Suicide Squad

The third film in DC’s Extended Universe, this is the first to focus on the lesser-known characters, primarily from Batman’s rogue’s gallery.  And while it may lack the depth or emotion of Man of Steel and Dawn of Justice, it more than makes up for it with a great cast and a host of entertaining characters.

Premise:  Following the events of Batman v Superman: Dawn of Justice, a shadowy operative within the US government (Viola Davis) devises a contingency plan to form a covert team of some of the most dangerous captured “super-villains”.  She recruits Colonel Rick Flag (Joel Kinnaman) to lead the team, which includes Deadshot (Will Smith) and Harley Quinn (Margot Robbie), but as she prepares to send them on a suicide mission, the Joker (Jared Leto) hatches a plan of his own…

Verdict:

First of all, I have to tip my hat at the casting for this film, because this is a real A-list of talent.  Will Smith and Margot Robbie were great in Focus (definitely check it out if you’re a fan of “con” movies), and they carry on that working relationship here, as the two surrogate leaders of “Task Force X”, the so-called “Suicide Squad”.  Will Smith is, of course, a twice Oscar nominated actor (for Ali and The Pursuit of Happiness), and he’s joined by Oscar winner Jared Leto (for Dallas Buyers Club), and this year’s Oscar nominee Viola Davis (for Fences, as well as Doubt and The Help).  Together, they do a lot with fairly limited screen time (given how many characters there are in this film), and Viola Davis in particular adds a really interesting ruthless streak to her portrayal of government spook Amanda Waller.

And make no mistake, this film has a lot of characters to serve – over 10 main characters in total, all of which get something to do.  I particularly liked the way in which the main “super-villains” were introduced with their individual flashbacks and biographies, each of which was fun, anarchic and informative, reflecting the film’s own rebelliously playful spirit.  As a life-long fan of the DC comics, I was already familiar with all of the characters’ histories, but I’ve seen the film with others who’d never heard of these “B-list” villains before, and the introductions worked perfectly well to get them up to speed.

“…this is, first and foremost, a character-based film…”

Special mention should also go to Jai Courtney, whose portrayal of “Captain Boomerang” was a comedy highlight of the film, whether it be cracking open a can of beer in the middle of a firefight, or taking “back-stabbing” to a whole new level.  Jai Courtney often gets a lot of stick about his acting abilities, but his performance as an “Australian redneck” (a “bogan”?) here made a real impression.

With so many characters to serve, it’s perhaps no surprise that the plot is a little on the thin side.  But it still hangs together, and the simple fact is, the “McGuffin” of the film doesn’t really matter.  This is, first and foremost, a character-based film about the team of pressganged villains, and all the viewer needs to know is that “something bad” has happened in Midway City meaning that the Suicide Squad needs to be sent in to retrieve the government’s HVT (“High Value Target”).  As one character remarks, when seeing what the Suicide Squad will have to fight through, the HVT better have the cure for cancer to be worth this much effort…

Ultimately, and avoiding spoilers (given that this film has done a surprisingly good job of keeping secret precisely who the antagonist is or what the threat to Midway City is), the film is not about “saving the world” per se (which is why the exact nature of the McGuffin is unimportant), it’s about the relationships between the various characters, and what those relationships lead the characters to do.  Also, it’s a pet peeve of mine that some people keep saying that the villains are “recruited” into the Suicide Squad in return for a reduced sentence – it’s actually made pretty clear on several occasions that there is nothing voluntary about membership in Task Force X, and there is no negotiation over what you might get in return for cooperation.

“…the Joker lurks in the background, an ever present threat and ominous presence…”

I guess I also need to mention the elephant in the room – Jared Leto’s Joker.  Personally, I have two observations.  First, I think the level of his involvement in the film is just right – he’s more than a “cameo”, but he’s by no means a “main” character, which I think is the perfect balance.  When they first announced that the Joker would be in the film, I was worried he’d actually be a member of the Suicide Squad, which wouldn’t have really made a lot of sense, given that he’s so unpredictable and uncontrollable.  So I’m glad that he’s not a member of the team itself, and instead he lurks in the background, an ever present threat and ominous presence.

Secondly, I really enjoyed that Leto tried to do something new with the character.  I think it was Mark Ruffalo who said that playing the Hulk was like playing Hamlet, and that every new actor had to find a fresh way to interpret the same material.  This is even more true of the Joker, as his character has been interpreted so many different ways in the comics and in live-action over the years.  Jack Nicolson was great, but for me, he was always playing a version of Jack Nicholson.  The “perfect” onscreen Joker is arguably Mark Hamill’s version from the animated series, which captured the playfulness, the insanity and the Batman-obsession perfectly, and then you have Heath Ledger’s Oscar winning version that focused on the anarchy and the desire to “watch the world burn”.  Rather than try to repeat any of these previous onscreen Jokers, Leto’s Joker is a dangerously unbalanced gangster, someone that embraces the excesses of the underworld culture of gold-plated guns and bling, but whose instability strikes fear into the hearts of his enemies and allies alike.  Is he my favourite version of the Joker?  No.  Is it a refreshing and original spin on a character that’s been onscreen for over 50 years?  Yes.

And that’s half the fun of Suicide Squad, as we finally get a chance to see the DC universe expanded onto the big screen.  While we’ve had several Jokers and Two-Faces, a Penguin and a Scarecrow on screen before, there is still a whole raft of villains from Batman’s rogue gallery that have never appeared in live-action, until now.  For a lifelong Batman fan, there was a thrill in seeing characters like Deadshot (Will Smith), Harley Quinn (Margot Robbie) and Killer Croc (Adewale Akinnuoye-Agbaje) make their big screen debut.  Couple that with call-backs to Batman v Superman: Dawn of Justice and cameos from Batman and Flash, and it all started to feel like a genuinely populated and interconnected universe.

“…I’ll be the first to admit that Suicide Squad is not perfect by any stretch…”

And no review of Suicide Squad would be complete without mentioning the soundtrack – great tracks, both old and new, used to good effect in the film – it’s my second favourite soundtrack of 2016.

The Extended Cut on Blu-ray and DVD has more character moments for Deadshot and Rick Flagg, but perhaps more importantly, has even more scenes from Harley Quinn’s origin, which actually show events from a very different perspective.  In the cinematic release, you got the impression that Dr Harleen Quinzel was a victim of the Joker, tortured into insanity – but in the Extended Cut, you see it clearly that she pursued him, that she was a willing accomplice in his original escape, and that he was attempting to get rid of her afterwards, but she wouldn’t take no for an answer.  These extra scenes clearly show the early stages of the Joker/Harley Quinn relationship in a very different light, and it's a shame they were cut from the cinematic version.

“…despite its flaws, it has more hits than misses…”

Now I’ll be the first to admit that Suicide Squad is not perfect by any stretch.  As I mentioned above, the plot is thin on the ground, the McGuffin makes no sense, and with so many characters, some are very short-changed (like Karen Fukuhara’s Katana).  And don’t even get me started on the awful foot-soldiers of the big bad, the so-called “Eyes of the Adversary” – their design was so bad it looked like something out of cheap made-for-TV sci-fi from the 70s…

But, despite its flaws, it has more hits than misses, and it has a refreshingly rebellious punk feel.  It may not change your life, but it’s a damn fun couple of hours.  Where things go from here is anyone’s guess – I’ve heard talk of a Suicide Squad 2, or Gotham City Sirens (teaming Harley Quinn up with other DC villainesses), or even a Deadshot solo movie.  But whatever form it takes, I for one would very much like to see more of these characters, as this could just be the start of a very interesting and entertaining big screen DC universe.