A bad movie, but a guilty pleasure?

Rating: 2/10 (9 August 2016)

Here is how I encapsulate Suicide Squad in one scene in a movie. Not in any of the plot elements, the way the dialogue exchange, or the abundant gun-toting action scenes, but in the end credits. Yes, the end credits – where, after the world is saved by our "heroes", we see them back to square one in their cells in the prison in the typical "gritty reboot" Warner Bros aesthetic. Then, out of nowhere, Harley Quinn (Margot Robbie, who is by far the best part of the movie) escapes from prison via a jarring raid led by her methhead puppy-face Leto Joker. Then after that, the credits roll in a bombastic, colorful blend of purple and green vape gas while a rap song called "Sucker For Pain" plays with Lil Wayne, Wiz Khalifa, and Ty Dolla $ign. It's not a particularly good song and the credits look phony and obnoxious, but it looks cool and based on my short range of crowd that I sort of hang around with. That's the whole summary of Suicide Squad in my viewpoint.
Suicide Squad is - both objectively and inescapably - garbage. Scriptwise, the story makes no sense, plot points get repeated for no reason, backstories serve no purpose other than to rush character development, and most of the characters don't serve anything to the plot at all. Aesthetically, the direction defines choppy, the world in which the cast share isn't cohesive – one character looks straight out of a Grudge movie while another one looks like those S&M clowns that might fit in Spring Breakers – the tone has "schizophrenic" written all over its face, (no thanks to those reshoots, because that always works!) and the CGI looks distractingly bad. Taken as a whole, it's the cinematic equivalent of the modern, lazy, pandering rap song made cynically by the intent of establishing a name rather than making good products. BUTeven considering how much I actually listen to those same bad rap songs, I still like it? Yes, the movie sucks and has no right to be overrated by those against the "biased Rotten Tomatoes" , but I still find joy and guilty pleasure in this cluster of a movie.
The story, for the record, is far too convoluted to summarize. After the events of Batman V Superman, Amanda Waller (Viola Davis) for some reason comes to the conclusion that the world needs the help of Gotham's rowdiest criminals. So she recruits Killer Croc, Boomerang, Harley Quinn, El Diablo, Deadshot, and some other guy, under the help of Joel Kinnaman as Rick Flagg and Katana to do some rescue mission. Oh, and Davis comes to terms with Enchantress – who looks like she was pulled straight out of a Troma-esque Grudge ripoff – in order to persuade the officials to use the Squad, only to eventually be held hostage for the film to set up a rather questionable twist. Oh, and Enchantress is controlling Flagg's boring girlfriend as she controls the city via a sky wormhole and a strangely crappy-looking demon brother who serves nothing other than a mini-boss. Oh, and the Joker shows up for no reason for both a flashback and in act 2 and literally drives and/or flies by the screen without any point.
So yeah, like Batman V Superman, the movie suffers greatly by numerous plot issues and bad design choices. This time, instead of the Goyer- Snyder "golden boys" screwing everything up, we have one man at the helm taking all the blame. Now I may like David Ayer's movies in his unapologetic, openly grimy movie catalogue, (I personally think Fury is still his masterpiece) but there is no denying the amount of weight he struggles to carry here, doubly so thanks to the reshoots. Constant shifts in tone, weak transition of plot elements, and a stupid-looking choices he makes with the purple and green color palette and supercharged cutting techniques make the film look occasionally phony, and that's before you see the final boss in her crappy-looking silk-sheets-as-smoke-clouds getup. In design, it's as if Ayer desperately panders to the new age of wannabe gangster Snapchat teens the way he panders to thugs in Harsh Times, as he also shoves on- the-nose pop songs in any scene possible.
However, as someone who objectively follows some people in that demographic, I can't help but enjoy this broken apparatus. Even among the catchy soundtrack and weirdly enjoyable aesthetic, there is quite a lot of genuine good that's sadly squashed by the vape-stinking baggage. The backstory for both El Diablo and Deadshot are genuinely engaging however short-shifted, there's a small bar scene where they share fun banter, and I'd be lying if there aren't some good payoffs in the action scenes. Plus, I cannot deny the effort by Margot Robbie as the best Harley Quinn ever (although a bit oversexualized) , Will Smith and Viola Davis. All the rest are on autopilot, but its fun to see Jai Courtney hamming up as an Australian stereotype.
Sadly, all the poor actors lose any goodwill by a terrible performance by one Jared Leto as the new Joker. Passing aside the way the film contrives his every screen presence, Leto simply fails at invoking any menace or charisma to this character. Initially, I like the idea of making the Joker of more like a modern street thug, but Leto tries too hard to make another Heath Ledger impression. The result is embarrassing and almost sleazy. If this shows up in the new Batman movie, then DC/Warner Bros is even more screwed than they already are.
However, with that all in mind, this movie is the ultimate guilty pleasure. Nothing is good about it AT ALL, but I can't shake off the mindless, pandering, coked-up fun that is Suicide Squad. Take that for what its worth.
For more reviews, check out my blog! http://itachisan125.blogspot.com/2016/08/review-suicide-squad.html