Suicide Squad

Well everyone, I came back from seeing the third installment in the “DC Extended Universe,” “Suicide Squad,” which came out at the beginning of the month. I will now let all of you know what I thought of the movie.

“In a world of flying men and monsters, this is the only way to protect our country.” These are the exact words for Amanda Waller’s decision to employ criminals to fight state security dangers in this adaptation of “Suicide Squad.” Played by Viola Davis, Waller is a tough, tenacious government employee who wants to wage war (symbolically and literally, at one point). After Superman’s told death (as shown in the end of “Batman v Superman Dawn of Justice”) she teams together these Arkham criminals to fight against meta-humans and beasts that won’t be defeated by human hands.

John Hanlon stated in his review, “In its opening moments, the feature oftentimes plays out like a music video introducing some of the main characters with distinct songs playing in the background for each character.” To start off, Joker’s girlfriend, Harley Quinn, played by the hot Margot Robbie (who appears to be channeling the cartoon Quinn from The Animated Series), is introduced with the song You Don’t Own Me. Deadshot (Will Smith), Captain Boomerang (Jai Courtney), Diablo (Jay Hernandez), Killer Croc (Adewale Akinnuoye-Agbaje) and Dr. June Moore/the Enchantress (the hot Cara Delevingne) are also introduced as part of Waller’s planned team, placed under the command of Colonel Rick Flag (Joel Kinnaman). Also joining the team is Katana, played by Karen Fukuhara.

Waller’s plan eventually fails leading to Enchantress’ brother, Incubus, played by Alain Chanoine, being resurrected and starting pandemonium in Midway City.

I agree with Hanlon when he said, “Because this feature had the unenviable task of introducing so many important characters from DC comics, director/writer David Ayer was faced with a daunting task here. Unlike The Avengers (2012) — which featured characters that had already been introduced in stand-alone pictures, this film had to both introduce its main characters and bring them together very quickly.”

Seeing the character introductions are mostly positive, especially for Deadshot and Harley Quinn. Both of these characters get their own great stories with Quinn’s history also introducing the Joker, played by Jared Leto (who at times sound like he is imitating Mark Hamill but at other times Heath Ledger), an important character who is sadly not given enough screen time. Hanlon noted, “Also, Diablo gets a short but important back story that feels a bit rushed.”

There’s a lot to be liked in the performances of both Robbie and Smith, who are able to make sympathetic characters who are also crazy murderers. I agree with Hanlon on, “Robbie, who previously starred in The Wolf of Wall Street and The Legend of Tarzan, is the stand-out as she embodies a sadistic and endlessly eccentric character that will be hard to forget.” Deadshot, a heartless murderer who obviously loves his daughter, played by Shailyn Pierre-Dixon, is the more relatable one in the movie and it helps that Will Smith is famous for his father roles. Hanlon is right when he says, “Deadshot may be a killer but his instincts as an assassin are in constant competition with his capabilities as a father who wants his daughter to be proud of him.”

The film’s major drawback sadly is in the choice of villains. Hanlon mentioned, “With so many interesting protagonists (villains who are on the good side of this story) cut loose on society, one would’ve hoped that the monster that they face off against would be half as engaging. Instead, the villain is a spirit who takes over the body of a scientist and brings her dead brother’s spirit back to life in order to destroy society.”

Hanlon also noted, “The plot about an intelligent woman being inhabited by an ancient evil spirit feels similar to the story from the original Ghostbusters (1984) and the new reboot.”

Hanlon mentioned, “Additionally, Ayer’s work behind the scenes feels a bit discombobulated at times. Especially in the early scenes, there doesn’t seem to be an overriding structure to the proceedings. Instead, the plot bounces from scene to scene with no overarching momentum.”

“Suicide Squad” doesn’t deliver the excitement that it built up before the release date, however, there are enough engaging moments that fans should be able to enjoy it. Robbie and Smith are the best parts in the movie and you will want their characters to be the main focus in later entries. Ayer’s production is disorganized no doubt but that looks like it works with the characters put in the movie. These are damaged and irregular characters but the final result, they do a job well done. So does this movie.

It does what it planned to do with starting up the team and taking them on this mission together. You will want the sequels to continue this strong streak.

Even though I admit that this film isn’t one of the best of the year, I was really entertained by it. Doug Walker said this movie is like his “Moulin Rouge,” which I can agree with him on, since I share his thoughts on why I didn’t like “Moulin Rouge,” but I did enjoy the movie, like him. Whatever action scenes there are, they are great. There are some hilarious lines from every member of the team, and the best parts, hands down, are Will Smith, Margot Robbie and Jared Leto. Even though Leto isn’t in the movie that much, for the parts he was in, he did a great job. He’s possibly the best Joker ever, but that can be debated. It may be hard to top Ledger, but Leto comes close.

Spoiler Alert: in a mid-credits scene, Bruce Wayne, reprised by Ben Affleck, meets with Waller, who agrees to protect her from the hate of Enchantress's evil plot in exchange for access to the government's files on the growth of the metahuman community.

I would say definitely check out this movie in the theaters. If you don’t want to, wait for it on DVD, but I suggest going to the theater, don’t listen to the bad reviews. Just watch the movie and decide for yourselves.

Thanks for joining in on my review of the next chapter in the DC Extended Universe, check in this coming Friday for the finale of “Mad Max Month.”