I should really be complaining about the plan that DC/Warner Bros has had for the DC Universe movies so far. I am a fan of this movie but the producers and marketing people committed the same sins in this film that they did in Batman v Superman. For some reason the folks over at DC/Warner Bros are in a big hurry to try and catch up on Marvel in the comic book super hero movie chase. I don’t get that because DC has better heroes, better stories and all they need to do is just take their time and they will be rolling in the dough. Hopefully they will realize this because they can’t keep building up expectations and then fail to deliver on those expectations.
After the death of Superman, government officials are scrambling to try and decide how to protect themselves from their next meta-human attack. ARGUS official Amanda Waller, played by Viola Davis (Prisoners,) creates a team of super villains called Task Force X specifically designed to be sent in to fight other Meta- humans or super natural forces. The team consists of world’s best assassin Deadshot, played by Will Smith (Concussion,) the Joker’s Psychotic girlfriend Harley Quinn, played by Margot Robbie (Whiskey Tango Foxtrot,) a master thief Captain Boomerang, played by Jai Courtney (Terminator Genisys,) Killer Croc, a henchman with a physical deformity, played by Adewale Akinnuoye-Agbaje (Concussion,) a former gang banger with powerful ability to manipulate fire named El Diablo, played by Jay Hernandez (World Trade Center,) and archeologist June Moon who is possessed by a 3000 year old witch named Enchantress, played by Cara Delevingne (Pan.) Waller has the entire group led by a Special Forces soldier named Col. Rick Flag, played by Joel Kinnaman (Safe House.) Since he is a normal human he is guarded by a female Japanese swordsman named Katana, played by Karen Fukuhara in her debut role. The group is sabotage before they get going because Enchantress temporarily escapes and releases her brother Incubus, played by Alain Chanoine (Immortals,) from his prison and begins to wreak havoc in Central City. When Flag and Enchantress are sent to solve the problem, Enchantress escapes and uses her brothers’ power to build a machine to destroy the military’s of the world and put the people of it under their power. Waller sends in the rest of Task Force X to save some important people in the city and destroy Enchantress. If things weren’t bad enough, The Joker, played by Jared Leto (Dallas Buyers Club,) is running around screwing with Waller’s team trying to get his girlfriend back.
So here is the problem with not only this film, which I enjoyed, but Batman v Superman, which I loved, both movies have some amazing scenes that are spoiled by being shown in the multiple prerelease trailers that come out before the movies and the stories aren’t as strong as the action in the movies. So I am left wanting more because the stories aren’t as good as the action. Not so much for Batman v Superman, but definitely this film. I think that the producers are in such a hurry to catch up to the Marvel Cinematic movies and its giant money making machine, that they are forgetting how Marvel got to where they are now. Before there was The Avengers we had two Iron Man movies and one each for Captain America, Thor, and Incredible Hulk. Now to be fair to DC, Iron Man 2 and Batman v Superman are the basically the same movie in that they both introduced many characters with a goal of opening up each universe. But Marvel gave us four movies that introduced us to the films so when The Avengers happened we knew who they were so the movie didn’t have to waste time on delving into who they were and how they came to be. Now if DC was smart, after Man of Steel, they did a solo Batman movie where he was dealing with Deadshot while focusing on The Joker and Harley Quinn. That would have given us back ground on both. Also we should have had a second Superman movie dealing with Lex Luthor and Doomsday. Heck we could even have a Flash movie with Captain Boomerang as his bad guy. So that way we could go into Suicide Squad and Justice League without the back story. But that is not what happened. Instead we get movies that are hurried with the story so we can get the DC universe started. However I think that we are probably good now because we have been introduced to Batman and Superman, we will get a Wonder Woman movie before Justice League, and Suicide Squad should lead to a sequel as well as a Harley Quinn spin off. It’s just a rough way to start a movie universe that I have been dying to have since I have always been a DC guy.
Suicide Squad’s focus was really on two of its characters, Deadshot, and Harley Quinn but for different reasons. Deadshot was a focus because of Will Smith played him and he is a mega star. Harley Quinn was the other because Harley Quinn has become a fan favorite and needed to be. I thought Deadshot was developed nicely and Will Smith was Will Smith, which is usually a good thing and it was in this movie. Margot Robbie, who played Harley, has been in several kick ass roles so far and she has been great in the two that I have seen, including this one. I thought she did a great job of living up to the expectations of her character. She was the required amount of smart, funny, sexual, and badass crazy. If someone disagrees they are not aware of her character.
One character that I am not totally sold on is Jared Leto’s version of The Joker. This is by far the most disturbed of the Joker’s we have been given in the Batman movie world. I feel that his character was thrown into this movie very much in the same way that Wonder Woman was thrown in to Batman v Superman. However unlike Wonder Woman who stole the show, The Joker didn’t really sell it for me mostly because of the damn trailer issue again. So I am willing to give him a pass for that reason. Plus, lets face it, following one of the greatest acting performances we have been given i.e. Heath Ledger as the Joker in The Dark Knight, is a hard thing to do. Leto did a good enough job to have me wanting to see more and if he didn’t I would be protesting loudly.
Speaking of the Dark Knight, and I mean this world’s Dark Knight, I love me some Ben Affleck as Batman. Even though it was three cameos’, two in the movie and one during the credits, it was fun to see him, ever so briefly. Sure I am in major fan boy action right now but I am just so surprised at how awesome he is at being Batman. There was also a brief cameo of the Flash capturing Captain Boomerang and I have to admit between that and the Justice League trailer I am looking forward to his movie as well. Another character I liked in this film, and possibly the biggest badass of them all, was Amanda Waller. She is a scary kind of evil in a good person body. I hope we get to see more of her in future films.
One thing I do like about all of the DC movies so far is that they have no problems killing people off in them. We know that Superman kills General Zod in the first movie, then Superman dies in Batman v Superman (yeah I know he is coming back,) and Suicide Squad kept it up by killing Incubus and having a hero sacrifice himself while doing it (I won’t say which one in case you haven’t seen it.) We even had a sacrificial death of one member of the Suicide Squad to show that there are consequences for trying to escape. I like this aspect of the DC Universe compared to Marvel. Other than the death of a few bad guys, mostly at the hands of Iron Man, we haven’t lost a single hero in 12 Marvel movies, including the one where we were expecting a death, Captain America: Civil War. I like how in the DC universe we may lose a hero we like.
Lastly I will say two things. One, if you liked the previous two DC movies then I believe you will like this one as well, It is a fairly good movie. The second thing I will say is that many people, ie asshole critics, have mentioned that these movies are darker than Marvel. I know there are high hopes for the Wonder Woman movie to lighten it up but I will remind you of a few things. Wonder Woman takes place during World War I, the bloodiest war of all time until World War II. The other and more important thing is that Wonder Woman is working with the good guys and she still ends up leaving all of mankind because she considers us hopeless, again while working for the good guys (ok huge assumptions here but this is my guess.) That movie won’t have a happy ending so the darkness of the DC Universe won’t change anytime soon.
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