Suicide Squad is an exposition dump masquerading as a cinematic experience.
The problems begin early. We are introduced to the members of the eponymous team via Amanda Waller (Viola Davis) talking about each of the criminal cohort during a steak dinner with a couple of agents of the United States national security apparatus. While we see a few of them in action—Harley Quinn (Margot Robbie) and Deadshot (Will Smith), particularly—we mostly hear Waller discuss the need to assemble a team of bad guys to tackle the next wave of villainous meta-humans.
And then we hear her talk about the need to build a team again. And then, about midway through the film, we’re introduced to even more characters. And we’re treated to personal stories throughout, as if we care so much about the backstories of tertiary members of the team that we are willing to watch them sit around and chat.
Talk, talk, talk: so much talking! Exacerbating the problem is the size of the squad, which leaves time for little more than clichés to express the character of our characters. Deadshot wants to prove that he’s a good dad! Diablo (Jay Hernandez) lost his temper and his fire-starting abilities killed his family so he has promised never to use them again! Katana (Karen Fukuhara) is a samurai avenging her dead husband!
I spent much of the night after seeing Suicide Squad tossing and turning, trying to figure out how to improve upon the opening. And I think that what writer/director David Ayer needed was a Slugworth.
Remember Willy Wonka and the Chocolate Factory? That film was admirably efficient in introducing us to the various golden ticket winners apart from Charlie Bucket—we got to see them and their vices, as well as the viciousness of their parents, in short order. And in each of the vignettes where a golden ticket is discovered, there, in the background, is a vaguely sinister man in a suit, whispering into their ears: Slugworth. We can tell he’s planning something. But, at least at first, it’s unclear what.
Waller should have been this film’s Slugworth. Instead of spelling out her plan over steaks—and then again, later, in a war-room setting where the DOD signs off on the Suicide Squad—she should have been in the background as each member of the Squad got arrested, either tipping off heroes to take them down or showing up in jails and courthouses following their capture to arrange transfer into her custody. This would give us a chance to see their powers in action and get a bit of their backstory. And then, after they’re all assembled, she could have revealed to the villains why they’ve been taken to a black site in Louisiana and what they’ll have to do to earn their freedom.
As a bonus, DC could have used this early sequence to introduce us to more members of the Justice League. We get a glimpse of The Flash (Ezra Miller) capturing Boomerang (Jai Courtney) and Batman (Ben Affleck) taking down Harley Quinn and Deadshot, but why couldn’t Wonder Woman (Gal Gadot) have captured Enchantress (Cara Delevingne) or Aquaman (Jason Momoa) nabbed Killer Croc (Adewale Akinnuoye-Agbaje)? If you’re building an extended universe, this is far less clumsy than sticking YouTube teasers into the middle of Batman v Superman: Dawn of Justice.
Now, granted, this would only fix the first 15 minutes or so of the film. But it’s a start!
Suicide Squad is frustrating because there’s a fair amount to enjoy. It’s legitimately funny, especially in the early going, with Ike Barinholtz playing a guard tormenting the Squad. Robbie is perfect as Harley Quinn, bringing a lithe sensuality to the psychotic shrink-turned-stripper/serial-killer, and her rapport with Smith, first formed in the underrated caper flick Focus, is the least-forced thing about Suicide Squad. A movie more tightly focused on those two might have been more successful.
Though funny and dark—both thematically and literally; some of the action scenes were hard to track because the film is a bit too tinted to the murkier end of the color spectrum—Suicide Squad is neither funny enough nor committed enough to its bad guys being bad. But since you’re going to see it anyway (when have any of you ever listened to a critic?) make sure to stick around through the midway point in the credits. There’s an important tease leading in to Justice League.