SUICIDE SQUAD

“You know what they say about the crazy ones…”

I’ve been forward to Suicide Squad for a long time. Finally, a film about the super-villains instead of the super-heroes. And after the theatrical release of Batman V Superman, I started getting worried this film might not be all I wanted it to be. Worry no more…

I’m gonna say this straight away, my favourite thing about this movie is how characters just show up out of nowhere and nobody makes a huge fuss about it. It’s how it happens in the comics, and that’s how it feels here. Yes, Batman is in the film. Yes, Flash is in the film. It’s a connected universe and these characters know each other. All they do is add to the story.

Ok, on with the rest of it. Suicide Squad sees the assembling of the, well, Suicide Squad as Enchantress goes predictably evil and tries to destroy the world. That’s err…Pretty much it. Oh, and Joker is out and about trying to save Harley from the Squad’s grip. For a simple plot, it works surprisingly well. There’ no annoying sub plot to wrap your head around, and that means you can focus more on the story at hand. Now, on to the bit that gave the film most of it’s hype…

Ever since this picture of the new Joker was released…

There’s been a lot of debate about Jared Leto’s performance of the Joker. I personally was worried. The new Joker looked, well, different. Never before had we seen a Joker look like this, and not having seen Leto in any other film didn't help. Of course, as filming progressed more and more twisted stories surfaced of his Joker-ish behaviour on set. Unfortunately, it's a case of the on-set stories being more interesting than his actual performance. Leto’s Joker, is, well, freakin’ stupid. Everything he does in the film is almost the complete opposite of the character I, and many others know all too well. He was definately playing someone, but it sure as shit wasn't good old Mr. J.

While Jared Leto’s Joker may not have been the Joker we were hoping for, the prize here goes to Margot Robbie. Her performance as the insane Harley Quinn is perfect from her first scene and never stops getting better. Her lines are delivered perfectly and sound exactly as Harley’s should.

You can see it in every scene she’s in that she’s done her homework on the character, and if the rumours are true about a Harley Quinn-centrered movie being in the works, we’re all in for a treat.

Don’t get me wrong, every actor in the Squad clearly gives it their all. Even Jai Courtney, star of the unimaginably massive pile of shit known as Terminator: Genisys was good in this film. Seriously, kudos to those actors. They’re not all house hold names but they sure as hell can act like they are.

Another great thing about the film is the pacing. The only thing I can think to equate it to is Deadpool. We get some time and some flashbacks setting up the most important characters, then we get right into the main story. There’s little messing around and once it gets going, it doesn’t pause un-necessarily and moves at a good enough speed that the film doesn’t feel too short or too long.

I guess that’s it really. On the whole Suicide Squad is a great film to go and watch. It sits nicely in it’s place in the DC movie universe and helps bring the whole lot together in ways that BVS narrowly missed. The post-credits-scene sets up Justice League nicely and the plot on the whole is simple but effective. There's a lot of subtle nods to classic DC moments, and for people like me, that's good to see on screen. It makes the movie universe feel more matured and full. While it may have been nice to let the Joker get more screen time, his role in the film is exactly what it should be. Yes, there are things I would change about the film, and it’s far from perfect. That being said, it is nice to watch a film about super-villains instead of super-heroes for once. Will it usher in a new wave of super-villain films? I doubt it. But that doesn’t mean you can’t enjoy this one. You can, and you probably will. Unless you're a movie critic. They really don't like DC's films, do they?

He just..He just isn't Joker.