My Suicide Squad Review

So I had a little thought.

    I love to go to the movies.  I am one of those nerds who love the dark theater, big screen and excited crowds.  It is actually probably the only time I ever like large amounts of people.  But a group of folks enjoying a movie, laughing along and hopping up and down in anticipation of different events is a fantastic thing.  Film itself is such a big medium for expression that we all have a favorite movie, or moments on T.V. we remember.  Even those who don’t watch T.V. or movies now, tend to have the memory of other shows and things that shaped their childhood while they watched them.

    Because of this, when I go to the movies now I am going to do a movie review.  I am not a film critic, and my opinion will probably count for very little.  However, as this is a writing blog, part of the review is going to be what I think I would have done, or that could have been done better or differently.  Once again I would like to express that this is all a matter of opinion.  I could be dead wrong, and if you think I am that is O.K.  It would be a rather boring world if we all had the same opinions and expectations.

     So, as per the title, let’s dig into Suicide Squad. 

     First of all, I think this is a great popcorn movie.  There is plenty of action, the visual effects are great and there is a good sense of adventure in this movie.  There were many moments when I found myself grinning like a fool and enjoying the insanity of it.  As a movie this is a great turn your brain off and enjoy the ride flick. 

     There were some compelling characters.  Deadshot is wonderfully played by Will Smith and is arguably the most central character in this movie.  Harley Quinn is wonderfully brought to life by Margot Robbie.  Rick Flag played by Joel Kinnaman is a great straight man for the craziness to be happening around.  Amanda Waller played by Viola Davis is very dark and I would say is probably the biggest villain in the film.  After that, everyone is pretty much pared down to a side character, and even though they have moments that pique the interest, they are pretty much interchangeable.

     I will voice a controversial opinion.  I did enjoy the Joker, played by Jared Leto.  I think it was a great idea to do a version of the Joker that was very different from Heath Ledger’s Iconic performance.  The manic gangster we got I thought was fun, and great.  While he is far from being my favorite Joker, I enjoyed his performance and I love the thought of him being in a Batman film against Ben Affleck.

      So, here are the issues.  This film suffers from character bloat.  There are way too many faces for the screen time so a lot of the bad A characters we were promised are little more than glorified extras.  This also means some of the characters that do get screen time, like the Enchantress, are not developed enough for use to really care.  I wanted to care about Dr. June Moon’s side of the character, but you just aren’t given the chance to.

     The story line as well is a lot more complicated than it needs to be.  Because of this, it is hard to judge the characters as actual bad guys when they are constantly making the right choices.  This is something I will discuss a little below.  Needless to say though, in a team of villains there is not a lot of villainous activity.

    What do you expect though? It’s a PG-13 movie.  I don’t mean that as an insult, but if you expected to see the villains mowing down innocents and being horrible, this isn’t going to happen in this story line or with this rating.  I will call the prediction now though, in a little bit, Warner Brothers will announce the DVD/Blu-Ray will come out with an extended Rated R version like they did with Batman Vs. Superman.  If it is like the Batman Vs. Superman version, it won’t earn that R rating either, it will just be a marketing ploy.

    So, below is where I’m going to discuss what I would have done differently and why.  As a writer I think this is a good exercise.  Do it even with movies you think are great and wonderful.  It helps you debate possibilities and their consequences.

     The first thing I would fix, would be to cut unnecessary characters.  Slipnot, Killer Croc, Katana, would all be gone.  I could put Captain Boomerang on this list as well, but I would actually use him to illustrate the purpose Slipnot did. (If you have seen this you know what I’m talking about) I would just make that moment happen later so you could get some of the fun banter Captain Boomerang brought.   Or I could take that moment out of the movie entirely fitting with the change I would make to the plot….

      That plot change would be, instead of keeping these characters in the dark, I would let them know from moment one what they are up against when they start the mission.  If the villains knew, hey we go risk our lives now, or die in a few days anyway, you don’t really need the slipknot moment.  It also would make sense why they aren’t acting like complete villains.  You don’t need the subplot of them going to in save person X, or you can still have that as part of the story, and have it as checkpoint one. 

      Assuming you cut the characters and simplify the plot line then guess what, we can now make Diablo, Enchantress, and the rest of the characters more compelling.  That time you are wasting can be put to good use.  Then the movie will be more engaging when that work and time is put into these characters so you can care about them.  All of them.  Not just Deadshot and Harley. Yes, the DC universe gets to introduce less characters, but wouldn’t we rather those characters were introduced as full interesting characters then glorified extras?  I know I would.

     The big question is, how would you change this film, or would you?  What other films would you like to think about changing?  Pick something you love, that is almost perfect, this makes the question a bigger challenge.

Ben Marble