‘Suicide Squad’ entertains but still disappoints

Suicide+Squad+entertains+but+still+disappoints

Ah yes, yet another comic book film adaptation to rave about for the summer. A film in which the well meaning, polished superhero saves the entire world from doom.

Except “Suicide Squad” doesn’t exactly fit that standard. It’s almost the opposite. While the film does take place in the same universe as Batman, Superman and Wonder Woman — the protagonists in this film share very different morals.

“Suicide Squad” is not a story of good vs. bad, but bad vs. evil.

It tells the story of how a U.S. Intelligence officers decides to form a team of highly dangerous, incarcerated supervillains,Task Force X, to go on a top secret mission.

Before one can even think about the actors portraying these supervillains, one has to raise their eyebrow at the infamous direct himself, David Ayer. His directorial credits on usually on more urban and humane dramas such as “The Fast and Furious,” “End of Watch,” and “Fury.” One is already wondering what kind of film viewers will get to see.

Upon the cast, the ensemble is pretty diverse which is rare to see in a Hollywood film. It’s a mix of fresh faces and big names like Margot Robbie, Will Smith, Jared Leto, Viola Davis and Jai Courtney.

Just the crew list alone catches a lot of attention.

The interesting movie concept certainly captures the eye, but did it live up to the hype?

I can’t say it did. While it may have exceeded in promotion, it let down in actually delivering a good film.

As a DC fan, I was beyond excited to see the iconic and beloved Harley Quinn’s debut and new face Karen Fukuhara slay as the badass and loyal Katana. I was excited to see how this ensemble would intertwine well into this developing DC Universe. It has been teased that a universe is being made with iconic characters like Batman, Harley Quinn, Joker, Wonder Woman, even The Justice League!

Yet, this is the second DC movie in 2016 apart of the ¨Detective Comics/Cinematic Extended Universe” that I have not been let down by the character portrayals but have been disappointed by the plots themselves.

They are weak.

They do well at the beginning of the film, introducing characters and conflicts and building the foundation. The rising action is also decent, jammed with action as a comic book film adaptation. The climax is… well, anti-climatic. And I hate saying this.

I love these comics. I adore these characters. I was highly hoping for Suicide Squad to both deliver and to do justice to the squad.

It did not.

The antagonist is weak and cannot be taken seriously.

Smith’s (Deadshot) and Robbie’s (Harley Quinn) characters were obviously prioritized. What is meant to be a whole ensemble coming together as a badass team just isn’t. Their characters carry the whole movie.

It was rushed. Upon the becoming of the squad, individual introductions each member were given, making it seem unbalanced. What was the movie about? Their backstories or their mission?

Scenes were poorly cut. It seemed like last minute faulty edits were made.

BUT, I still enjoyed most of it

The action scenes were thrilling. The comedic bits were hilarious. The soundtrack (that played about every 5 minutes) was fun and fitting for the film. The portrayals were spot on. The beloved easter eggs were glorious. It wasn’t completely terrible.

If one is able to ignore all the flaws, it truly is entertaining. But there seems to be a pattern in these new and upcoming DC movies.

How many times do I have to keep ignoring the bad in order to be grateful for the minor good? How many tries is it going to take before I actually see a good DC comic book adaptation that is a good film?

Sure, in process of building momentum and hype up the long awaited “Justice League,” these directors are forgetting to create a well developed film.