have a film which wasn’t made considerably worse by Jai Courtney’s presence, in fact it was enhanced. He has real comic timing and Captain Boomerang had the majority of the laugh out loud lines.
When it comes to the negative aspects there are only a few problems, one of the most glaringly noticeable is the gender politics. The treatment of Harley Quinn was totally unnecessary. For a start, her costume is utterly loathsome, it’s not even really a costume it’s more of a fetish outfit that looks like it was designed by a bunch of misogynists who took time out of their busy day posting anti-Ghostbusters hate mail in order to find a new way to demean women. The camera is overtly lecherous when it comes to Harley Quinn, as it can’t seem to stop fixing solely on her bum. It’s quite disappointing that she is treated in such a way, because for the most part she is a really good female character: she’s able to hold her own in a fight, she isn’t a damsel waiting to be rescued and she’s introduced by the song “You Don’t Own Me”. It’s a shame the rest of her treatment is so objectifying.
In terms of the villain, once again there is no real motivation and nothing lets a superhero movie down more than a weak villain. Enchantress is an incredible character played well by Cara Delevingne, but she’s overshadowed somewhat by the rest of the characters. Her otherworldly brother who is one of the more powerful obstacles that comes up against The Squad looks a little too much like something from Gods of Egypt, which is pretty much inexcusable, because the budget for this film was $35 million more. Hopefully there will be a better-written villain in any future Suicide Squad movies.
I could write pages and pages and pages about this movie, but for the benefit of those reading I’m going to end my review here.
Verdict:
Simultaneously funny and dark in tone Suicide Squad repairs some of the damage done by Batman V Superman. It’s not perfect by any means, but it’s a leap in the right direction that fills me with hope for the upcoming Wonder Woman movie. I am hopeful that there will be more Suicide Squad films that explore some of the characters that weren’t given much time in this instalment and maybe a sequel could feature King Shark… I know that I’d love that.
Stars: 4/5
