First things first, I’ve longtime preferred Marvel to DC. The only area in which I think DC excels in comparison to Marvel, however, is with their villains. Maybe it’s because DC takes things to a darker place than Marvel tends to go. Maybe DC just happened to create intrinsically better villains from the get-go. Either way, I’ve always preferred DC’s villainy, no matter how much I prefer Marvel as a whole. That’s why I was a little disappointed when “Suicide Squad,” a DC flick almost entirely devoted to villains, didn’t quite pull off what I thought it had the potential to do.
Apart from the clear objective for a stylized overall picture, “Suicide Squad”’s intentions were unclear. The story was disjointed and I wasn’t entirely sure the plot even knew where it was going—and not in a “the plot keeps you guessing” kind of way. The soundtrack, however, was fantastic—ranging from classic hits all the way through songs new enough to have been written for the film itself—making it the only superhero movie I know of besides “Guardians of the Galaxy” that’s truly excelled in this area. Again, however, the potential of such a soundtrack wound up spoiled by the fact that the songs were given hardly any room to breathe—at least in the movie’s earlier moments. The movie just kicks off with song after song after song, and it really doesn’t give the viewer a chance to experience one tone long enough before another song switches the feel of what we’re watching altogether. It felt like they got a great soundtrack and didn’t know what to do with it—much like many other aspects of the film.
Apart from Cara Delevingne, who’s acting I’m not particularly fond of—on top of which, poor CGI did her character no favors—the acting was good, with Margot Robbie’s Harley Quinn a standout. And I can’t deny—no matter how odd his “method” acting was reported to be—Jared Leto’s Joker (all ten or so minutes of him) leant audiences a really interesting take on the character. It’s clearly not meant to be Heath Ledger’s Joker, which of course would have been a mistake, but something else entirely. And it’s something else I’m interested to see more of.
While on the subject of Harley Quinn and the Joker, it’s worth mentioning that their relationship was one of the primary merits of the film. There’s been some controversy over the fact that it was not portrayed in the proper light as it is in fact a very abusive relationship on the Joker’s part. To me, however, it seemed a very intentional choice. Every romanticized look at their relationship was through the eyes of Harley Quinn, who of course, doesn’t realize the toxicity of her relationship with the Joker. Even so, evidence of abusive behavior is obvious in the subtleties of the way he treats her—not to mention the not so subtle, “I’m just gonna hurt you, really, really bad.” I for one, hope to see more of the complexities in this relationship in future films.
All in all, “Suicide Squad” had it’s merits and it truly had potential, but unfortunately, it squandered the majority of it. You probably already know the best lines of the movie from trailers. You probably even know most of the soundtrack solely from trailers. What you don’t already know from trailers, the movie does little to explain much further. It’s messy and meandering, but it’s a decent amount of fun. Just don’t get too caught up on all the things it could have been—because, man, did it have so much potential—and you can probably enjoy it.
