Not only am I trying to catch up with the MCU films, but also the DCEU films as well. I left off at BATMAN V SUPERMAN, now I am here to discuss SUICIDE SQUAD. After the events of BATMAN V SUPERMAN, and the death of Superman, the world is in chaos, and a new threat emerges in the Enchantress (Cara Delevingne), who is bent on destroying the world. Heroes like Batman, Wonder Woman, and The Flash, are somehow unavailable, so what does the government do? Well an official, Amanda Waller (Viola Davis), proposes a plan to put together a team of disposables, namely imprisoned supervillains. These include deadly assassin Deadshot (Will Smith), the ruthless Aussie, Captain Boomerang (Jai Courtney), deadly fiery gangster, El Diablo (Jay Hernandez), half man/half gator Killer Croc (Adewale Akinnuoye-Agbaje), and of course the Joker's insane and deadly henchwoman/girlfriend, Harley Quinn (Margot Robbie). The team is led by Army Special Forces colonel Rick Flagg (Joel Kinnamen) and his bodyguard Katana (Karen Fukuhara), an expert swordswoman whose sword can trap the souls of its victims. Meanwhile the notorious, Clown Prince of Crime, the Joker (Jared Leto) plots a way to get back his girlfriend, Harley Quinn. Even though SUICIDE SQUAD, has some entertaining performances and action scenes, it does get heavily drowned by a sub-par story, boring visuals, and some performances that are either forgettable or don't work at all.
There are a few characters that are memorable, and actors who do rather decent performances. Will Smith brings his trademark charm and charisma to the character of Deadshot. He has an interesting backstory, and he is able to carry the film as much as he can being one of the main leads. Viola Davis never disappoints, no matter what film she is in, and SUICIDE SQUAD is no exception. She is Amanda Waller, incarnate, and you can tell she did research on the character from the comics. She really made this character come to life from comic pages to the screen. Another actress who does an amazing job in bringing her character to life is Margot Robbie as Harley Quinn. I can really tell Robbie is passionate about the character. Jai Courtney does a solid job as Captain Boomerang, as well. But then there are performances that just don't work. Let's talk about that elephant in the room, Jared Leto as the Joker. Now back when he was announced as the Joker, while everybody was skeptical, I was overly excited. I know Leto can be a tremendous actor (watch him in DALLAS BUYERS CLUB). Even when he did all those controversial antics to his cast and crew like sending them dead rats, pig carcasses, used condoms, etc. I was still excited because my thoughts were "Good God! What the hell kind of insane Joker is Leto going to give us?" Unfortunately it was a pretty awkward, irritating, and unfocused one. This Joker, really doesn't work. And I know Leto was trying and at least was putting effort into it, just wasn't a Joker that seemed to match up with those of Jack Nicholson, Heath Ledger, and now Joaquin Phoenix. Also Enchantress is a pathetically weak villain. No matter how powerful the movie wants to make her, she isn't the least intimidating or interesting. And characters like Flagg, Katana, Croc, and some others are pretty forgettable, either because the performances or the character arcs are not worth remembering.
The story is pretty sub-par and standard. They really give no reason of why the real heroes like Batman and Wonder Woman can't deal with this situation. Maybe somewhere in the film, they gave the excuse that those heroes were "busy". I'm pretty sure an ancient evil sorceress who puts a city on lock down, and opens a portal to another evil dimension, would get the attention of some superheroes. Even the idea of the team they came up with makes no sense. To challenge a powerful mystical sorceress, they pick a marksman, a guy with a boomerang, a half-croc, a guy whose good at climbing stuff (oh yeah, this guy exists, but he's not in the movie for that long), and a clown woman with a baseball bat. Genius! This team can maybe go up against a street level criminal like Black Mask, or even a character who's already in the movie, like the Joker. But a supernatural being, it's rather idiotic.
Although I don't the characters are powerful enough to go up against an ancient sorceress, they should be interesting enough to provide us with some awesome action scenes, right? Well unfortunately, the action scenes are pretty mediocre and honestly pretty hard to visualize. A lot of these action scenes are shot way too much in the dark. As a viewer, I couldn't really appreciate the choreography or the visual effects that are suppose to enhance the scenes. The action scenery is always too dim, or there's a lot of heavy rain. For a movie that promises to be heavy on the action, it sure is unimpressive. I appreciate that the movie overall tries to go for broke, but the overall direction is choppy, the story leaves nothing to impress, some characters are likable, while most are not or even memorable. Suicide Squad could've been a hot experience, but it all turns out to be a hot mess.
GRADE: D+
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