By Amanda, @swansongwriter
The reviews of Suicide Squad hadn’t been exactly alluring and so I was weary about spending my hard earned cash on seeing a film so contested. The characters were (and still are) much loved to me, having read the graphic novels and played the games and I didn’t want it ruined for me. Well, I’m not sure what happened but it wasn’t good…
Firstly, it was meant to be a ‘squad’ movie which it wasn’t! It was more about Deadshot and Harley Quinn than the other guys who didn’t get much of a look in. Don’t get me wrong, these are awesome characters to focus on, but if you’re going to do a film on a squad, make sure all the characters are featured equally. I personally would have liked to see more of the Killer Croc and the rest of them. As it stands, if you took out the other guys and just had Deadshot and Harley, the film wouldn’t have been much different.
Next, what happened to the characters?! I could not get on with Leto’s Joker at all. He played it like a love sick puppy and his sole reason for being there was literally to rescue Harley – his whole life revolved around her. Huh!? Not what we know about the Joker at all! He’s a psychopath, he beats Harley frequently and he gets a sick sense of satisfaction from making people feel pain. How this Joker fits in, I’m not entirely sure? And then there was Harley… She is obsessed with the Joker, not in love with him. The squads’ version of Harley however was a loved up one. There’s also a moment where she is crying over losing ‘her puddin’’ and then sees the rest of the squad walk round the corner and acts like everything is fine. I’m not sure the original Harley would have had the emotional comprehension to care what the others thought so again, another miss-fitting emotion. Also, as a side note, how on earth did the Joker survive THAT crash!? (I won’t go into it too much here because spoilers). Yes, I know there were other crashes but they were explained if somewhat tenuously…
We also have the ‘bad guys’ the squad were trying to defeat. It seemed like a rip off of a Marvel film cross Doctor Who. In a world where these people are the most dangerous people to let loose, why were they chosen and why would they fight for good, regardless of what was at stake? And, as far as I know, Batman was still a thing so why is he along with Superman (we know they’re best buds now as their mums have the same name), The Flash etc. not saving the world.
There came the case of bad editing! VERY BAD EDITING! At times the camera would pan to some of the characters and their reaction was nothing to do with the situation. I actually asked myself if they had accidentally recorded the actors not in character and the director went ‘yeah, we’ll use that’.
I did think there were some good parts to the film however. I thought Davis played the cold, heartless part of Amanda Waller very well. Whilst her heart was in the right place generally, she was very cold to the Suicide Squad. Will Smith was also his fantastic self and there were no complaints for me here. The colour scheme of the film through all the advertising was pretty awesome also but there are the only good parts I can mention…
Ultimately, with a good writer who had a passion for DC and with the current line-up of cast, I think it could have been a really strong movie. Whilst there were positives to the movie, I was ultimately disappointed. As a lover of the Joker and Harley, I just felt the movie was a bit disconnected from its origins and more money was spent on the music licence than the rest of the film. A lot of the jokes seemed to fall flat and at certain points, it felt like a bad impersonation of Guardians of the Galaxy. Unfortunately, it gets a 4 out of 10 from me.
REFERENCES >
http://nerdist.com/warner-bros-and-dcs-suicide-squad-problem-is-bet-hedging/
Contact & get in touch >