So, with Suicide Squad out, the people with brains have responded with a resounding "meh". But there's a lot wrong in this film that ultimately doesn't make much sense or add up. Let's talk about it shall we?
Joker and Harley's Relationship
- One thing I noticed is that save for one scene, Joker and Harley's relationship isn't explored properly. For the most part, they are depicted as a couple of crazy love birds. Joker goes REALLY out of his way to get Harley back, and he would NEVER do that. It seems to be that they decided to somewhat romanticize the relationship to be palatable for more audiences because abuse is ugly. Doing that to one of the most explicitly abusive relationships in comic book history is in bad taste. Don't even have Joker in your movie if you don't have the balls to tell their story properly.
Not to mention the whole Joker subplot added NOTHING to the film.
Changing The Backstory of Task Force X Here A Bit Doesn't Really Make Sense
-In the film we are lead to believe that Amanda Waller pushes for Task Force X's formation because they made need some insurance in case a meta human threat on Superman's level shows up. Fair enough, but why then is the team comprised of mostly non super powered people who would have no chance against a threat like that? A dude who's really good at shooting, a psychotic with a baseball bat, a guy who's good at throwing stuff, and a dude who's good with ropes for example are your contingency plan?
You see, the Suicide Squad originally was a covert black ops team that went on missions performing task no sanctioned government team could. Having the prime reason they are assembled is to face a potentially evil Superman, is pretty flimsy and weird to say the least.
Amanda Waller Didn't Have A Contingency Plan For Enchantress
-Amanda Waller is supposed to be this brilliant mind that basically is playing chess while the world is playing checkers, the fact that she doesn't put more thought in to keeping Enchantress under control is kinda baffling. She had her heart, but this didn't turn out to be enough. So you think she'd have more in play just in case a powerful being forced to work for the government would try something.
The only person watching over her is Flag who is utterly powerless, and when she does escape, not only does she look dumb by letting herself get tricked so easily, but she doesn't even destroy her heart to stop her and just stabs it a little bit to mildly annoy her.
Why Does Amanda Waller Keep An All Powerful Demigod In Her Closet?
-Seriously? Why the hell is this here? You think it would be locked up on a blacksite somewhere, but nope. Enhantress is able to easily release her brother Incubus to help her destroy the world because Amanda Waller didn't think that the being who can transport to Iran in a blink of an eye, would transport up in her closet to take her bro back. For f*cks sake.
How Are They Able To Evacuate Nearly An Entire City, But Amanda Waller Is Trapped There?
-About midway through the film, the squad learns the truth of their mission, and that was to rescue Amanda Waller. But how did she get trapped here? It's seemingly for no reason and strange that a government official like her isn't able to prioritize her rescue when sh!t hits the fan. Also, isn't it a little too convenient that Waller sets up shop in the same exact city where Enchantress decides to put her crap in to action?
Is Rick Flag A Moralist or Realist?
-To say that most of these characters are underdeveloped is an understatement. Unless you're Deadshot or Harley, don't expect the movie to cater to you. And even so, those stories are like the cliff note versions of their backstories. But I'm gonna focus on Rick Flag here for a minute. What's his deal?
He spends almost the entire movie insulting Deadshot for basically being a "serial killer with a paycheck", but doesn't bat an eye with a "I don't judge" reaction after Amanda murders a group of agents in cold blood to hide her f*ck up. Concerning his reactions to the team, he bounces back and forth between hating them and not wanting to be there, to grudgingly admiring their tactics. It's almost as if his feelings just shift from scene to scene instead of keeping a consistent character.
Could it be that Rick Flag is a hypocrite who acts like a good guy to hide his true motives? Sure. But the movie sure as hell doesn't have the time or nuance to make that clear.
Why Does Captain Boomerang Bail And Then Come Back With No Explanation?
-Here's another case of inconsistent characters that I'm particularly gonna bring up because I think it may have something to do with the reshoots and p!ss poor editing.
In the bar scene from the trailers, Flag destroys the trigger to the bombs in their neck meaning they have no reason to really stick around any more. Upon seeing this, Boomerang ups and leaves right away. It's one of the few genuinely funny scenes in the films and totally makes sense.
......But he just comes back? There's nothing really implying that Boomerang is the type of dude that really gives a crap about putting his neck on the line for the greater good, but he shows up anyway to join the team in their slo mo Guardians of the Galaxy esque walk to the final showdown. Whatever.
Why The F*ck Did This Joker Apparently Make His Own Emojis?
-One of the lamest things you could EVER associate the Joker with, emojis.
What the flying f*ck were you thinking? This movie does seem like it was tailor made to appeal to the Hot Topic teen crowd. I guess that's why Hot Topic is now basically Suicide Squad Depot.
Why Do They Never Comment On The Fact That The Threat Was Their Fault?
-Like I pointed out earlier, Task Force X is assembled to face possible meta human threats, but said threat they face in the film is literally caused by the attempt to form the team. Amanda Waller bridges the gap for Enchantress to do what she does. And this movie never once decides to make a commentary on that.
I mean you could actually bring up an allegory to political issues like government response and covert teams like this for example......but they just gloss over all potential depth for the story for the sake of the same generic crap we've seen before. Which brings me to the next point.
Why Does A Movie With Ingredients To Be A Unique Venture In The Superhero Genre Become So Generic?
-Suicide Squad was always billed as the remedy for typical superhero movie endeavors. The anti Avengers. A film about bad guys doing crazy stuff together. Yet, it just becomes yet another "stop the bad guy from destroying the world" type deal. We've seen this thousands of times before, why not try something different if your goal was to BE different?
Ok, so I THINK that's about everything. I'll be sure to add more the more I think about it.
Joker and Harley's Relationship
- One thing I noticed is that save for one scene, Joker and Harley's relationship isn't explored properly. For the most part, they are depicted as a couple of crazy love birds. Joker goes REALLY out of his way to get Harley back, and he would NEVER do that. It seems to be that they decided to somewhat romanticize the relationship to be palatable for more audiences because abuse is ugly. Doing that to one of the most explicitly abusive relationships in comic book history is in bad taste. Don't even have Joker in your movie if you don't have the balls to tell their story properly.
Not to mention the whole Joker subplot added NOTHING to the film.
Changing The Backstory of Task Force X Here A Bit Doesn't Really Make Sense
-In the film we are lead to believe that Amanda Waller pushes for Task Force X's formation because they made need some insurance in case a meta human threat on Superman's level shows up. Fair enough, but why then is the team comprised of mostly non super powered people who would have no chance against a threat like that? A dude who's really good at shooting, a psychotic with a baseball bat, a guy who's good at throwing stuff, and a dude who's good with ropes for example are your contingency plan?
You see, the Suicide Squad originally was a covert black ops team that went on missions performing task no sanctioned government team could. Having the prime reason they are assembled is to face a potentially evil Superman, is pretty flimsy and weird to say the least.
Amanda Waller Didn't Have A Contingency Plan For Enchantress
-Amanda Waller is supposed to be this brilliant mind that basically is playing chess while the world is playing checkers, the fact that she doesn't put more thought in to keeping Enchantress under control is kinda baffling. She had her heart, but this didn't turn out to be enough. So you think she'd have more in play just in case a powerful being forced to work for the government would try something.
The only person watching over her is Flag who is utterly powerless, and when she does escape, not only does she look dumb by letting herself get tricked so easily, but she doesn't even destroy her heart to stop her and just stabs it a little bit to mildly annoy her.
Why Does Amanda Waller Keep An All Powerful Demigod In Her Closet?
-Seriously? Why the hell is this here? You think it would be locked up on a blacksite somewhere, but nope. Enhantress is able to easily release her brother Incubus to help her destroy the world because Amanda Waller didn't think that the being who can transport to Iran in a blink of an eye, would transport up in her closet to take her bro back. For f*cks sake.
How Are They Able To Evacuate Nearly An Entire City, But Amanda Waller Is Trapped There?
-About midway through the film, the squad learns the truth of their mission, and that was to rescue Amanda Waller. But how did she get trapped here? It's seemingly for no reason and strange that a government official like her isn't able to prioritize her rescue when sh!t hits the fan. Also, isn't it a little too convenient that Waller sets up shop in the same exact city where Enchantress decides to put her crap in to action?
Is Rick Flag A Moralist or Realist?
-To say that most of these characters are underdeveloped is an understatement. Unless you're Deadshot or Harley, don't expect the movie to cater to you. And even so, those stories are like the cliff note versions of their backstories. But I'm gonna focus on Rick Flag here for a minute. What's his deal?
He spends almost the entire movie insulting Deadshot for basically being a "serial killer with a paycheck", but doesn't bat an eye with a "I don't judge" reaction after Amanda murders a group of agents in cold blood to hide her f*ck up. Concerning his reactions to the team, he bounces back and forth between hating them and not wanting to be there, to grudgingly admiring their tactics. It's almost as if his feelings just shift from scene to scene instead of keeping a consistent character.
Could it be that Rick Flag is a hypocrite who acts like a good guy to hide his true motives? Sure. But the movie sure as hell doesn't have the time or nuance to make that clear.
Why Does Captain Boomerang Bail And Then Come Back With No Explanation?
-Here's another case of inconsistent characters that I'm particularly gonna bring up because I think it may have something to do with the reshoots and p!ss poor editing.
In the bar scene from the trailers, Flag destroys the trigger to the bombs in their neck meaning they have no reason to really stick around any more. Upon seeing this, Boomerang ups and leaves right away. It's one of the few genuinely funny scenes in the films and totally makes sense.
......But he just comes back? There's nothing really implying that Boomerang is the type of dude that really gives a crap about putting his neck on the line for the greater good, but he shows up anyway to join the team in their slo mo Guardians of the Galaxy esque walk to the final showdown. Whatever.
Why The F*ck Did This Joker Apparently Make His Own Emojis?
-One of the lamest things you could EVER associate the Joker with, emojis.
What the flying f*ck were you thinking? This movie does seem like it was tailor made to appeal to the Hot Topic teen crowd. I guess that's why Hot Topic is now basically Suicide Squad Depot.
Why Do They Never Comment On The Fact That The Threat Was Their Fault?
-Like I pointed out earlier, Task Force X is assembled to face possible meta human threats, but said threat they face in the film is literally caused by the attempt to form the team. Amanda Waller bridges the gap for Enchantress to do what she does. And this movie never once decides to make a commentary on that.
I mean you could actually bring up an allegory to political issues like government response and covert teams like this for example......but they just gloss over all potential depth for the story for the sake of the same generic crap we've seen before. Which brings me to the next point.
Why Does A Movie With Ingredients To Be A Unique Venture In The Superhero Genre Become So Generic?
-Suicide Squad was always billed as the remedy for typical superhero movie endeavors. The anti Avengers. A film about bad guys doing crazy stuff together. Yet, it just becomes yet another "stop the bad guy from destroying the world" type deal. We've seen this thousands of times before, why not try something different if your goal was to BE different?
Ok, so I THINK that's about everything. I'll be sure to add more the more I think about it.
