Suicide Squad Review: The Real Highlights and Flaws

Rating: 9/10 (5 August 2016)

The movie was really well done! It was brilliantly choreographed and put together. Amanda Waller was one of the highlights, her performance flawless and terrifying all at once. I want to see a lot more of Katana and Boomerang going forward, though I do think that Boomerang's unicorn fetish was unnecessary humour. He'd have stood well as a character perfectly without adding that in, and still maintained the comedic touch in the movie.
That said, the movie does keep a comedic touch. And the interaction of Harley and Batman was well done. I know there were people saying that the biggest laugh comes from Batman punching Harley, and I don't know what theater they were sitting in, because that didn't happen where I was. Instead you get a Harley who's clearly dangerous even though she can't swim, and the CPR scene is clearly manipulated by Harley to make Batman uncomfortable. A great deal of the characters is shown through nuances, which unfortunately, critics were so quick to be critical of because, as always, they don't know the source material and thus don't actually understand why the fans would enjoy the movie.
On that note, Harley Quinn was perfectly executed and I don't understand the clamoring fight about sexism or inaccurate portrayals. It's like nobody knew her character before going in. Harley's clearly mentally ill, her love for the Joker is difficult, but it's in no way stripping her of her agency, and all of this depicted in the movie. She's not ready to completely walk away from him yet, but the foundations for that are being laid out in this movie, and frankly, it would have been an injustice to her character if she left the Joker within her first appearance. The critics arguing that she loses her cleverness are clearly not watching the same movie, because from where I stand, Harley managed not only to escape, but she makes her own decisions and keeps her agency and games the system, with help, of course, but that's more than anyone else manages.
The second half of the movie when the team bonds I think could have been expanded on, and actually, all this movie needed was ten extra minutes of footage, simply of team scenes, to really give it that edge and make you relate to the characters as a team. The movie was very much a character driven experience, and I do think in all honesty, you want to see more of the characters, the Squad in general.
However, as a movie setting up the DCCU, it did just that. You got a taste of Miller's Flash, you got a taste of the villains of the DCCU, you got to see the entire reaction to Superman from the lingering aftermath of BVS and it did what it set out to do. It's not the movie that's going to change lives, it's not an Oscar-winner, and it's not trying to reinvent a genre. It's paving a way to a larger continuum of movies to come, and that's perfectly fine. For it's goal, it achieved that. It leaves you wanting more out of these characters.
Diablo and Deadshot took the movie as well, which, Deadshot certainly got quite a lot of focus, but Diablo creeps up on you, and his story plays off so well against Deadshot's story, because it's two similar yet opposite results, and you get the humanity of both of them and genuinely enjoy what they have to offer.
Either way, this movie was great, it made me genuinely excited for the DC projects coming up, and I can see Margot carrying her own Harley Quinn movie, I can see Deadshot, Katana, Boomerang, Croc returning to the universe that's being established and I hope, going forward, we get more of these characters.
The only real cons, In my opinion, were Rick Flagg's entire relationship with June Moon, which, while it gave Amanda Waller's tactical brilliance a point, it's never really developed and falls flat as far as expanding either of their characters. June Moon was never really developed and explored and you just don't quite feel for her struggle. She just, exists. And is mostly forgotten about.
As a whole, the villain was was alright. They had the grandiose drama and flair and fit with the "kill the world" vibe. It wasn't a memorable villain, by far, and is rather similar to Apocalypse. They exist solely to show you how a team can come together, and to riff off the skills of the actual Squad. The villain could have been anyone else and the movie would have been just fine.
The other con is that the team bonding, towards the end, feels rushed. They suddenly become a team, but, again,. I was also disappointed with the hype that surrounded Scott Eastwood's mystery character and the way it just fell flat in the movie, but I'd definitely re-watch Suicide Squad and enjoy it.
I think the negative criticism actually helped the movie, on another note, because I don't think it would have lived up to the entire hype it generated to begin with. Leto's Joker doesn't exist on his own, but rather, he's a supporting man in Margot's story. The villain is forgettable. The movie should have instead marketed itself as an introduction to some amazing characters outside of the popular ones. But with the negative criticism, most people will find themselves pleasantly surprised and a bit confused as to what the fuss was.