Like them or not comic book based movies are still taking
the top spots at the box office. Ever since Spider-man made big bucks followed
by Iron Man a few years later the blockbuster to beat has become this genre.
Marvel has done a marvelous job of creating some memorable movies that thrill
audiences. DC on the other hand, the home of Batman and Superman, hasn’t had
the same luck with their reboots of those series.
A large part of that is because of the tone with which the
stories their using take. Rather than embrace the format they were derived
from, comic books, it’s as if DC wants to reimagine every character and go only
for the grittiest most realistic form for these characters to take. I was
disappointed with MAN OF STEEL because Superman suddenly was more concerned
about the battle than saving lives. BATMAN V SUPERMAN continued this type of
story with Batman suddenly killing people, a major no no for fans of the
comics.
When I heard they were doing a movie of SUICIDE SQUAD I
wondered what they would do. The story in comics form had a secret government
agency that employed super villains in covert operations. The end result was a
lessening of their sentences and a deniable group that could pull of various
jobs. Some of that is employed in this film but again, that dark, gritty, edgy
feeling permeates the movie and does more harm than good.
Viola Davis stars as Amanda Waller, a notoriously heartless
government bureaucrat, who wants to form the team in this film. She goes
through the list of who she wants on the team as she discusses the project with
her superiors. This fills up screen time and allows us to get the back story on
each of the members she brings along. The first of the two main bad guys she
chooses is Floyd Lawton aka Deadshot. Wil Smith takes on the role but offers a
character a bit more human than the cold hearted killer for hire he reads as in
the comics. Almost a comparable character to Deadpool, Deadshot in the books
has a mouth but in the film plays it less for laughs and more for emotion. His
daughter means everything to him.
The second main character on display is Harleen Quinzel aka
Harley Quin (Margot Robbie). A psychologist who was studying Batman nemesis The
Joker (Jared Leto), he drove her mad and she became the moll to his gangster.
Seriously crazy she acts the part, cracking wise and inclined to do bodily harm
as well as quip jokes about what is happening around her. But deep inside
Harley also has a ton of emotions she carries in her love of The Joker.
Once approved a mission pops up involving another super
villain Waller thought she had control of, The Enchantress. An ancient being
bodily tied to an archeologist June Moone, Waller had straight man and hero
material leader Rick Flag (Joel Kinnaman) become involved with June romantically
to help keep her in line. Flag is the non-villain of the group, put in charge
of them to make sure they follow through with the plan. In addition to that,
each has been tagged with a collar that will explode if they don’t follow
through to keep them in line.
Once everyone is identified and given a chance to
demonstrate their powers and give us their back story the movie progresses. The
group is taken from their cells and rounded up be dropped in the city where a
major paranormal event is going on. The Enchantress has taken on her form and
brought back her brother with the hopes of finding her heart, returning it to
her chest and then taking her vengeance on mankind.
While informative the first half of the movie moves along
fairly slow. It does give us a chance to see Batman (Ben Affleck) and the Flash
in brief moments setting them up for the next movie, JUSTICE LEAGUE. But it
could have taken less time and that bogs down that part of the movie. Whereas
that part seems slow the second half has a pace only slightly faster but filled
with plenty of explosions and special effects. At times the action is so over
the top and non-stop that it becomes tiresome. The only stand out moment for me
here was seeing Deadshot in action, putting on a display of how he came by the
name.
Of the characters Deadshot comes off as sort of bland which
is sad knowing the history of the character. Smith can do a great job with
something solid but this wasn’t it. Robbie as Harley stands out among the pack
displaying a wonderful joy to the insanity of the character that ties directly
with her behavior in the comics. It’s no wonder that there is talk of her being
part of a trio of Gotham bad girls in a future film. The rest of the bad guys
feel like an afterthought. With a few good stories to them those deserving more
screen time seem limited and those who don’t seem there all the time.
But as I said at the start the film feels mired in its
desire to be dark and dirty rather than the four color comic that it was taken
from. Come on DC, realize that most comic fans aren’t into the whole dark side.
Check out what Marvel is doing and regroup. This may not be the worst comic
book movie ever made, it is okay in the long run. But it could have been
better, actors could have been given more to work with and it could have stood
out rather than feel like just another movie. It was worth watching as a comic
fan and probably will be for action film fans as well. But it wasn’t good
enough that I’d want to make it a part of my permanent collection.
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