Suicide Squad – An Unpopular Opinion

This review is going to be a little bit different than most the ones that will follow it. As it is my first, I feel the need to tell you that the inspiration for this entire site was the negative response that this movie has received. Is this a flawless movie? Of course not. Is it the pile of garbage that everyone seems to think? I certainly don’t believe so. I walked out of the theatre having had a great time.  But first things first, let’s do a little housecleaning.

Let me preface this review by saying I am not a fanboy (of Marvel or DC at least, Nintendo is another story) and haven’t been blown away by a superhero movie since ‘The Dark Knight’.  Marvel movies are always good light-hearted fun – Iron Man, The Avengers, and Guardians are all great. Winter Soldier was the first, and only, one that was a great movie for me. As for the DCU, I did not enjoy Man of Steel in the slightest. Which I thought was a huge disappointment as I find Cavill a fantastic Superman. BvS was a step up for me, I enjoyed most of the movie until Doomsday showed up – felt that should have been an entirely different movie. But when I saw the Queen trailer for Suicide Squad I got extremely excited. Set the bar pretty high, and in my opinion, Suicide Squad delivered.

So let’s begin with the story. Is it perfect? No. The first few minutes start fast, a few introductions – Deadshot, Harley – accompanied by the best soundtrack I’ve heard in a long time. However, once we meet Waller (played brilliantly by Davis) things get a little crazy. Fast flashbacks, slightly messy story, it feels almost like they are throwing in several movies of information within 15 minutes just to progress through the story. Which they are. This is where Marvel wins in my opinion. They took the time and gave each character their due. Everyone who needed it got their own movie/movies. I absolutely believe that Deadshot should have had his own movie and there should have been a Harley/Joker King and Queen of Gotham movie. Both characters are worthy of their own full movie and so are the actors they have playing them. But alas, we get a cluttered yet visually exciting hodgepodge of introductions that are as schizo as Harley herself.

“That is just a whole lot of pretty in a whole lot of crazy” – Griggs watching Harley in her cage

Luckily, once we make it through that, the middle of the movie is nothing but fun. Witty banter, high octane action, and a dark, strange love story unfolding between Joker and Harley – which was too tame in the final cut, but was clearly much stronger at one point. However, I was less than enthused with the big baddie (Enchantress and her brother) and felt that with such a fun ride up until the Squad faces her, the last 10 minutes were quite a let down. But in a 2+ hour movie, the last ten minutes are forgivable because for me, the point of the movie isn’t who this rag tag team of semi-baddies fights, but watching them interact with each other and the world around them.

Which brings us to the main attraction – the great performances. Four incredible performances from Will, Margot, Viola and Jared keep this movie fun and fast. BUT the real star of this movie, in my opinion, is Ike Barinholtz as Griggs. Charming, funny and yet still pretty messed up. Every scene he is in he steals.

In all honesty I’m not sure why everyone hates this movie. It’s fun, well acted, visually appealing and has some great effects. It may not be perfect but it was all that I wanted it to be. I laughed (a lot), I cried (a bit) and I had fun (buckets of it) throughout. Don’t listen to the haters, there’s a good chance that you’ll have a great time at the movies. And isn’t that what it’s all about?

Don’t take my word for it though, I’m just a guy.

small  medium  Large  refillable  Popcorn! (3/4)