Suicide Squad - Movie Review
Finally, this has been my most anticipated movie of the summer! It’s now out in theaters for everyone to see and judge for themselves. I say judge because for the past week, I’ve heard the terrible things the critics have been labeling this film as. I didn’t want my expectations to be swayed so I stayed off the dirt sheets and went in with just a simple, open mind. Without further ado, let’s break down the nitty gritty of Suicide Squad.
Suicide Squad is directed and written by David Ayer, and stars Will Smith, Jared Leto, Margot Robbie, Viola Davis, Joel Kinnaman and a bunch of other bad, bad people. Taking place after the events of Batman v Superman, a secret U.S. government agency led by Amanda Waller (played by Viola Davis) recruits a team of imprisoned villains in order to carry out dangerous missions and save the world from powerful forces in exchange for a shortage on their prison sentences.
I believe keeping my standards at a happy medium was the best thing I could’ve done going into this, because in all honesty, I really enjoyed this movie. However, I have to admit it’s somewhat of a mess. That said, this film is way more fun than DC’s previous installment.
The best parts of this movie, not surprisingly enough, come from this great cast of actors and actresses. They all really brought it here with their performances and clicked well as a dysfunctional, but effective team. I’ll mention a few in particular that deserve praise.
Will Smith as Deadshot is awesome. It’s Will Smith, he was bound to be kickass. Actions shots are great, his dialogue was very solid and witty, he brought a lot of humanity to his character which is notoriously known as a lethal hitman. The movie and Will Smith’s portrayal knew how to get me invested in his character and it shows big time.
Margot Robbie as Harley Quinn was everything I wanted to see in a live-action Harley Quinn. She’s fantastic. She embodied everything that Harley should be, just a great casting choice. She’s beautiful, sexy, very badass, funny, and above all else, crazy. Why isn’t Margot my girlfriend again? I digress and rest my case.
Jared Leto as The Joker was interesting in a good way. I enjoyed Leto’s portrayal as the Clown Prince of Crime. To me, it felt like Leto rolled the best of Jack Nicholson, Heath Ledger, and Scarface to make this new mobster incarnation of The Joker. Leto’s chemistry with Margot’s Harley Quinn meshed very well together and every time Joker was on scene, the film in my opinion, kicked it into the next gear. Clearly no Ledger, but he’s got my attention.
This next Joker point kinda bleeds into my negatives of the film. The trailers would have you think Joker plays a big part in this film and you’d be right to think that. But, nope. Joker is barely in it, he just shows up sporadically throughout the movie to do Joker stuff every now and then. Everything he’s doing is good so I just would’ve liked more of him.
Now to dive into the bigger negatives of this film and the fact that its narrative is all over the place. There are times in this movie where I found myself not knowing what the hell was going on, but the movie just assumed I knew. The film’s weak plot and writing can be blamed for that. The Squad’s mission just becomes way too convoluted to fully follow and understand, not to mention the multiple plot holes that are noticeable throughout the film.
But the one thing that really irked me though was the editing. It’s almost as piss-poor as Batman v Superman! There’s probably another 30-35 minutes of footage that got chopped out of this theatrical cut. There are scenes that so quickly transitioned from one to another, it becomes jarring at times. Just sloppy to say the least.
To sums things up as short as possible: Suicide Squad is a fun, good time with a bunch of underlying problems. Moving past the issues I had with the film, I still came out of the theater satisfied. I think the best way to describe this film would be chaotic (in a good way) and I do think that’s what the film was going for. To me, that’s commendable. So a 27% on Rotten Tomatoes? Go to bed, I don’t buy it. Don’t listen to the critics. I know I’m kind of a critic too, but I’d like to think of myself as a fan first and a critic second.
Bottom line here is that I’m going to give Suicide Squad a “B-” on the movie grading scale. It’s still a good summer popcorn flick to see with a bunch of friends, or in this case, a squad as the kids are calling it these days.
Plus, Batman shows up! That’s not a spoiler, he’s in the trailer. Batfleck kicks all kinds of cameo ass. See it for Batfleck. Also, there’s a mid-credit scene so stick around after the movie’s done.
As always, thanks so much for reading and make sure to stay posted to Frank’s Takes for more reviews. Until next time, keep it 100.
– Frank
