It’s no secret that critics have been slamming the latest DCEU effort for a good whole week now. And while I personally don’t feel Suicide Squad is the shoddy, tonal disaster that most of these critics are making it to be, it’s really hard to recall one single area where the film genuinely manages to excel. Egregious and unevenly paced, with some cragged plot points crammed into a single flick – it almost feels like writer-director David Ayer is serving us a mixed bag of comicbook orgasms and some heightened genre-trespassing sequences – that too partially cooked and I, for one really don’t feel hungry for either of these at this point.
The central plot has already been laid out in all the trailers – Following Superman’s supposed demise in BvS, a ruthless U.S Intelligence officer, Amanda Waller (Viola Davis) comes up with a proposal of putting together a team of nasty supervillains against any possible meta-human attacks in the near future, which includes the likes of Deadshot (Will Smith), Harley Quinn (Margot Robbie), Killer Croc (Adewale Akinnuoye-Agbaje) and a few others under the command of a soldier, Rick Flag (Joel Kinnaman). It’s a bunch of walking patsies, and the leash lies in Waller’s hands as she constantly threatens to detonate their faces off. And of course, there’s the sinister Mr. J a.k.a Gotham’s clown prince, the Joker (Jared Leto) who would go to any lengths to get his queen Harley back. Things get an awful lot complicated when the evil Enchantress (Delevingne) is accidentally resurrected by Flag’s love interest, and plans to wreak havoc upon the world alongside her brother.
Speaking of the cast, this ensemble really shines in the “performance” department, particularly due to Margot Robbie’s awe-inspiring take on Harley Quinn, the maniac for mayhem who manages to grab your eyeballs in every frame she’s present. She’s the kind of “psychotic” that all recent DC films have been trying really hard to get right (Jesse Eisenberg was a tad bit disappointing as Luthor in BvS, in my opinion). Will Smith, as our central protagonist Deadshot, manages to pull off a smug, colorless interpretation of the character whose only reason to do things the way he does, seems to be his daughter. Viola Davis’ take on Waller is praiseworthy, to say the least – so is the rest of the supporting cast. What really disappointed me, however, was the fact that Jared Leto’s Joker hardly remained with me after I walked out of the theatre. He was given limited screentime, and his character acts more like a diversion from the fundamental plot. He does make a hell of an impression in the scenes he’s in, but it would be nice to see the clown prince of Gotham being given more to do.
Let’s face it – the whole “evil sorceress resurrected and trying to rule the world by bringing back others like her” card feels like an all too underwhelming and hackneyed plot device at this point. The initial setup with the characters’ back-stories seems engrossing enough for the film to be going in the right direction, but it just turns into a showcase of bombastic action and unimpressive CGI. The film seems to lack a philosophical core, and most of what follows after the “assembling” part, comes off just as slapdash as BvS, which doesn’t really work as a compliment for this one. The action certainly doesn’t qualify as adrenaline pumping, it’s just something that’s there. I really prefer it when the computer-generated graphics and imagery used in comicbook films are kept within the bounds of gravity, especially when it comes to films under the DC banner and that is where the whole “Enchantress” angle really doesn’t help. The climax feels like an over-bloated, dragged-out CGI parade, where you really couldn’t care less about the fate of these characters.
If you’re keeping track of what worked for the film, the list will include the soundtrack which meshed really well with most of the sequences. Robbie’s performance, and her dynamic with Leto in the few scenes he is given, work well in the film’s favor. The whole ideology behind showing a bunch of freaks being brought together and fighting for a cause, knowing that they exist well beyond the realms of standard morality is a splendid change from the usual platter we’re served. Even the cameos and the mid-credits sequence are quite well done. (Oh, yeah. You may wanna sit back for this one!)
If recent reports of constant Studio involvement and tampering with the film’s intended cut are indeed true, then I do feel for Ayer. He may not have been able to present us with the version of his film that he wanted, and hence it ends up along the lines of being a soullessly gritty one. That being said, the number of noticeable quibbles in this one are far too many to ignore. Granted, it induces shock and awe in many sequences, and it may not be a disaster either, but it’s not something that manages to provide a stable platform to the DCEU either, especially after BvS: Dawn of Justice. Now all hopes rest on the upcoming Wonder Woman and Justice League: Part I, which will hit the screens next year. For now though, Suicide Squad is a mere one-time watch that may or may not be worth your time. I’m going with a 2.5/5 for Suicide Squad – if Jason Bourne isn’t your your idea for weekend entertainment, then you may wanna give this one a shot.
Prakhar Prabhakar for MTTN
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