The hype for David Ayer’s DC film Suicide Squad has been incredible.
With a two year lead up and countless trailers, it seemed that the film was to be a sure fire cult classic.
But this was not to be.
People excitedly poured into Australian pre-screenings earlier this week, and although hardcore fans did laugh at the jokes there was a clear sense of disappointment in the air.
Critics have been trashing the movie online, and it’s IMBd rating has been dropping rapidly.
So why was the movie bad?
Summed up into three categories, the answer is: pace, characterisation and explanation.
The film opens with beautiful in-depth backstories to Deadshot (Will Smith) and Harley Quinn (Margot Robbie). These sequences could have evolved into films themselves, and maybe David Ayer should have taken a page out of Joss Whedon’s book and done so.
Directly after the heartfelt nostalgia, the film launches into it’s villain. It is revealed that Cara Delevingne’s Enchantress, who has been contained by secret services, has escaped and plans to destroy the world.
And that’s pretty much it. There’s no twist. Sure, Joel Kinnaman’s character Rick Flag is in love with her. Sure, she summons her supernormal ‘brother’ to fight with her. But there’s no real progression to her character.
Which brings us to the second flaw, characterisation.
Ultimately, the film provides flat and predictable characters. Deadshot wants to prove something to his young daughter, Rick Flag is a stereotypical soldier and Captain Boomerang played by Jai Courtney is a big Aussie softie.
It’s disappointing that the romance between Rick Flag and Enchantress wasn’t more of a focus of the film, because if it was maybe their love could have been more believable and the climax to the film more climatic.
Overall, Will Smith and Joel Kinnaman really carried Suicide Squad with their acting. Something also has to be said for Jay Hernandez’s El Diablo, who came out as the most interesting character of the film.
Now, explanation.
There were too many things in the films that just didn’t add up.
In a quick run-down: Adam Beach’s Slipknot was brought in to have his head blown off just a few minutes later, Harley Quinn’s powers weren’t made clear, Killer Croc and Captain Boomerang didn’t even have a back story, the inclusion of Enchantress’ brother seemed unnecessary and the excessive involvement of Jared Leto’s non-mysterious Joker can be likened to click-bait for movies.
The film didn’t take on too much, because other’s have done it successfully before. It almost seems that the producers prioritised what they thought viewers would want, over what they thought would make a quality film.
They didn’t have to give the Joker so much air time simply because he has been successful in the past, and they didn’t have to take on the dry humour of Tim Miller‘s hit Deadpool.
Suicide Squad really isn’t terrible, it’s just not great.