I did not go into to the theater with high expectations for the film but came out pleasantly surprised. Now, was the film epic? No. Is this the film to save DC movies? No, but it is a step in the right direction. I honestly don’t know why the ratings on Rotten Tomatoes was 28% on opening weekend. In my fangirl opinion, the film was entertaining, and the characters were all executed well. It was not without its flaws (the story was nothing special), but overall, the film was entertaining.
Characters and Casting
The characters were well portrayed and true to the comics. Of course, I wanted to see more, and felt some were underused, but I still liked the movie. I was also curious to see how Leto’s version vs. Ledger’s version of the Joker would compare. To start, you have to go to into it not comparing the two; they are different versions of the Joker and both great in their own right. Leto’s version was smooth, crazy, pimped out and bad ass. I thoroughly enjoyed his version of the Joker. There is also something to be said about the great chemistry between Joker and Harley; it steals the show. I wanted to see more scenes with them, but it is Suicide Squad, not the Joker and Harley movie, so I digress. Now, Deadshot is one of my favorite characters in Suicide Squad, so I was not very pleased when Will Smith was cast to play him. When Will Smith does not play a role as Will Smith, he does well, when he plays the role as Will Smith, it is no bueno. Trust me, I complained a lot about him being cast as Deadshot and was the main reason I did not go into the theater with high expectations. I am happy to eat my words and see that Will Smith did a bang up job as Deadshot. Side note: I did also find myself comparing his version to my favorite version of Deadshot on Arrow. El Diablo was a bad ass cholo, and I loved his character in the comic and the way they portrayed him in the film. Yes, he was a little stereotypical, but he was playing a crazy, flame-wielding cholo, so get over it. I loved El Diablo. The special FX team that did Killer Croc did a bang up job. His character was creepy, interesting and just cool to watch on screen. Amanda Waller, what a bitch, and who better to play stone cold bitch than Viola Davis. Davis put on a masterful performance and made the audience feel her level of evil. With the fab characters in the film, there were also some underutilized characters, but maybe we will get to see more of them in the sequel. Oh, Katana, how they underutilized you, let me count the ways.
Storyline
While the fight scenes were amazing, the storyline was not something we have not seen before. Though the movie was enjoyable, I wanted more. I will put it this way, as a moviegoer: it was fun, but had a ton of wasted potential. As a DC fan: Suicide Squad is worth seeing.
I am looking forward to seeing it again, and this time I’ll be looking for the Easter eggs for the upcoming DC films.
I hope I did not leak out any spoilers in this review; I did my best to keep this spoiler free!
