Suicide Squad

Suicide Squad was the first DC comics movie that I was actually interested in seeing in a long time. It looked, from the trailers, like it would be DC's answer to Guardians of the Galaxy, a wisecracking band of misfits and ne'er do wells thrust together mostly against their will to do something good.

And I suppose that's what it was... but it was a piss poor answer that felt crafted by a committee.

In so many ways it was almost good, and then it shot itself in the foot. Moments what clearly could have been great if they'd been built up better, rather than just being tossed out as if the director was saying "look how clever and sassy these characters are!"

The movie starts out by introducing the cast. Will Smith with guns, Harley Quinn, Killer Croc, Pyro the Peaceful Gangster, and a guy who throws boomerangs. Oh, and then, when the team's put together, they add a guy who climbs things and gets no back story. He's killed off pretty quickly to show that the military guys pulling the strings aren't afraid to off the team, in a move so telegraphed it was painful.

Will Smith's character Deadshot unfortunately plays as... Will Smith with guns. I never got the feeling he was doing anything different to give the character a personality distinct from his own, and the way he was used in the movie was very much "Look! It's Will Smith!"

Margot Robbie's Quinn suffered from her wardrobe. And I get that Quinn weaponized her sexuality, but there was some actual interesting acting going on from her. I wanted more of that, but it seemed like every time she started to really get into it they decided to pull her back, rather than letting her run with it. It could have been a much more interesting movie if the focus had been more on her, and less on her booty short clad ass. 

Boomerang guy had a thing for unicorns... which was explored much better (you know, at all) in Deadpool. Uh... aside from that, he was there? 

Killer Croc growled and looked impressive.

Joker is around too, mostly being crazy and trying to get Quinn back, and really being in the movie too much... and I like this Joker. Jared Leto does a solid job, and the laugh is pretty much perfect... but... this isn't his movie. Sure, being in the flashbacks worked, but the whole rest of his story line could have been cut. It would have made the narrative much tighter.

And Katana and her magical... katana... was in it for some reason. 

The villains... I mean antagonists? were the government agents, and their pet ancient goddess who runs amuck.

And in the end, I was very glad I went to see it during a matinee. I was glad I saw it, mostly cause I could then write this blog post, and complain about it with my friends. Beyond that? It really wasn't worth it.