Suicide Squad Review: “A fun, gun-toting, sporadic building block…”

As the world recovers from the calamitous events of Batman VS. Superman, there is hope on the horizon, hope in the criminals of DC; the bad guys – maybe they could do some good. The events that play out within David Ayer’s Suicide Squad though, however, make us question just how true this is. The film quickly starts off as a chaotic cacophony of exceptionally well-crafted ‘idents’ for each of the protagonists, who are shown to be entirely antagonistic in nature. It’s filled to the brim with utter chaos, quite literally thriving on it, and it soon sets a palpable tone of levity. It’s fascinating really, because it is obvious the film tries to – and even starts to, subvert the superhero genre, but falls short in the early game. It does, however, deserve significant praise for its early performance. With its cameos in consideration, its impressive selection of song choices, and its artful character introductions, the first act is a testament to how the chaotic nature of the characters and their respective narratives can be done some kind of justice, whilst still maintaining an excellent pace.

Before long though, the story must push forward, and as it tries to do so, it gets stuck in the swampland of Belle Reve with the majority of narrative coherence ending there. Much like Batman VS. Superman, the circumstances that necessitate the Suicide Squad’s involvement are of the characters’ own creation, a self-fulfilling prophecy that shows preventative measures to be both cause and effect. For some reason, Amanda Waller and A.R.G.U.S (the fictional, shadowy government agency that will most likely be in-part responsible for the creation of Cyborg, who will appear in Justice League) feels that Harley Quinn, Deadshot, Killer Croc, El Diablo, Enchantress, Captain Boomerang, Katana and Slipknot are the collective nuclear deterrent to the world’s next Superman-level threat. However, in preparing said nuclear deterrent, one of their nukes went AWOL and turned against them, giving way to the crux of the film’s story, but also to one of Suicide Squad‘s biggest issues: the fact that each of the characters are never really utilised to their fullest potential.

Why didn’t we get a shot of Killer Croc tearing someone in two, like paper? Why did Katana – who was late to the show to begin with, along with Slipknot – not have a scene that showed off the true power of her sword? Would the film have been any different without either of them? Did Captain Boomerang have a purpose other than being self-serving and being good for one instance of reconnaissance? And herein lies the dichotomy of meta-humans and – well – humans, a notion pointed out more than once by the film’s internal elements, and the very existence of this dichotomy questions the necessity of the human element. There are many more symptoms that indicate a clear splitting of the film into two visible halves. The direction of the story, for example, took a nosedive when the squad were assigned to rescue Waller, and the film’s ‘villain’ was sporadic in terms of strength and severity – undermining her presence on-screen and impact on the audience.

The flippancy of tone variation and rapid flip-flopping between dramatic and comedic elements in the latter half prevents the audience from ever investing in either and creates a serious pacing issue. By association, it renders the audience incapable of building a relationship with the characters, feeling for them or caring for their fates. By the end of the film, we see six of the proposed eight Suicide Squad members having to fight one of the remaining two, but void of sound motives, the power of friendship and family somehow emerge victorious from nowhere – notions that are never really built on. It could certainly have benefited from a couple of ‘team-bonding’ scenes, but what remains are characters that grew more in the first half an hour than in the other ninety minutes, and an audience that lost themselves half-way to its fallible inconsistencies. It’s saving grace perhaps, is that Smith, Davis and Robbie steal the show as Deadshot, Amanda Waller and Harley Quinn respectively, with an emotive performance from Hernandez as El Diablo. Delevingne costume and makeup looks absolutely phenomenal as Enchantress in the first half, and Leto was exceptional in his incarnation of the Joker, seduced by the chaos of the world around him; every line delivered with unnatural perturbation. Yet, this version of the Joker was truly disturbing to watch, his acting was fantastic, but the character inflicted unquestionable unease.

Despite its flaws though, and regardless of flak or vitriol, Suicide Squad is an important film in the current superhero landscape. It does exactly what it says on the tin. It promises to be a fun, gun-toting, sporadic building block for the DCCU, and it is, but nobody seems to know whether that’s a good thing or not. It came in with guns blazing, and was spectacular initially, providing a hopeful indication of what we might expect, but we never truly got it. What’s clear though, is the amount of love that has gone into Suicide Squad‘s production, and Ayer’s passion, though admirable, is perhaps too brazen. It is unclear whether the tonal dissonance and the shifting narrative foundations are intentional, and that may sound insane, but just as the film’s characters are united through chaos, and their missions are rooted in chaos, it isn’t so far-fetched to suggest that Suicide Squad was a film technically made to reflect that chaos. Whether it stands as an experimental piece of cinema that attempts to subvert the superhero genre or not, what’s clear is that the result is a frustratingly bittersweet tale of ambition that’s well-acted, and visually impressive, but falls exceptionally short on technical expectations. Absolutely still worth a watch, just consider buying the DVD!

SUICIDE SQUAD, directed by David Ayer. In theaters August 5, 2016.