Green Goblin Reviews: Suicide Squad

(temp. post)

Written by: Green Goblin

Have any of you all seen the 2007 film, Smokin’ Aces? I have.

I like Smokin’ Aces. It’s not up to Tarentino quality and it certainly isn’t winning any awards, but I enjoy that film. It’s a sleazy R-rated action film about a mob target who is holed up in the penthouse suite of a Las Vegas hotel and a large ensemble of assassins have all converged at the location to claim the bounty on his head. The players in this deadly game include snipers, stealthy-types, bruisers and feds. The cast of characters is diverse, the plot is simple yet effective, the set pieces are a joy to behold and everyone gets their moment to shine. If it’s on Netflix or maybe you come across a copy for cheap at a 7-11 or something, give it a watch. It’s a “kick back with a beer” kinda flick.

Now, take that flick that I’ve just desribed, make it PG-13, take away 75% of the character’s backstories and development, make the story incoherent and overall pointless and run the entire thing though a filter of Hot Topic edginess and neon lights. Ladies and gentlemen, I give you Suicide Squad.

I’ll say that even though my knowledge of comic books is pretty decent, I can’t pretend to be very familiar with the scenario of this team outside of an old episode of Justice League and maybe a single mid-2000’s comic issue I read about a decade ago. But with that in mind, the core concept of it is pretty easy to get behind. A team dynamic situation where everyone is a little sleazy and willing to do horrible shit and because of that, the writers get cart blanche to off anyone at any time. At least, that’s the POINT of stories like this. But the entire film feels to damn safe and orchestrated for corporate box office.

You can tell who is most likely going to be cannon fodder right of the back from their introductions (or rather, by who straight up doesn’t get one). Though this film centers around a team, consisting of Deadshot, Harley Quinn, Katana, Captain Boomerang, Killer Croc, Diablo, Slipknot and Enchantress, you can easily see who the main focus is going to be on for 90% of the film. Here’s a hint: one of them is a hilariously misinformed version of a tragic domestic abuse allegory and the other is Will Smith.

See, I keep hearing this film get compared to Guardians of the Galaxy and yes, Rocket and Groot leave the biggest impact in terms of merchandise, but Drax and Gamora still have well defined characteristics, great jokes (“We are just like the Kevin Bacon”/”NOTHING goes over my head”) and growth right in line with the audience insert character, Starlord. This film straight up does not. I seriously had to stop and make sure I remembered the names of everyone up top (and I totally DID forget a couple existed after I left the film). So team of bad guys are controlled by Amanda Waller (portrayed pretty well honestly, by Viola Davis) to stop one of their own who goes rogue pretty much from the get-go, leading to the most annoying point about this film: The the actual plot is only created because the team is. There is no outside threat to take on. It’s all just mishandling of crazy people and letting other crazies out to take care of it. And it’d be fine, if the film was actually allowed to cut loose and DO something with that premise. But the bad guys are all just humanoid shaped foot-soldiers that might as well be the Putties from Power Rangers and the fight scenes don’t bother to do anything really clever either (Deadshot shoots people, Harley has a bat, Killer Croc occasionally bites, etc.).

I will say that despite this, Will Smith and Margot Robbie both do strong performances for what they are given (alongside Viola Davis, as previously mentiond), but they’re crippled by the film that they’re in from really delving too deep in any aspect. They emphasize how amazing Deadshot’s aim is, without really having him do any trick-shots or set-pieces like you’d see in maybe John Wick or Taken.

And Harley Quinn……just…..her relationship with the Joker in this is bad in that it’s played off as too sincere and level between the two of them. The entire point of Harley is that Joker doesn’t give a shit about her. When she’s gone or kidnapped or locked up and shows up at his doorstep after escaping, he’s suppose to have not even realized that she’s gone. YOU’RE SUPPOSE TO WANT HER TO GET AWAY FROM HIM. Mainly so that she can hook up with Poison Ivy and live happily ever after. And the fetishizing of her kookiness and infantile behavior is just as offputting to me as it ever was. Her best parts are when she’s acting silly and bouncing her insanity off of straightmen Deadshot and Diablo (neither of whome are the least bit interested in her, sexually), though the less said about Leto’s portrayal of Joker, the better (Now that’s what I call edgy!!!). Diablo is the only other member of the team who has any character. He’s basically a pyrokinetic version of Kratos from God of War and that’s about it. Kiler Croc grunts, Boomerang is Australian and jerks off to unicorns (not even joking) and that’s about it. If I didn’t mention a character, it’s because they didn’t do anything of relevance.

The villains’ backgrounds are left intentionally vague (to what end, I do not know), as are their means and motivations. The story had me bored and ready to end just when the third act was starting to commence and the ending was just sorta “meh”.

Now, I WILL still say that this is better than Batman V Superman. Just not by much. I didn’t scream “fuck off!!” at the film 2 minutes in like I did during Dawn of Justice. So that’s progress, I suppose. And the problem with it and the other films in the DC cinematic universe has been clear for a while now: It’s that while Marvel is attempting to make its films feel a bit more timeless and sincere in terms of tone, atmosphere and characters, DC is doubling down on instead being the edgy 90’s version of themselves. But “cool” has a shelf life. And what may appear “cool” to some now is just gonna look silly and tryhard to anyone who’s either seen it done before or anyone with a knowledge of better films. Sad to say that the film is not something I would recommend catching in theaters. Perhaps, if it’s on Netflix and you have nothing better to do, you might give it a shot.

Just make sure you watch “Smokin’ Aces” first.

3.5/10 DC, step your game up already!!