‘Suicide Squad’ is the shot in the arm the DC Comics Universe desperately needed. It has cool characters, funky costumes and smug one-liners. This is a superhero movie with a punk rock attitude. Writer-director David Ayer (End of Watch, Fury) assembles a talented cast that respectively owns their roles. Although the plot is paper-thin, ‘Suicide Squad’ is vastly better than ‘Batman v Superman.’ If you look beyond the minor hiccups, you will find an antihero epic with plenty of heart and soul. These are flawed characters with backstories that explain why they ended up in such dark places. ‘Suicide Squad’ is like no other superhero film. Ayer should be praised for delivering a proper introduction that sets the stage for this ragtag team to take on deadlier missions in future installments.
The comparisons between ‘Suicide Squad’ and ‘Guardians of the Galaxy’ are unfair. The only similarity is that Ayer uses a classic rock soundtrack. The squad members are made up of deranged killers whereas the guardians are made up of a bunch of intergalactic misfits. People need to let go of the notion that DC characters should be like Marvel characters. DC is darker and they tend to take themselves more seriously than their counterparts. ‘Suicide Squad’ is a straightforward plot. Amanda Waller (Viola Davis) leads a top secret government agency A.R.G.U.S. and persuades officials to form a team of supervillains to carry-out missions that are too deadly for the U.S. military. In order to get them to comply, she offers to reduce their prison sentences. To make sure no one disobeys her, she injects a device into their necks that can remotely explode.
Ayer uses the first half hour to introduce the team. When you are dealing with such a large team, some members stand out and others are glossed over. Deadshot (Will Smith) is a hitman-for-hire. When he picks up a firearm, he never misses his target. This is one of the best performances by Smith in years. His charismatic personality is a perfect fit for the man trying to get closer to his estranged daughter. Harley Quinn (Margot Robbie) is the former psychiatrist and now girlfriend to The Joker (Jared Leto). Robbie’s performance is revelatory and is worth the price of admission alone. She is insane, sexy and crafty. Nothing will stop her and The Joker from trying to get back together. Leto’s Joker is promising but unfortunately many of his scenes were left on the cutting room floor. Robbie’s Harley Quinn is so wild and original that she could easily carry her own movie franchise.
The other members include the tattooed human torch Diablo (Jay Hernandez). He is one of the most powerful metahumans of the bunch yet is hesitant to unleash it due to a tragic past. There is the sewer dwelling lizard, Killer Croc (Adele Akinnuoye-Agbaje) that turns out to be surprisingly likable. Captain Boomerang (Jai Courtney) is a hard-drinking Aussie thief. He’s one of the villains that get very little screen time to flesh out his character. Katana (Karen Fukuhara), a samurai wielding assassin is another character that gets limited screen time. Oddly enough it is a witch called Enchantress (Cara Delevingne) that takes center stage as the evil force taking over archeologist June Moone’s body. Squad leader Rick Flag (Joel Kinnaman) is in love with June when she is not possessed by the witch. Instead of making her the main foe, it would have been more riveting to focus on The Joker as the squad’s biggest headache.
The bottom line is that ‘Suicide Squad’ is a bumpy ride due to some last minute editing but Ayer succeeds in bringing a key group of DC characters to life. It’s an interesting group of baddies that are brought together to do good for mankind. These are individuals with sordid pasts that put aside their selfish motives for the greater good. Their chance at redemption is what makes any hero’s journey worth following and the ‘Suicide Squad’ makes you gung-ho for future adventures.
