Directed by: David Ayer Written by: David Ayer Starring: Will Smith, Margot Robbie, Joel Kinnerman, Jai Courtney, Viola Davis, Cara Delavigne, Jay Rodriguez, Jared Leto Budget: $175 Million
The DC Extended Universe (DCEU) has struggled to light the imaginations of the masses in its first two outings - Man of Steel and Batman V Superman: Dawn of Justice (DoJ) - with the former being generally liked, with a strong contingent of fans who love it and the latter being lambasted by critics, disappointing the vast majority and under performing at the box office in failing to break the Billion mark. Despite some reputations, Zach Snyder most significantly, being some what salvaged by the 30 minute extended "Ultimate Cut", Warner Bros. Restacked the deck internally establishing a permanent self-managed wing for DC Films and appointed a creative figure head in the form of Geoff Johns - similar to Kevin Feige at Marvel. The hope was to lift the overall tone of the DCEU to be more harmonious with audience desires aka "more marvel like" by adding more colour to the palate and more levity to the screenplays.
David Ayer was well in to shooting Suicide Squad when these changes took place which resulted in some rumoured changes in mid-production, and predominantly the editing room. It seemed to have all the right components to succeed from its great cast - Will Smith, Margot Robbie, Viola Davis, Jay Rodriguez, Joel Kinnerman, Jai Courtney- to its more than intriguing premise of the U.S. Government creating a team of highly dangerous "villains" and turning them on any future Metahuman threats in the absence of Superman. Under the influence of David Ayer who is renowned for creating a unit-chemistry/bonding by any means on previous films like Fury (which resulted in Shia LaBouef pulling out one of his own teeth. Whose fault that is, is debatable) appears from the beginning to have a lot of potential. The trailers excited much of the internet when they landed, showing the signs of the "New Era" DC with lots of humour and more colour.
Does the suicide mark the end of the DCEU? Is it another wound that adds to the pressures around next years Wonder Woman? Actually, its neither of those things. Its thoroughly enjoyable and a good sign of things to come from this universe.
Not to say its flawless, we'll come to that, scouts honour.
Top marks have to go to the performances the director pulled from his troupe with particular credit to Margot Robbie, Will Smith and Viola Davis. Will Smith plays a version of himself again but after his recent endeavours its nice to see a version of him that enjoys being on screen, he plays the de facto leader in tandem with Joel Kinnerman's Rick Flag, with Smith's Deadshot getting in Flag's head - what's the difference between a hired mercenary and a hired government soldier? Smith's chemistry with all the cast is a pleasure to watch but none share the level of chemistry that Deadshot and Harley Quinn do. Perhaps aided by working together on "Focus" Robbie and Smith work seamlessly as a temporary odd-couple. Quinn is played as overtly crazy and naïve as in her cartoon & comic counterparts - her backstory received the most fleshing out due to the Joker's presence throughout. We see how they meet, get a taste of their mad love and the fateful night in Ace Chemicals. Whilst the Joker could have been a film unto itself we get small smatterings throughout of the backstory before a "present day" appearance. Leto plays the joker as suitably unstable each time we see him, he plays a more gangland-type mobster than previous incarnations even thought of. His aesthetic design divided many but suit the kind of Joker we get here - but no spoilers. The surprise package of the ensemble has to be Jay Rodriquez's El Diablo. A force of nature that refuses to engage in violence anymore after some traumatic incident in his past. This kind of urban criminal gangster type is right in Ayer's wheelhouse so it should have been no surprise that he may focus on Diablo but the films portrayal is more nuanced than expected. Without discussing several spoilerific plot points, explaining Viola Davis's Amanda Waller is difficult. She is the force that brought together Taskforce X, her performance oozes both a cool calm on the surface and a vicious dark side lurking not to far below. Her regard for the value of certain lives could be generously described as minimal adding again to the blurred line the film presents good and evil. Finally, one actor who deserves mention is Jai Courtney. He has been much maligned for his so called bland/flat performances in previous outings such as Terminator Genisys and the Divergent series. Here, he seems to be acting with more freedom - perhaps due to his speaking in his native Australian accent - delivers a solid performance bouncing of the people around him.
The plot won't earn any points really, though the plot is a framework to explore the characters & relationships. Much in the way Deadpool was sparse on plot as it was a showcase of Deadpool and his interactions with the people around him, Suicide Squad has a simple plot to allow the characters to take centre stage. As mentioned, the performances are more than adequate with good humour, interesting back stories (again, Harley and Diablo the stand-outs) with emotional ties, with a splattering of action in-between.
The task is simple - the Squad must recover a VIP from Midway City (a kind of Seattle, i think) which is under some kind of attack. Obviously, it gets more complicated for the characters along the way with more than one character diverting the attentions of the troupe but the broad stroke is simple. The straightforward nature of the plot is likely in some part due to the reception of Dawn of Justice - the theatrical version was seen to be choppy, over-long and had plot threads that went seemingly nowhere. Suicide Squad is a little choppy at times with some odd musical cues that reek of the executives trying to make it more like Guardians of the Galaxy, but keeps on target throughout. As with many blockbuster films as of late, the third act struggles at times with some of the most prevalent comic book clichés such as the blue laser to the sky ala (Avengers, Fantastic 4 etc.) and a faceless, mindless horde of enemies (ala Avengers, Avengers: Age of Ultron, Thor the Dark World, Iron man 2 etc.) with a less than fully fleshed villains motive ( a la all of the above again) but does not commit any uniquely awful sins using those clichés. True enough, Ayer chooses to direct the action less than perfectly opting for close to mid range shots, which in the dark settings can make it hard to see, though it can still be followed due to the forgiving editing.
Rumours surfaced during the filming of Dawn of Justice that Warner Brothers had issued a "no jokes" policy for the DC cinematic projects, later refuted and now self evidently false thanks to Suicide Squad. Whilst DoJ had occasional one liners here and there, Suicide Squad has lots of humour throughout. Much derived from Quinn and Deadshot with Robbie's incessant bouncy-crazy and Smith's deadpan-straight man. The humour is not the only change in the shadow of DoJ with much more colour being added to further add a sense of levity, particularly in the opening act in the character introductions. It is these additions that bode well for the DCEU on screen as it shows the studio are more than willing to listen to the fans in a bid to find the style that is most desired. The difficulty, naturally, is that everybody thinks that the Marvel way is the only way to do comic book movies. That manner of thinking would lead to a very boring world indeed. DC is establishing itself as a mature series a films, exploring darker and heavier themes than 95% of the MCU. However, it is clear there is a disconnect between the critics and the fans as well as between the critics and the studios. People should be encouraged by the efforts of DC to restructure itself and its efforts to meet fans expectations rather than applying blinders and staying the course.
Suicide Squad adds much more character and layers to the DCEU, fleshing out the universe in some much needed ways.
