Name: Suicide Squad
Cast: Will Smith, Jared Leto, Margot Robbie, Joel Kinnaman, Viola Davis, Jai Courtney, Jay Hernandez, Adewale Akinnuoye-Agbaje, Scott Eastwood, Cara Delevingne
Director: David Ayer
Are the folks at DC Comics-Warner Bros deliberately finding new ways to let down comic book fans? After their Batman vs Superman: Dawn of Justice was lambasted by critics, you would think they’d make every attempt to redeem themselves with Suicide Squad, an anti-superhero film that features some of the scariest villains from the comic book world. You’d have to try really hard to go wrong with such colourfully whacked-out characters on screen.
So we got Deadshot (bulkier and bald Will Smith) – an assassin for hire who has never missed a target, Harley Quinn (a colourful Margot Robbie) – a psychiatrist from Arkham who goes nuts (in more ways than one) for her Puddin, the Joker (Jared Leto), El Diablo — a pyrokinetic gangbanger (Jay Hernandez), Captain Boomerang – a dysfunctional thief (Jai Courtney with a sexy Aussie accent – some of you may remember him from A Good Day to Die Hard and Terminator Genisys), the cannibal Croc that grunts most of the time (Adewale Akinnuoye-Agbaje), and a few others.
Putting together this team of temperamental misfits is Amanda Waller (the brilliant Viola Davis wasted here) who wants them to do the government’s dirty work. She has the means to control them with a flick of a finger, literally – they’re each injected with a nanite that can explode if they twitch the wrong way. Ably assisting her is a patriot Rick Flag (Joel Kinnaman with his deep swoon-worthy voice) who falls for archaeologist June Moone (Cara Delevingne), despite knowing she is possessed by an evil witch, The Enchantress.
How can a movie, with such a star lineup, go wrong? (Warning: spoilers ahead, but really, you’re not going to miss not saving yourself for them) Let’s see… Deadshot kills for a fee but doesn’t shoot Batman (a still beefy, but bored looking, Ben Affleck) in front of his daughter. Instead he allows himself to get arrested. He even misses when he takes a shot at Quinn. Of course, since its Will Smith, there has to be a pathetic attempt to include some wisecracks. In fact, every guy in the squad seems to have developed a soft spot for crazy Quinn. Really? That’s how you stay true to the comic book?
We even see Quinn looking hopelessly distraught when she loses her Puddin. Speaking of which, what’s Jared Leto doing here? The Joker is one of DC Comics’ most menacing characters, and Leto has the body language to make him look as bloodthirsty as a carnivore and equally psychotic – a feat epitomised by the late Heath Ledger in The Dark Knight (2008). But in this film, the Joker looks like a caricature with bad dental work.
Critics and fans would agree that it’s never easy to translate a comic book with all its violence and darkness on to the silver screen. You cannot just pick a comic book and make into a film without understanding what made it so famous that it continues to have a cult following. Perhaps director David Ayer got carried away by the sheer star power of the actors playing these characters. There’s no other explanation for this muddled-up flick, especially when you consider his earlier films like Training Day (2001) and End of Watch (2013).
There was so much scope to explore the ruthlessness and cruelty of Deadshot, Quinn, Joker and even the sly Waller but the narrative is flat and the visual element is far from gory and edgy…even the CGI-heavy ending is juvenile. The film is formulaic at best with tightly-leashed villains that play it safe to suit their respective star image.
The one best thing that could come out of this movie is the costume and make-up of Quinn, which could become the rage during Halloween.