Review of Suicide Squad (2016) by Mackenzie H — 29 Oct 2018

I thought Suicide Squad was okay. It's not a comic book masterpiece, but at the same time, I've seen WAAAAAAAAAAAY worse movies in 2016. Was the editing a mess? Oh yeah. Was Enchantress a weak villain? Yup. Was the Joker severely underused? HELL YES.

In fact, let's talk about Jared Leto's Joker for a bit, because I actually liked what Jared Leto was going for. But here's the problem, and I think it's probably the reason why a lot of people think it was Jared Leto's fault. The Joker was never given context. He's just put in some random scenes where he's doing something weird and we never see the full context of what he's doing.

For example, for the longest time, I never thought the quote "Why so serious" from The Dark Knight was a clever quote on its own. It's actually kinda silly if you just say "Why so serious" out of nowhere. BUT, when you put that quote in the context of the scene where the Joker is telling his "origin story", "Why so serious" now has weight to it. There's a reason for it to be said. And that's the same with Jared Leto as the Joker, his scenes are never given context, therefore we THINK it's Jared Leto that's the problem.

It's not Jared Leto's fault, it's not the directing, and I don't even think it's the writing for his dialogue. The problem was the fact that the Joker wasn't the villain of the movie. And you know how it would make the movie better?

Well for starters, it would make more sense for the Suicide Squad to even be a thing. How in the world can a chick with a baseball bat, a crocodile man, a guy who shoots really well, a guy who can climb a rope, a chick with a sword, a dude who can spew fire from his hands, and a dude with a boomerang possibly stop the next Superman? It would make a lot more sense for the Suicide Squad to go on missions like stopping the Joker. Mainly because while he's too dangerous for regular cops, the Suicide Squad can actually take him in a fight!

Secondly, it would create more (good) drama! Since Harley Quinn and the Joker are a couple, it would create more of an internal conflict for Harley Quinn. Help out in the mission or help out her Puddin'? This would be so cool to see!

And finally, like I said before, it would give Jared Leto's Joker more context. If he was the villain instead of Enchantress, it would not only be better for the story, but I truly believe people wouldn't be as hard on Jared Leto for his performance.

All in all, I like Suicide Squad. It's a perfectly okay film.

6/10.