So it's been a bit over 3 weeks ago since Suicide Squad debuted in theaters in the US. News of the film has gone to almost a halt. Last time I checked, it earned a box-office gross of nearly $640 million. Which is why director David Ayer thanked the fans for making the movie a success, in spite of the low review score. Now whether or not Suicide Squad IS a success depends on how Warner Bros. defines it. After all, you still need to account for the promotions, distributions, the investors, etc. And Warner Bros. won't be happy if all they get out of it is mere pocket change.
By comparison, James Cameron's Avatar costs around an estimated $500 million in both production and marketing, and it earned a total gross of over $2 billion. That's well over $1.5 billion in revenue. And that's how every movie studio wants - a LOT of money for them to swim through with whatever movie they make, and nothing less.
But I'm not here to discuss as to whether or not Suicide Squad was a financial success. Rather, it's whether or not the movie itself is good in the first place.
Since it's been three weeks now, I would assume you already know of the movie's plotline. Otherwise, let me give a brief summary.
After the events of Batman v Superman, the US Government wants to find a countermeasure against the likes of Superman and other metahumans. Amanda Waller then forms Task Force X, the code name for the Suicide Squad, for this specific role. One of the members, the Enchantress, isn't exactly keen in being part of the team, and goes rogue and creates a end-of-the-world scenario. The Suicide Squad are then tasked to deal with the threat.
There is a LOT of wrongs with this movie. First off, the idea that the Suicide Squad is formed to take down the likes of Superman. One problem - NONE of its members are even remotely capable of taking down Superman! In fact, the majority of them lack any superpowers at all!
I'm willing to listen to any DC Enthusiast out there who can provide a solid argument that Deadshot, Harley Quinn, Captain Boomerang, Killer Croc, and Katana, can defeat Superman on their own - WITHOUT the use of Kryptonite! If anything, the Enchantress is the only member of the group remotely capable of fighting Superman because of the latter's inability to defend against magic - except the Enchantress is the main antagonist of this film.
And that's another problem. When the Enchantress begins her end-of-the-world scenario, none of the DC Superheroes are anywhere to be found. One can say Batman was too busy forming the Justice League, but c'mon! Forming the Justice League is more important than stopping a global threat? If the solo Wonder Woman movie had her doing something during the events of Suicide Squad, I'd get it. Except, the trailer for the Wonder Woman movie shows that it's set during World War I and not in the present day. Flash is also missing despite the fact there's a cameo of him in the early parts of the Suicide Squad film. So again, there are indeed some DC Heroes running about, but for some reason, they're not responding to the threat of the Enchantress.
If Deadpool were a DC character, he'd simply pop up and explain Warner Bros. couldn't afford the charactes into the film, and that would've been the end of it. But this is supposed to be a serious film (despite it's attempt to be a little more positive in tone), so.....
And then there's several scenes where the Enchantress's monsters attack and the US Army can't even land a dent on them with their assualt rifles. But Deadshot's pistols, and Harley's bat? No problem! They die instantly! I mean, what the bloody hell, man!
It's been noted that reshoots were made in the movie to give it a slightly more positive look, and to show the Suicide Squad aren't exactly THAT bad. That's a whole lot of BS. The members of the Suicide Squad are villains. In a situation like this, they HAVE to act their roles. It seems what the movie is trying to do is become a counterpart to Marvel's Guardians of The Galaxy. This is more evident when they play tracks like Queen's "Bohemian Rhapsody", just give that same vibe as "Hooked on A Feeling". That just does not work!
Yes, the Guardians of The Galaxy start off as a ragtag group of bad guys, but the narrative transitions them to become heroes and stayed that way ever since. Suicide Squad being heroes? No. Just No.
I personally prefer the idea of the Suicide Squad being villains/anti-heroes performing Black Ops, allowing them to maintain their character without having to step into the so-called 'hero zone'. I'm suspecting the reason the change in tone, apart from making it more positive, is that Will Smith has never played a villain like Deadshot before, and even if he did, he's awfully bad at it.
The only saving grace for this movie are Margot Robbie, Jared Leto, and Viola Davis, who play Harley, Joker, and Waller, respectively. They play their roles almost flawlessly and the subplot of The Joker searching for Harley is even more interesting than the main plot itself! I also believe this is why the movie is getting money coming in because these three characters are that likable. How many have watched the movie because of Will Smith as Deadshot vs Jared Leto as the Joker? I rest my case.
So besides Harley, Joker, and Waller having a commanding presence in the film, Suicide Squad is like watching a B-movie where you pay little attention to and just play Angry Birds on your phone. In the larger scale of things, the movie doesn't really add anything to the overall narrative of the DC Expanded Universe. To put it more bluntly, Suicide Squad is nothing more but filler material until the Justice League movie comes out. There are far worse movies than this, but you can basically just skip this one entirely unless you want to see the trio I mentioned earlier, or if you're one of the hardcore DC fans. On a scale of 1 to 5, I give Suicide Squad a 2 out of 5.
By comparison, James Cameron's Avatar costs around an estimated $500 million in both production and marketing, and it earned a total gross of over $2 billion. That's well over $1.5 billion in revenue. And that's how every movie studio wants - a LOT of money for them to swim through with whatever movie they make, and nothing less.
But I'm not here to discuss as to whether or not Suicide Squad was a financial success. Rather, it's whether or not the movie itself is good in the first place.
Since it's been three weeks now, I would assume you already know of the movie's plotline. Otherwise, let me give a brief summary.
After the events of Batman v Superman, the US Government wants to find a countermeasure against the likes of Superman and other metahumans. Amanda Waller then forms Task Force X, the code name for the Suicide Squad, for this specific role. One of the members, the Enchantress, isn't exactly keen in being part of the team, and goes rogue and creates a end-of-the-world scenario. The Suicide Squad are then tasked to deal with the threat.
There is a LOT of wrongs with this movie. First off, the idea that the Suicide Squad is formed to take down the likes of Superman. One problem - NONE of its members are even remotely capable of taking down Superman! In fact, the majority of them lack any superpowers at all!
I'm willing to listen to any DC Enthusiast out there who can provide a solid argument that Deadshot, Harley Quinn, Captain Boomerang, Killer Croc, and Katana, can defeat Superman on their own - WITHOUT the use of Kryptonite! If anything, the Enchantress is the only member of the group remotely capable of fighting Superman because of the latter's inability to defend against magic - except the Enchantress is the main antagonist of this film.
And that's another problem. When the Enchantress begins her end-of-the-world scenario, none of the DC Superheroes are anywhere to be found. One can say Batman was too busy forming the Justice League, but c'mon! Forming the Justice League is more important than stopping a global threat? If the solo Wonder Woman movie had her doing something during the events of Suicide Squad, I'd get it. Except, the trailer for the Wonder Woman movie shows that it's set during World War I and not in the present day. Flash is also missing despite the fact there's a cameo of him in the early parts of the Suicide Squad film. So again, there are indeed some DC Heroes running about, but for some reason, they're not responding to the threat of the Enchantress.
If Deadpool were a DC character, he'd simply pop up and explain Warner Bros. couldn't afford the charactes into the film, and that would've been the end of it. But this is supposed to be a serious film (despite it's attempt to be a little more positive in tone), so.....
And then there's several scenes where the Enchantress's monsters attack and the US Army can't even land a dent on them with their assualt rifles. But Deadshot's pistols, and Harley's bat? No problem! They die instantly! I mean, what the bloody hell, man!
It's been noted that reshoots were made in the movie to give it a slightly more positive look, and to show the Suicide Squad aren't exactly THAT bad. That's a whole lot of BS. The members of the Suicide Squad are villains. In a situation like this, they HAVE to act their roles. It seems what the movie is trying to do is become a counterpart to Marvel's Guardians of The Galaxy. This is more evident when they play tracks like Queen's "Bohemian Rhapsody", just give that same vibe as "Hooked on A Feeling". That just does not work!
Yes, the Guardians of The Galaxy start off as a ragtag group of bad guys, but the narrative transitions them to become heroes and stayed that way ever since. Suicide Squad being heroes? No. Just No.
I personally prefer the idea of the Suicide Squad being villains/anti-heroes performing Black Ops, allowing them to maintain their character without having to step into the so-called 'hero zone'. I'm suspecting the reason the change in tone, apart from making it more positive, is that Will Smith has never played a villain like Deadshot before, and even if he did, he's awfully bad at it.
The only saving grace for this movie are Margot Robbie, Jared Leto, and Viola Davis, who play Harley, Joker, and Waller, respectively. They play their roles almost flawlessly and the subplot of The Joker searching for Harley is even more interesting than the main plot itself! I also believe this is why the movie is getting money coming in because these three characters are that likable. How many have watched the movie because of Will Smith as Deadshot vs Jared Leto as the Joker? I rest my case.
So besides Harley, Joker, and Waller having a commanding presence in the film, Suicide Squad is like watching a B-movie where you pay little attention to and just play Angry Birds on your phone. In the larger scale of things, the movie doesn't really add anything to the overall narrative of the DC Expanded Universe. To put it more bluntly, Suicide Squad is nothing more but filler material until the Justice League movie comes out. There are far worse movies than this, but you can basically just skip this one entirely unless you want to see the trio I mentioned earlier, or if you're one of the hardcore DC fans. On a scale of 1 to 5, I give Suicide Squad a 2 out of 5.
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