Ok so I saw Suicide Squad the other night, and I never ever do this….but it was kind of a hot mess and I really need to talk about it. I approach this cautiously because I think Suicide Squad is sooooo close to living up to its potential. The middle section truly works, and if the rest of the film did too it would be great. So don’t let my rant be the end of the discussion and please let me know your thoughts too. This isn’t meant to be nitpicky, this is my attempt to move the focus away from simply what I don’t like to what I think the intention might have been, and how that intention could have been made clearer.
First, the obvious: There are a lot of characters in Suicide Squad, but that’s not a problem in itself. The problem is that the movie can’t seem to decide who is important. So allow me.
The main character is SUPPOSED TO BE Deadshot. His main supporting heroes are then Rick Flag, Harley Quinn, and Diablo. The rest of the Squad are 3rd string characters who live or die by their ability to color the background, and I’m not really going to get into that here. That’s a task I’m just not ready for, mkay?
Now, let’s next decide what the movie’s ABOUT. Like, really about. Besides bringing villains together and besides then going on an impossible mission, what are we supposed to connect with on an emotional level and what are we supposed to take away with us? The 4 main characters as I’ve laid out all have one thing in common: they all love someone they feel they’ve lost. THIS is what the movie is supposed to be about. Deadshot/Diablo feel they need to atone for the hurt they’ve caused. Harley/Flag feel they’re caught between who they love and what they have to do. This is already part of the movie, but it’s muddy. Diablo is probably the clearest, and ends up being one of the best characters because of it. If we can give all 4 clearer motivations, we can relate to them better. And relating to these broken people is so crucial in this film.
OK speed round; here are 7 quick mechanical things we could do to get the movie off to a better start.
1. Skip the first 30 minutes of Amanda Waller describing the team and who’s on it.
2. Instead, start on Will Smith. His Deadshot SHOULD be the focus of the movie and not committing to him is a huge mistake. Make him the man who wants to quit for his daughter, but can’t. Killing is all he knows.
3. Meet Diablo in prison, organically building mystery around him.
4. Meet Harley Quinn in prison, etc. Lose the unnecessarily complicated Joker backstory.
5A. Lose the Joker. He doesn’t work. He has like, 8 lines in the whole thing.
5B. Or, make him do more. Have him unintentionally impeding the progress of the Squad while he’s trying to save Harley Quinn. Which, you know, kinda almost happens. (As an aside, I feel bad for Leto who clearly gave a good performance but was given zero space in which to do it)
6. Contrast Deadshot with Rick Flagg more clearly. He is a trained killer, but the fact that it’s legal for him is unfair to Deadshot. There is something profound in the fact that from the gate we’re supposed to root for Deadshot but Flag has to prove himself even though by traditional standards, Flag is the “good guy”. That should be the core dynamic through the movie.
7. Let us meet Amanda Waller for the first time when she approaches Deadshot with this proposition. Meeting her first thing and telling us she’s putting together a team and spoon-feeding exposition is great for the trailers but useless for the movie.
Two bonus notes for things that aren’t strictly story or structure:
8. Slow the hell down. This movie (especially the Joker sequences) moves and is cut so damn fast you don’t get a break to just enjoy what’s happening.
9. Lose the constant barrage of classic rock tunes. I…I just don’t understand why they’re even here. (ok that was just picking nits but I had to mention it somewhere)
I really don’t know what to do about the final showdown, except to say that Amanda Waller is the real villain and she totally gets an out. I personally found the ending super lame, just as the film was picking up speed, so I might need to ruminate on that some more before having a solution (although for the love of God, on the DVD please edit out the part where the 6000 year old witch tells Flag that he “doesn’t have the balls”. Come on. Does your 6000 year old grandma talk like that? No, she does not. nitpick #2)
Whew. That was…better than I expected. Share if you agree, discuss if you don't. Actually discuss if you agree too. Let’s talk!
-Alex