So, considering the near-unanimous savaging this film has been getting from critics, I went in expecting a hot mess. "But were they right?" you may ask, and my answer would be...
Sorta.
I will say, however, I was entertained by this film and did not feel ripped off. But could it have been better? Did it fall short of its promises? Yes, it kind of did. It falls short on every level, actually, but still manages to be entertaining. So, don't listen to the critics. That's why you have me to tell you what's good and what isn't. It seems mainstream critics think every film should be belle arté, but I think it's fine to have artistic candy for the brain sometimes, and Suicide Squad definitely fits that category.
So, the movie is about the US government putting together a team of super villains, almost all of whom are killers and psychos, to battle even bigger threats out there. The premise being: what if Superman tore off the roof of the White House and took the President? How would we fight that threat? There is a major side plot as well where the Joker (well played by Jared Leto) is trying to save his co-dependent, psychotic girlfriend (played by über-hot Margot Robbie in hooker-chic short shorts) and break her out of prison. The movie has a lot of other bad guys, too, but do they really matter? Not particularly.
This movie has been hyped for almost three years and been delayed at least once for extensive reshoots. The word is that Warner execs were panicking when they saw how dark the original cut was, and they wanted to lighten the tone for a more family-friendly, PG-13 crowd. (Just as a side note. Does anyone remember when PG-13 was NOT family-friendly, but warning parents this may be a bit extreme? Now PG-13 is essentially a pussified R so they can get more butts in the seats.). Now, I'm not suggesting that Suicide Squad or any superhero film should be R-rated, particularly in a post-Deadpool world, but the studios keep wanting to make very edgy films for what is essentially a children's medium. This is the first fundamental problem. All film studios should follow Marvel Studio's lead and put this more adult-oriented stuff on pay-TV and concentrate on a good story rather than attitude. DC has made two fundamental errors with their properties. The first was making each film in isolation from all the others. Marvel has carefully planned their multi-year strategy introducing characters and a continuing story-arc gradually, and it has reaped large dividends because of that planning. DC is beginning to rectify this problem with Dawn of Justice, but it is too little, too late, and they are scrambling now. The second error was going for the gritty, brooding atmosphere of Batman in everything they do. It works for Batman, but not necessarily Superman, so now they are painted into a corner where everything is dark and joyless.
So enough of the macro issues, what about Suicide Squad? Its biggest issue is its tone. They're reaching for dark and gritty, especially since each of these "heroes" are villains. There was obviously a lot of post-production tinkering, because you see glimpses of real menace underneath everything, particularly the Joker/Harley relationship. There are hints of extreme mental and physical cruelty they inflict on each other and other people. Frankly, I would rather see an R-rated film about these two. That would be fascinating, but quite impossible to do. But this malefic undertone is glossed over and diluted, so you get a confusing/irritating cognitive dissonance that falls short of being either standard superhero fare or a more gruesome psychological study. It's almost as if the movie is just there, unwilling to commit to any tone other than banality. The movie tries to make up for this with antihero-cool attitude, but again falls laughably short.
Other fundamental issues are that the DC rogues gallery is much more interesting than its heroes, who are pretty bland in comparison. Add to that the fact that, outside of the Joker, we have never met any of these characters before. So, the movie must waste time explaining everybody and what they do before the action can start. To be fair, the movie actually did a great job doing this. The first act, where we meet all of them and how they got caught and what drives them is actually pretty good. It is a great Exhibit A on how to save a deeply flawed script by quick introductions to the characters in an ingenious sleight-of-hand to distract you from the other story problems. But now we come to another fundamental issue: why should we care about any of these people? They are killers, after all. "Cool" does not make up for the fact they are all killers and deserve everything that's coming to them. This movie revolves on an axis of adolescent boy-fantasy regarding how the world works. If I'm cool or tough enough, it doesn't matter what I do or what a bastard I am.
Finally, the story has technical problems. They are trying to use the Tarantino-esque method of non-linear storytelling (the story is not told in sequence but rather a combination of flashbacks and present action), and the timeline gets muddy because of it. There is also inconsistent pacing. This becomes particularly egregious when we finish the second act. A big battle has just been won and the final battle is imminent. Suddenly, for no particular reason, they all decide to have a drink in a conveniently open bar in a war-torn city and discuss their feelings. After which, they make the pact of "all-for-one-one-for-all" and go on the "slo-mo" badass walk. (See Reservoir Dogs, Kill Bill Vol. 1) This movie is cliché-ridden, not particularly funny (although it thinks it is), and really is a pointless place-holder until the good DC movies come out. (Wonder-Woman, Justice League, Flash, Aquaman) Dawn of Justice is at least setting up the next movie. Suicide Squad does that only in the last two minutes. Otherwise, it stands on its own, again in isolation, in kind of a pointless exercise of expanding the DC universe.
After all that, you're probably saying to yourself, "Gee, that's a lot of negative stuff you just said, and yet you still thought it was entertaining?" Yes, I do. Despite its many flaws, in the end, it is pure escapist entertainment. It has the mentality of a not-so-mature 12-year-old boy, but it is still a fun little fantasy, A road that I didn't mind traveling down, despite everything wrong with it. Sometimes the journey can be fun.
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