Review: Suicide Squad

Following “Batman v Superman,” DC releases the next chapter with the villains as the leads. Our J.P. reviews “Suicide Squad,” starring Will Smith, Jared Leto, Margot Robbie, and Viola Davis.

SUICIDE SQUAD
Warner Bros. Pictures

Released: Friday, August 5, 2016
MPAA Rating: PG-13 for “sequences of violence and action throughout, disturbing behavior, suggestive content and language”
Run Time: 123 minutes (Approx.)

Studio Synopsis:
From director David Ayer (“Fury,” “End of Watch”) comes “Suicide Squad,” starring Oscar nominee Will Smith (“Ali,” “The Pursuit of Happyness”), Oscar winner Jared Leto (“Dallas Buyers Club”), Margot Robbie (“The Wolf of Wall Street,” “Focus”), Joel Kinnaman (Netflix’s “House of Cards”) and Oscar nominee Viola Davis (“The Help,” “Doubt”). It feels good to be bad… Assemble a team of the world’s most dangerous, incarcerated Super Villains, provide them with the most powerful arsenal at the government’s disposal, and send them off on a mission to defeat an enigmatic, insuperable entity. U.S. intelligence officer Amanda Waller has determined only a secretly convened group of disparate, despicable individuals with next to nothing to lose will do. However, once they realize they weren’t picked to succeed but chosen for their patent culpability when they inevitably fail, will the Suicide Squad resolve to die trying, or decide it’s every man for himself?

Written and directed by Ayer based on the characters from DC Comics, the film also stars Jai Courtney (“Insurgent”), Jay Hernandez (“Takers”), Adewale Akinnuoye-Agbaje (“Thor: The Dark World”), Ike Barinholtz (“Neighbors”), Scott Eastwood (“Fury”), Cara Delevingne (“Paper Towns”), Adam Beach (“Cowboys & Aliens”), and Karen Fukuhara in her feature film debut. It is produced by Charles Roven and Richard Suckle, with Zack Snyder, Deborah Snyder, Colin Wilson and Geoff Johns serving as executive producers. Ayer’s behind-the-scenes creative team includes director of photography Roman Vasyanov (“Fury,” “End of Watch”), production designer Oliver Scholl (“Edge of Tomorrow”), editor John Gilroy (“Pacific Rim”), costume designer Kate Hawley (“The Hobbit” Trilogy) and Oscar-nominated visual effects supervisor Jerome Chen (“Stuart Little,” “Fury,” “The Amazing Spider-Man” films). The music is by Oscar-winning composer Steven Price (“Gravity”). Warner Bros. Pictures presents, an Atlas Entertainment production, a film by David Ayer, “Suicide Squad.”

J.P.’s Take:

It seems the race is on between Marvel and DC, as “Suicide Squad” is running hot on the heels of “Guardians of the Galaxy.” Like “Guardians,” the “Suicide Squad” is one of those titles buried in DC’s golden era of comics; a title stemming from 1959 to be exact. It, too, is brushed off and freshened up for the big screen and the results are quite unexpected.

As the story goes, “SS” picks up directly after the death of Superman as depicted in “Batman v Superman: Dawn of Justice.” High ranking national security expert Amanda Waller (Viola Davis) is the catalyst for bringing the band of misfits together. To fight fire with fire – as she would put it – Waller springs for the release of some of Gotham’s most heinous criminals to bring down a psychopath named Joker (Jared Leto), while thwarting annihilation by a supernatural being called Enchantress / Dr. June Moone (Cara Delevinge). Not only are these misfits forced to work together, the government has already deemed them as expendable. This means if their mission goes awry they will be the ones thrown under the bus. Spurring the super-villains band togetherness is the imminence or other metahumans, which pose a much greater threat to human kind.

I felt sliding this movie directly in after “Dawn of Justice” was a beneficial move on DC’s behalf. Firstly, long time fans whom have coveted their television series’ will witness DC emerge as a cinematic force. Something rival Marvel has long cornered the market on in the mid/late 2000’s. Considering, the fact that DC has not been a strong contender in the film-verse, writer/director David Ayer squeaks out several back stories for each of these outcasts, which we’re privy to it for a brief moment. Although the film doesn’t fully expand on these roles, there is enough of a narrative to get to know them on a personal level.

Secondly, this movie sets the stage for the next franchise in line which would be “Justice League.” Connecting the pieces is the story thread running from the world of “Batman v Superman,” while carving out a stand alone plot for the baddies to let lose. Ayer manages to throw in stylistic cues reminiscent of Christopher Nolan’s “Dark Knight” realm, without becoming too dark or grueling. This, at times, can be somewhat distracting, because you aren’t sure in which universe “SS” exists. More than I can say for “Batman v Superman,” which became a murky mess in the end. Ayer also keeps things light with Harley Quinn (a.k.a Dr. Harleen Quinzel) becoming the center of attention spouting mentally insane gibberish paired with just as crazy actions — which by the way, a character Margot Robbie does a fantastic job of embodying. She’s also one of my favorite characters.

Rather than assembling a team of goodie-two-shoes archetypes, the cluster includes a highly decorated Colonel named Rick Flag (Joel Kinneman) heading the gang.

The intriguing pairing of characters also makes for some diverse oddities:

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  Joining him is an assassin who’s true to his namesake Deadshot a.k.a. Floyd Lawton (Will Smith). Floyd has a daughter whom he loves dearly, yet his dark past keeps him on lock down at some God forsaken prison. I enjoyed Smith’s trash talking wisecracking depiction.

• Next in line Captain Boomerang a.k.a. Digger Harkness (Jai Courtney), which to me sounds more like a Hanna-Barbara cartoon than a criminal. He uses a highly advanced boomerang as either a weapon or surveillance tool. If he were more intelligible with his lines, I would have understood his jokes better. He has his uses nonetheless.
• Cara Delevinge splits her roles into two as Dr. June Moone and Enchantress. Moone is possessed by the eerie witch who can be conjured up with the very whisper of her name – ENCHANTRESS. Delevinge does a fine job of separating the personalities.
• A fire manipulating reformed gangbanger named Chato Santana (Jay Hernandez) earned him the name El Diablo. The true nature of his powers isn’t reveled until near the end in a final showdown. You’d find out pretty quick why he’s named that.
• Killer Croc a.k.a. Waylon Jones (Adewale Akinnuoye-Agbaje) is the cannibalistic man-beast with a bad skin condition, which makes him look like a human fused with a crocodile. His powers are mute as he does nothing more than hide in deep water and surprise his opponents. He gets time to tangle with other baddies on land as well. Yet his one-liners could use more pizzazz.
• Karen Fukuhara plays Flagg’s bodyguard and friend Tatsu Yamashiro a.k.a. Katana. Her swordswoman-ship is certainly evident and quite deadly.
• Adam Beach makes a brief appearance as Slipknot, who is a grappling/scaling tactical expert and assassin. It would have been nice to see what he may have added to the cast, if his character wasn’t so short lived.

The real stand outs here are:

• Viola Davis, whom I felt did her character justice. Davis portrays Amanda Waller with hard-nosed, shoot now ask questions later attitude. She’s powerful in her convictions and controls any situation with an iron fist. Davis truly fits the bill.
• Jared Leto would be the next stand out. I remember the reaction fans had of Leto portraying the killer clown the Joker. My guess is that they couldn’t get over the tatted up, gold teeth wearing punk rocker look. Yet when they see him perform I believe they’ll change their minds. The one thing I give him credit for is not rehashing the Jack Nicholson or Heath Ledger iterations. Leto poured his own ingredients into the role and for that I dig him.
• Last, but certainly not least, the Joker’s main squeeze Harley Quinn once named Harleen Quinzel (Robbie). Until her split personality moved in and stayed, Dr. Quinzel was the Joker’s psychiatrist. His manipulative charm seemed to have rubbed off her, becoming fierce lovers and partners in crime. I loved that Robbie had fun with her characters and stayed true to her persona. She’s just as psychotic as her “pudding” Mista J.

You’ll find each character was accented with their own theme songs, whether it was gospel, vintage rock, hip-hop or electronic dance music. I thought that was a nice touch personally. What you don’t expect is for this group to this work well together, given their backgrounds. At first it takes some coaxing to get them to join forces, yet when faced with dire situations it all boiled down to survival.

In the end you’re left with the impression that DC is on the up and up with their cinematic universe. I believe they’ll have no trouble now gaining new fans. I got a kick out of the whole shebang. And as with Marvel, you’re treated to teasers for the next franchise, so don’t leave you’re seat.