So what to say about the Suicide Squad....
It is a movie that have some serious problem, but none of them big enough to stop me from enjoying the movie. But first... The plot goes thusly.
Superman have pretty much triggered a new arms race as the world realized that not only where they not prepared for a metahuman (DC´s catch-all term for anything with superpowers) attack but they where woefully unequipped... These events where part of the BvS movie.
Enter Amanda Waller (played to perfection by Viola Davis, at no point did you doubt that she could and would destroy you) and Task Force X lead by the biggest stick since Scott Summers... Rick Flagg(played by Joel Kinnaman). My guess is that Flagg had his pert in the movie reduced when Tom Hardy dropped out because he literally serve no purpose in the movie. Anyway... Flagg is the commanding "officer" of the task force consisting of the best of the worst. The idea is to send in a bunch of nano-explosive laced criminals to do black op´s missions. If they live and complete the objective they get time off their sentences. If they fail Waller just toss them under the buss and if they start to color outside of the lines... click click boom. Head comes off. Generally speaking at least one member of Suicide Squad tend to bite it when they are sent out.
I leave it up to you to guess if this movie follow suite.
So.... Enter the antagonist, A ancient metahuman that the government try to control, this goes about as good as expected. So once the big bad start to fuck up one of DC comics many made up cities Waller activate TF:X and Flagg, a bunch of no-name marines and the self titled Suicide Squad consisting of
Deadshot (Will Smith, master marksman and single dad)
Killer Croc (Adewale Akinnuoye-Agbaje, amphibian metahuman with heighten strength and durability)
El Diablo (Jay Hernandez, Pyrokenetic gangboss)
Captain Boomerang (Jai Courtney, Angry.. really angry.. Throws boomerangs)
Enchantress (Cara Delevingne, the host of a angry spirit that can do magic.. ish...)
Harley Quinn (Margot Robbie, Crazy as balls acrobat and psychologist)
Flagg also bring in Katana (Karen Fukuhara, Master swordsman with a magic sword) as his enforcer, not a all together bad idea seeing how these are not the most balanced people to begin with. Beyond this point the movie can pretty much be split in to two... One is a average summer action movie and the other is a fairly smartly written drama... neither get the time it needs to really shine. I guess it do not need to tell anyone that the big bad is beaten and everyone is happy... Oh well... Alive... Sort of... Also we have a Joker sub-plot that is fun but also really does not go anywhere.(I´l make a separate post about Jarred Letos Joker.. Lot to say there.) This is very clearly a origins movie setting up this sub-franchise of the DC CU.
Now what make the movie a worthwhile watch in my mind is the fact that it does a lot of "show not tell" as far as the characters and their motivations. The action part of the movie is rather useless, it does what it needs and for the most part it is well put together. But seeing how the movie manages to make you feel for the bad guys as wells as the antagonist... Not so much for the big bad... But it belongs to the action part of the movie. The smart use of the bigger DC universe is another, the movie fits in very well and actually makes me more interested in the upcoming movies. There is a genuin warmth in the movie and more than a few really funny moments. The timing and pacing is also nice and the extra credit scene is absolute gold.
Now i have brought up before (several times.. I know) how much I like the Amanda Waller character and there is not enough praise I can give to Davis for how she make this character work (and álso David Ayer and John Ostrander for actually writing a good character) She has all the menace and stone cold attitude that i always felt that the Arrow version lacked. You get the feeling that she could make even Batman tighten up with a single look... Not to mention the poor generals and politicians she bulldoze in the movie.
It does suffer from traileritis... Much of the early movie have been spoiled by trailers and seeing how the later part holds no real twists worth mentioning... It was annoying, But the great soundtrack from the trailers carry over in to the film it self making up for some of it.
So to cap it off... It is no Avengers but a much better film than the previous Superman films gave any indication of DC/WB being able to produce. A easy to digest summer popcorn film with a great cast and enough hearth to fill the empty void that BvS left.
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