Skip to main content

Suicide Squad Review - Trying Too Hard



I must congratulate you, Warner Bros. You've successfully produced a film that makes Batman V Superman look coherent. Suicide Squad, the latest train wreck in the series of train wrecks that is the DC Extended Universe, is trying desperately to be good, but is consistently held down by a studio trying desperately to be Marvel. Despite all my issues with the depressingly serious tone of BVS, at least the film was its own thing. But Suicide Squad is the movie equivalent of that annoying kid from school who insists on playing football with you, despite not being able to kick a ball to save their life.*

The tragedy of Suicide Squad is how much it could've worked. The performances are mostly strong. Margot Robbie is sparky and spontaneous as Harley Quinn, and Will Smith brings more emotional heft to Deadshot than I expected. The rest of them don't get as much attention from the camera, but provide decent entertainment. Jai Courtney is fun as Captain Boomerang, although he is still Captain Boomerang. Jay Hernandez doesn't provide much action as Diablo, but is one of the more developed squad members. Adewale Akinnuoye-Agbaje doesn't do anything as Killer Croc, but his makeup and prosthetics are amazing. And Viola Davis’ Amanda Waller, the mastermind behind the squad, is genuinely scary. She's a better villain than the villain.

Unfortunately, not every performance is equal. Joel Kinnaman’s Rick Flag, the soldier hired to babysit the squad, is as bland as flat pack furniture. And his girlfriend-turned-villain Enchantress, played by Cara Delevingne, is somehow more stupid than Doomsday in BVS; spending more time dancing, surrounded by generic flashy lights, than doing anything evil. Adam Beach’s Slipknot is a waste of time, as is Karen Fukuhara's Katana. But the terrible performance to end all terrible performances is Jared Leto’s Joker. A perfect example of Warner Bros. trying too hard, Leto, infamous for his method acting, is cast to capitalise on Heath Ledger's Joker in The Dark Knight. But Ledger worked because casting him was such a strange decision, Christopher Nolan must've seen something exceptional in him. Leto, on the other hand, is too obvious. He might as well be flailing about and shouting "LOOK MUM I'M A METHOD ACTOR!" It's like watching Jack Sparrow on crystal meth.

Despite all this, Suicide Squad’s biggest downfall is its post production. The version in cinemas is actually a compromise between two films; director David Ayer’s grittier original and Warner Bros.’ more “fun” version. As a result, every element is in conflict with another. The upbeat soundtrack attempts to infuse fun into the film, but clashes horribly with the grim tone of the scenes. And the flashy titles contrast completely with the generally gloomily lit film. Worst of all is the pacing. The first act of the film crams so much exposition into 45 minutes that nothing is able to breathe. Or, for that matter, make any sense. The film opens by introducing Deadshot and Harley Quinn, before showing the main titles. Deadshot and Harley are introduced again, along with the rest of the squad (apart from Slipknot). Then the entire squad is introduced for a third time, this time with Slipknot appearing out of absolutely nowhere. [SPOILER] Five minutes later, Slipknot is killed.

Somehow, the second and third act are worse. The two are completely indistinguishable, consisting almost entirely of dull, emotionless and atrociously edited action sequences. One second everything is flying around so fast you can’t tell what’s going on, the next everything’s in slow motion for no reason. None of the action flows naturally; it's an awkward mixture of confusion and tedium. The action, if you can call it that, all takes place in the same glum, lifeless city. The film was possibly trying for a claustrophobic, thriller atmosphere, but the sloppy editing and creaky pacing prevent any tension from rising. Really, the last two acts should've been condensed into one. Everything would've been tighter and subsequently more exciting. It would also free up space for all the backstory squashed in to the first act. Although, considering how much there is, they'd need to create an entire prequel trilogy for anything to get the focus it needs.

Suicide Squad does not bode well for the DC Extended Universe. This is a franchise with way too much studio influence. You could argue the Marvel Cinematic Universe has the same issue, but at least that studio knows what a film looks like. Warner Bros. have worked themselves into a frenzy, trying way too hard to produce an MCU competitor, without having any idea how to. Just please, for everyone's sake, keep your hands off of Ben Affleck’s standalone Batman film.

3.8/10

*To be fair, I can't kick a ball to save my life, which is why I don't play football.


Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

A Horrible Christmas Rant

Horrible, Horrible Christmas, In Every Single Sense of the Word Horrible Christmas - A Quick Rant by Nathan Brooks The Good When you expect one thing, and get something else, you can get very angry. You can get so angry that you refuse to acknowledge the positives of what you have got, and just focus on what you haven't got. For example, Agents of SHIELD. I think Agents of SHIELD is great, but unfortunately I don't appear to share that opinion with a lot of other people. Why? Because they're too busy whining about the lack of all the superhero-y stuff they expected and fair enough, considering you are watching a Marvel TV show. However, I've managed to let that initial disappointment go, and I've found I really enjoy this show.  The Bad Horrible Christmas, a Horrible Histories stage production, is the complete opposite of this. As the theme of this post suggests, I expected something great. Horrible Histories is the only children's educatio...
Post a Comment
Read more

Is Nativity 3: Dude, Where's My Donkey?! Any Good?

Dude, Where's My Funny?! Nativity 3: Dude, Where's My Donkey?! - Film Review by Nathan Brooks Nativity's lack of critical success completely baffles me. I thought Nativity was a great movie. It was funny, it had more depth to it than most comedies and was overall just a fun movie. Nativity 2: Danger in the Manger's lack of critical success, I understand a lot better. I still remember it being fairly entertaining, but I was about 11 then, and I didn't have a brilliant judgement of what makes a good movie. Of what I can remember, however, it was nowhere near as good as Nativity in terms of story and character and basically everything important needed to make a good film. I also remember that they spent most of the movie in a bus. Nativity 3: Dude, Where's My Donkey is proof that the film makers have given up on trying to please the critics. This is an awful film. Nativity 2 was not a brilliant movie, but it at least kept me entertained for however long it...
Post a Comment
Read more

Is Avengers: Age of Ultron Any Good?

Avengers Assemble! Again! Avengers: Age of Ultron - Film Review by Nathan Brooks And they say English Weather's bad. Back in the summer of 2012, a little film came out called Avengers Assemble. It wasn't much. It's only the biggest superhero film of all time and it only made $1.518 billion. Everybody loved it, I loved it and clearly moviegoers did as well.  Due to its massive success, obviously a sequel was going to be made. In this case, that sequel is Avengers: Age of Ultron, but with all the hype it's received, is it actually any good? Story The story in this film is definitely not for first time Marvel viewers, you really need to see most, if not all, of the previous Marvel Cinematic Universe films. It is packed full of references to earlier films and understanding a lot of elements of the story will require you to have seen the others. But is the story any good? I thinks so. The main story centres around the fact that Tony Stark, or Iron Man, has ...
Post a Comment
Read more