Sunday 7 August 2016

Suicide Squad

I read every bad review about this film before walking into the cinema and I was still disappointed.

My expectations could not have been lower and yet, Suicide Squad still failed to make a mark. Written and directed by David Ayer, the latest DC instalment lacked purpose, depth and excitement. In fact, I would go as far as saying that every bullet missed the target on this one. I found myself bored throughout many of the action scenes, silent during moments of 'humour' and unimpressed with forced relationships.


Ayer was, in many ways, restricted by studio execs and brand managers who insisted upon a certain product - even if it was a lesser one! One particular problem with the creation of this film seemed to be the deadlines. Ayer was given a release date and had to write, shoot and edit before that time. Sounds like any other film, yes, but Ayer wanted time to develop the film and was not given the chance to. In fact, two different versions of the film were screened for test audiences and Ayer's more developed version was not favoured by the studio. One of the other shackles attached to Ayer and Suicide Squad was the demand for a PG13/15 rating. With a film centred on bad guys with an attitude, it was frustrating that the rating was so low. Perhaps an R/18 rating would have been better suited to allow Ayer to explore his characters in more seedy depth. Many of the aspects of what make these characters great are only brushed upon because too much violence, language or sexually explicit scenes would hike the age rating. Although Deadpool was problematic for several reasons, it was an enjoyable ADULT film that still dominated the market despite excluding the young up and coming comic fans.

Whilst Deadshot and Harley Quinn had potential in the film there simply wasn't enough to carry the rest of the cast. Cara Delevingne, for example, should never have been cast as Dr Moon/Enchantress. She should never have made the move into acting in the first place. Hiding the fact she cannot do accents behind an ancient language and subtitles was one thing, but Ayer could not hide her basic inability to act. The audience are supposed to be in awe of this character in both of her physical states but whenever she was on screen it was cringe worthy watching her sway her hips or flail into the arms of her soldier boyfriend. Speaking of the soldier, Captain Flag, Joel Kinnaman was a pleasant replacement for early drop out Tom Hardy. He was an underdeveloped character but did his best in the screen time allotted to him. Being an underdeveloped character in Suicide Squad is like being a hipster in a trendy cafe. They are fucking everywhere. The audience is force fed snapshot origin stories at the very beginning of the film and are occasionally given additional flashbacks as the story progresses. But other than that, the characters are dropped into the DC universe, as the fans currently know it, and left to fend for themselves. Even the Joker, a character we all know and love, was new and improved but without any context. At the end of Suicide Squad, the only characters I would be happy having origin stories would be Deadshot and Harley Quinn but that is more to do with the performances than the writing.

Ultimately a film with great potential to slingshot DC back into my good books, after the fall of Batman - thanks Affleck, was a disappointment from the ground up. I thoroughly blame the restrictions on Ayer and the time scale in which the film needed to be made. Perhaps after the afore mentioned success of bad-guy-good-guy Deadpool, it felt as if Suicide Squad was rushed in order to jump on the band wagon. If we'd had individual origin stories for the main troupe beforehand then perhaps the time in this film could have been better utilised. I cannot help but wonder how much better the film would have been had the first 20 minutes of rambling character description been replaced with more content. I'm sure the film will still top box offices around the world but whether it, with the amount of negativity from critics and fans, will make back it's initial investment is still up in the air. 

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