Suicide Squad - Film Review

In the wake of Superman’s death, the world is vulnerable to attack. Who will defend us when the evil, superpowered monsters come calling? Intelligence operative Amanda Waller has the solution: assemble a task force comprised of ruthless murderers and psychopathic supervillains to protect the people of earth should the need arise.

…wait, what? You want to protect humanity from supervillains by assembling a team of…supervillains…? Does this make sense to anyone?

This is the central premise of Suicide Squad, the 3rd Horseman of the Apocalypse…er, I mean…the 3rd film of DC’s Cinematic Universe. With the latest entry in their canon, Warner Bros/DC further prove they’re hellbent on differentiating themselves from Marvel Studios in one distinct way: By producing films of the exact opposite quality.

The good news is that Suicide Squad is better than their last effort, the abysmal Batman v Superman: Dawn of Justice. Warner Bros clearly took the harsh criticism of BvS’s suffocatingly dark and joyless tone to heart. Their biggest note to Suicide Squad’s writer/director David Ayer seems to have been, “MAKE IT FUN!” And yes, that note was probably written in all caps. The bad news is the film’s still not very good. It’s a loud, unruly disaster, haphazardly edited and written as if five or more screenplays were copied and pasted together at random. The stink of studio interference hangs over the entire product. (Reportedly they brought in the editors of the film’s popular trailer to recut the entire movie.) At the very least, the film has this manic energy which propels its scattershot plot forward with such enthusiasm you could almost call it entertaining.

Almost.

I'm not sure why Warner Bros saddled Ayer with this material, as he's given no opportunity to showcase his strengths as a writer or a director. Whatever talent Ayer displayed in his low-budget efforts (End of Watch, Fury) is buried beneath the requirements for a modern-day summer blockbuster. Any hope for meaning or purpose is drowned out by an explosion-filled, effects-laden climax, which pummels the audience into headache-inducing submission. In interviews, Ayer has insisted the final product is his own. If that’s the case, he might want to take a step back and rethink his life. Right from the get-go, he seems determined to baffle the audience with what is perhaps one of the most jumbled, ADD-riddled openings I have ever seen in a motion picture. We’re introduced to one or two characters before the film jumps into a completely unrelated scene, then jumps into a montage in which we’re introduced to the sprawling ensemble. This montage includes a RE-introduction of the same characters we’ve already met in the prior scene. I can only assume this was done out of a concern that the audience would be bored by coherent, straightforward storytelling.

All this madness plays out with wall-to-wall classic rock tunes, as if a WB studio exec saw Guardians of the Galaxy and declared, “That’s what we’ve been missing! POP SONGS!!” The song choices range from obvious (Rolling Stones’ ‘Sympathy for the Devil,’ The White Stripes’ ‘Seven Nation Army’) to baffling (‘Black Skinheads’ by Kanye West…?), and they're inserted at every possible opportunity. Oftentimes, the music will clash with the dialogue, which to be perfectly honest, isn’t worth hearing anyway. So I guess you could call that a positive?

The cast still manages to do a decent job, despite the material. Well, no, that’s not necessarily true. Really, it’s only a select few members of the cast who try to keep the thing afloat: Will Smith, Margot Robbie and Viola Davis. Smith's Deadshot serves as Suicide Squad’s emotional anchor. He’s burdened with a hackneyed “I just want to see my daughter” motivation that evokes more laughter than genuine emotion, but for the most part he manages to successfully convey the character’s struggle. Robbie, who I was expecting to hate, is surprisingly entertaining as Harley Quinn, the Joker’s ladyfriend. Her obnoxious, put-on New York accent and zany antics can get annoying, but hey, at least she’s trying. Viola Davis is Pissed the Eff Off. Her Amanda Waller is a force to be reckoned with. I can’t tell if Davis is just acting or if she’s really that unhappy to be involved in such a stupid movie. Either way, she’s great. And terrifying.

The remaining cast members are all over the place. Jai Courtney is unhinged and absurd as Captain Boomerang, whose power is, you guessed it, throwing around metal boomerangs. (Not sure how that’s supposed to help defend the people of Earth from superpowered threats, but, you know, whatever.) Jay Hernandez is unintentionally hilarious as the fire-blasting El Diablo, who just wants to go hide in the corner and be left alone when the monsters come a-calling. Joel Kinnaman is predictably bland as Rick Flag, the Suicide Squad’s leader, Adewale Aknnuoye-Agbaje as Killer Croc is saddled with the worst one-liners you could possibly imagine and Cara Delevingne is remarkably unthreatening as the film’s primary villain Enchantress.

And then, of course, there’s Jared Leto as the Joker. He’s…interesting, to say the least. His performance is neither frightening nor compelling. It’s unhinged, sure, but Leto comes across more as a hyperactive punk kid, acting out for attention than a genuine threat. Considering all the hoopla surrounding his controversial acting methods, you’d think his take might have amounted to more than 10 minutes of screen time. It’s perhaps the least interesting live-action portrayal of the Joker I’ve ever seen.

So, yes, if it isn't already clear, Suicide Squad is pretty bad. It's a messy, mean-spirited piece of work that seeks to insult and assault every one of your senses in exchange for your hard-earned $12.50. Its only saving grace over BvS is that it's got a semblance of a pulse. While I’ll admit watching Warner Bros rush out one miserable effort after another is a fascinating experience, there's something really, truly depressing about just how awful their movies continue to be. One thing's for certain: The DC Cinematic Universe is in dire need of a course correction, ASAP. Maybe it's time to just re-reboot the whole thing?

FINAL RATING: 1.5/5