Suicide Squad finally released in theaters this past weekend! I have felt equal degrees of excitement and nervousness for this movie ever since I heard it was going to happen. Was it everything I dreamed it would be? Or did it live up to all of the bashing made by critics? Keep on reading to find out!
WARNING: The following contains SPOILERS! If you have not seen the movie and do not wish to be spoiled, then leave now while you still can!
Initial Suicide Squad Concerns
I first learned about Suicide Squad from the animated movie, Assault on Arkham. I fell in love with Suicide Squad from the moment I saw that movie (it was up on Netflix at the time, I am not sure if it is still up or not). Anyone who knows anything about me knows my deep love and obsession with Harley Quinn (check out my homage to Harley here). So getting Harley Quinn right was going to be crucial in this movie. I had grown so attached to Tara Strong’s take on Harley that I couldn’t possibly imagine someone else portraying her.
I was also skeptical about seeing Will Smith in the role of Deadshot because he has been typecast as the funny heroic guy for so long. Also, early images released for Killer Croc were reminiscent of the Goombas from the Super Mario Brothers movie:
Pretty much everyone else in the movie I initially felt could portray their respective roles well, or else I felt indifferent about them. Casting is one of those critical things that can make or break a movie.
The Good: Casting
Harley Quinn
I…loved…every….minute……
That’s it. You can leave now……..
Just kidding, I wouldn’t do that! But seriously, I loved this movie so much that I actually struggled to find much I didn’t like. Margot Robbie as Harley Quinn was like a ray of sunshine. She was the right amount of crazy, sexy, funny, and badass all rolled into one pretty package. She did just the right amount of “Harley voice” for a live action comic book movie without it feeling too cheesy or cliché. Though we only got to see her in her classic outfit for one scene, it was well worth it. The particular scene I speak of is homage to the classic comic book cover for Batman: Harley Quinn.
The Joker
Jared Leto isn’t my favorite Joker, but I also didn’t dislike him. He was just…good. I don’t really know what else to say. He was creepy, he was demented, and he treated Harley way better in this movie than he has throughout the course of the comic series (I mean if you throw away the scene where he convinces her to jump into a vat of chemical waste…). The laugh he did was a bit annoying at times, and his metal teeth really bothered me. But aside from that, Leto was good.
Deadshot
Will Smith as Deadshot was just amazing! He totally redeemed himself for Hitchcock in the realm of comic book movies. He was believable as a bad guy who wanted to have a normal life as a father when he wasn’t playing assassin. Whereas most bad guys kill for pleasure, or steal to become wealthy and powerful, Deadshot was just making business transactions. His kills were just money in the bank. Being a good father was still the most important thing to him. We got to see a brief encounter between Deadshot and Batman in the movie and though brief as it was, it was still a great scene.
The Rest of the Squad
As always once special effects and final makeup are added, things tend to look a lot better than set images. Killer Croc looked amazing, and became one of my favorites of the lesser used characters. Jai Courtney as Captain Boomerang was refreshing because I have mostly seen Jai in the role of “the jerk” in the Divergent series (I loved his unexplained relationship with his stuffed unicorn “Pinkie”). Viola Davis as Amanda Waller was just…yes. All the yes. No one else should ever play Amanda Waller. Period. Ever.
The Good: Visuals
Enchantress looked freaking AWESOME! I’ll admit when I first saw images of Enchantress for the movie I thought she looked icky. Throughout the movie her look changes depending upon her level of power. The pyro effects for El Diablo also looked amazing. At first I thought when is this guy going to do something? Of course it was worth the wait in the end when he showed us what he could really do. This movie is very visual in its use of color from the very beginning (Opening title sequence – Jaime: “OOOH PRETTY!”). The brief scenes in which we saw other superheroes who will be in future films made me really hungry for more!
Is It Family Friendly?
Parents should always use their own discretion in what they feel their kids should be watching, but this is just my opinion. Despite the amount of fighting and the few deaths we see, there is no blood shown. There is swearing but it is very mild. As far as sexual content, there is kissing and there is a scene in a club showing Harley dancing slightly provocatively but she is wearing a dress. She does sit on someone’s lap but that is about the extent of any sexual content aside from the amount of buttcheek Harley’s shorts show, and the one bra shot we see when she is putting on her t-shirt. All-in-all, I would say this movie is fine for kids that are tween-aged or older.
My Gripes
Okay, so I had to come up with a few gripes for this movie and really these gripes weren’t enough to take away from the JOY I felt throughout the whole rest of the film. So anyone who knows anything about Suicide Squad knows that at least one member of the Squad needs to be sacrificed somewhere in the beginning to prove to the rest of the squad that the explosive implants in their necks are real. I knew instantly who that character was going to be because it was the one character whose back story they didn’t go into, and who you didn’t really ever see in any of the promotional images. So it was a bit predictable which Suicide Squad member was going to bite it towards the beginning.
The army that Enchantress creates and that strange undulating motion she does was just….odd. The army with the weird black bubble heads and regular people bodies just didn’t look right. Also, Enchantress’ brother was just too CGI for my liking.
That is really all I had to complain about. (Okay, maybe I would’ve liked more Katana!)
Overall
This movie was a lot of fun without being silly. Sometimes superhero movies are just trying so hard to be fun that they verge into corny territory. I would say that this movie had the right mix of emotions. We had moments that made us laugh, nervous, sad, and sometimes a little angry. It focused a lot on the back stories of Harley and Joker, and Deadshot but not as much on the other characters. I feel like this movie was definitely made for comic book fans, but I feel like even people who have not read the comics can still enjoy it (Side note: If you haven’t seen Assault on Arkham I do highly recommend it!). The soundtrack to this movie was just great; I want that soundtrack! There were very little if any moments in which I felt the pacing could have been better. If you haven’t seen the movie yet (why would you read this if you haven’t???) then I highly recommend it.
I will say that I only saw the 2D version and after seeing it, I don’t think my eyes would have been able to handle the 3D version, so keep that in mind. There’s a lot of fast paced motion so I feel like I probably would’ve gotten dizzy seeing it in 3D.
What were your thoughts on Suicide Squad? Join the conversation here or on any of our social media.
Stay Nerdy, my friends!
~Jams
