Dear DC Script Writers,
If you don't know how to write a coherent, smart story, use the comics. They are there for you to use. All the great villains and story telling is there for you to use. Stop trying to be Marvel and pumping out mindless, jumbled messes.
Sincerely,
Everyone who has seen Batman vs. Superman, Man of Steel and Suicide Squad.
*Minor Spoilers ahead*
Suicide Squad is one of my favorite comics of all time, right next to the X-Men. Needless to say, I was rather excited for a dark depiction of the even darker, death-filled story. Badass characters that are completely expendable with a story not afraid to kill them, complete with awesome action. There was no way, in my mind, that Suicide Squad could go wrong. And yet, it did.
The movie was essentially a jumbled mess of flashbacks, exposition, funny one-liners and action. So where to start with this mess of a movie? How about the "plot" of this story?
Plot
A group of bad guys are forced to defeat whatever evil may arise. In this scenario, Enchantress wants to destroy the world because... reasons? It's never really fleshed out and the basic motivations are weak and trite. The idea of villains doing good is new and perhaps provides the best storytelling, but the way it's handled in this movie is been there, done that. The villain is cliched, as is the way they defeat it.
Characters
The not-so-evil evil group consists of Harley Quinn, Deadshot, Captain Boomerang, Diablo, Killer Croc and Katana. They are led by Rick Flagg. They're characters are either developed with exposition or backstories. Katana was pretty much unneeded, and her backstory is explained with about three lines of dialogue. The rest are explained by Amanda Waller in the beginning. Harley has hers sprinkled in countless times within the movie, never ending. Rick Flagg is the bland love interest with no other motivation than to get his lover back. Diablo is one of the best, and is developed through telling everyone about his past, which was one of the best scenes. However, not every character gets developed well, or even at all. Killer Croc is sidelined completely, as are Katana and Captain Boomerang.
Deadshot and Harley have the best development but both leave you wanting more. All of Harley's past could've just been in its own separate movie, along with the Joker, who is so irrelevant in this it hurts. He was very interesting on screen, but he didn't fit well into the movie. However, Harley's obsession with him was done right but the flashbacks didn't provide enough of them together. People who never knew these characters wouldn't understand their messed up love at all.
Enchantress was another bland, stereotypical villain. Nothing new. Cara Delevingne's performance was terrible, the worst in the movie by far. Given a terrible role and a lackluster performance to boot.
Presentation & Writing
The songs added were there just to make the film have a lighter feel, and made it seem all like one big music video. A bunch of random moments were mushed together and presented in a short movie with no real coherence to it. It was lazy editing, as was the writing. Heavy amounts of exposition is not how you introduce characters, just like flashbacks aren't used for character development. That's Writing 101, and the writers of this must have failed.
The Good?
It looked cool, minus the CGI at the end. Seeing my favorite characters onscreen is always a plus, but that shouldn't be the saving grace of a movie. That being said, it wasn't overly terrible. Most of the jokes worked and Diablo was a well-rounded character, as were Deadshot and Harley Quinn. These three saved the movie, in my opinion. However, I hope it's remade in the future and done much better. Or, even better, a Harley and Joker movie. And a Deadshot one. And a Diablo one. Basically, what I'm saying, is their origin stories were much more interesting than this movie, and they should do an Avengers type thing, with separate movies for all the Squad.
Final Thoughts
This isn't a good movie. It's entertaining for the most part, but if you want good storytelling and presentations with a well-rounded cast, you aren't going to find it here. It's not the worst of the year, but it definitely is the most disappointing movie of the summer.
