Suicide Squad (’16 review)

4 outta 5

Suicide Squad by David Ayer (End of Watch, Fury), like most of his work, is about a squad of no-good misfit scoundrels forced to do good. The movie isn’t perfect, some bits are awesome and some bits are clunky, and has a now very standard “save the world by getting to the big glowy thing” superhero movie climax. But it’s a decent ride straight through with a lot of fun, dark, and crazy bits throughout.

After Batman versus Superman took out significant chunks of property, government spook Amanda Waller (Viola Davis) assembles super-powered individuals to fight threats.   These “meta-humans” are all currently incarcerated for crimes, including the assassin Floyd Lawton aka Deadshot (Will Smith), boomerang throwing madman Harkness aka Captain Boomerang (Jai Courtney), mutated monster Killer Croc (Adewale Akinnuoye-Agbaje), flame throwing El Diablo (Jay Hernadez), wall crawler Slipknot (Adam Beach) and kooky psychopath Harley Quinn (Margot Robbie).  When one of Waller’s meta-humans, the possessed witch Enchantress (Carla Delevingne ), goes rogue Waller sends in her squad of psychos who are kept in line by the mystical sword wielding Katana (Karen Fukuhara) and military man Rick Flagg (Joel Kinnaman). But Enchantress has an army of minions protecting her and, even worse, Harley’s boyfriend, The Joker (Jared Leto), is in town for his gal. 

Suicide Squad is a bit of a tonal mish-mash as things go from yuks to introspective in the space of seconds.  That isn’t bad because the movie actually has a pretty consistent tone of crazy from the get-go which allows ping-ponging between extremes.  The tone gear shifting befits the characters unlike Batman v Superman: Dawn of Justice which tried much too hard to wedge superheroics into a dark movie.  Things get arguably darker in Squad but that’s okay because it fits.  While BvS felt like too many plotlines jammed into a single experience, Squad keeps it very linear by focusing on the crew on a mission.  

There is a bit of cheesiness and ham-fisted plotting in how the movie initially sets up each member of the squad by giving them flashbacks and their “stats” popping up in stylized text on screen.  But it is very comic-book-y and works with the movie’s whacked out vibe. Each montage is nicely done even if it does sort of feel Waller may never stop dropping exposition.  Especially cool are the flashbacks for Deadshot and Harley, both with effective guest appearances by Batman (Ben Affleck).

The history of Enchantress possessing the meek and terrified June Moone is compellingly dark.  Delevingne does decent work as June doesn’t want to unleash Enchantress and when she’s the dark demon witch it looks really weird.  Awkwardly, there is an excessive amount of shooting CGI out of her arms and she seems to be break-dancing while magically brewing a big glowy thing.   But there are some extremely twisted moments where she literally gets inside of the heads of the squad.   

Deadshot and Harley get the most screen time and best lines but there is a nice juggling of the ensemble.  Robbie’s Harley has some pretty hilariously twisted bits and is a huge highlight, especially when she shows the broken heart that drives her crazy.  Smith says cool things and does impossible gunplay, Killer Croc smashes and makes terse pronouncements, El Diablo holds back his flames until he unleashes, Katana gets to slice people up, Slipknot is basically there for a punch-line to show how cold Flagg is and Davis’ Amanda Waller is inhumanly calculating.  Like a standard mission movie there are some quips and sacrifices where the characters have to overcome their selfish impulses and try to do better.   This may not be the most emotionally deep group but each member is clearly defined with a distinct personality quirk, which is key in an ensemble.   They all get a moment in the spotlight even if Captain Boomerang seems pointless but Courtney amusingly behaves like a drunken dolt, constantly looking for a way out. There isn’t a lot of Leto’s Joker but when he shows up, he’s a wild X-factor. He’s decked out in bling and tats which seems like something The Joker would do so he can make fun of the gangbanger criminals.  He’s menacing and nuts, which is what the Joker should be.

The grunts of Enchantress’ army are possessed people who kind of look like bags of garbage but there’s a lot of ‘em and they splatter in a rather satisfying manner. Some of the action scenes are clumsily staged like the first encounter with the possessed mob but other bits really sing like when Harley tries to escape to a helicopter with The Joker. What Ayer is very good at is making things look epic while letting the characters cut loose.  The action isn’t elegant but it is nicely loud and has a brutal crunch. Suicide Squad does feel like it’s holding back in some places; if it was allowed to go full bloody violence and profanity it would have been stronger. 

Suicide Squad is a more complete experience than the jumbled and disoriented Batman v Superman. This is a movie about bad people forced into doing stuff for a good cause, even if they don’t care.   It’s kind of haywire and wacky but that’s what these “heroes” are.