by Brian LeTendre
When Matt and I went to see Jonah Hex back in 2010, I was fascinated by it. The movie was terrible, but you could see that what made it to the big screen was so heavily edited that it couldn't possibly be what the director originally intended. I kept wishing for a true director's cut of the film that would show us the original vision for the movie. Alas, we never got it.
Suicide Squad is a vastly superior movie to Jonah Hex, and I enjoyed it quite a bit. But I walked out of the theater yesterday with the same feeling that Jonah Hex gave me--because Suicide Squad is kind of a mess. A fun mess, but a mess nonetheless.
Let's start with what I really liked.
First off, Viola Davis' portrayal of Amanda Waller in this movie is everything you ever hoped it would be. You could actually make the argument that she is the star of this movie. She steals every scene from every other actor in this film, and I hope she shows up in every DC movie from here on out. She's fantastic.
I also loved Jared Leto's Joker. I got the sense that his role was a lot more substantial at some point, but I actually liked that he was used sparingly in Suicide Squad. I absolutely want to see more of him, and I can't wait to see him and Affleck share some real screen time in the future.
I also really enjoyed the Escape From New York vibe to the movie. In fact, I think that aspect of the story could have just been used as the main plot, and the "big bad" could have been taken entirely out of the story. It would have required a little reworking, but that's not something the team behind this movie shied away from, as we'll discuss in a minute.
I wanted more Captain Boomerang, but then again I'm a Flash fan, so that shouldn't be surprising. Much like some of the other characters, there's just not a lot of substance to his character.
Which brings me to the less than satisfying aspects of the movie.
We've all heard the story about the reshoots that Suicide Squad went through. Almost every single movie has reshoots, so that's not a big deal at all. But the rumor that the reshoots were aimed at giving the movie a lighter tone feels true to me, because you can clearly see those efforts on the the big screen.
Most jarring is the use of music. It's ever-present, and most of the songs used to give scenes a lighter, slicker or more humorous tone. It works to varying degrees, but it's also really obvious. The song choices are pretty great overall, but they feel like a band-aid meant to be put over the editing choices made in the eleventh hour.
The biggest problem the movie faces is that very little of what happens feels earned. The story feels cut and pasted together, and relies heavily on flashbacks to fill in the gaps. The two characters that get the most backstory are Harley Quinn and Deadshot, and as such, those characters work the best in terms of the overall story. Everyone else gets almost nothing, and a couple of characters don't even show up until three-quarters of the way through.
In a lot of ways, Suicide Squad feels like a movie edited to get it down to about 80 minutes or so. The problem is, the running time for Suicide Squad is 130 minutes. It's amazing the story can feel so disjointed when the movie is so long. It's fascinating to me in the same way Jonah Hex was.
But unlike Jonah Hex, Suicide Squad still manages to work overall, and as I said to start with, I enjoyed it. I also have to cut it some slack, as a lot of the studio interference was in direct response to the Batman V. Superman backlash, and Suicide Squad just happened to get caught in the middle of it.
Like I said, I would love to see the cut of David Ayers' original vision for this film. But this version is definitely worth seeing.
*BtW, if you don't think that music and some cutting and pasting can give a movie a completely different feel, watch this:
When Matt and I went to see Jonah Hex back in 2010, I was fascinated by it. The movie was terrible, but you could see that what made it to the big screen was so heavily edited that it couldn't possibly be what the director originally intended. I kept wishing for a true director's cut of the film that would show us the original vision for the movie. Alas, we never got it.
Suicide Squad is a vastly superior movie to Jonah Hex, and I enjoyed it quite a bit. But I walked out of the theater yesterday with the same feeling that Jonah Hex gave me--because Suicide Squad is kind of a mess. A fun mess, but a mess nonetheless.
Let's start with what I really liked.
First off, Viola Davis' portrayal of Amanda Waller in this movie is everything you ever hoped it would be. You could actually make the argument that she is the star of this movie. She steals every scene from every other actor in this film, and I hope she shows up in every DC movie from here on out. She's fantastic.
I also loved Jared Leto's Joker. I got the sense that his role was a lot more substantial at some point, but I actually liked that he was used sparingly in Suicide Squad. I absolutely want to see more of him, and I can't wait to see him and Affleck share some real screen time in the future.
I also really enjoyed the Escape From New York vibe to the movie. In fact, I think that aspect of the story could have just been used as the main plot, and the "big bad" could have been taken entirely out of the story. It would have required a little reworking, but that's not something the team behind this movie shied away from, as we'll discuss in a minute.
I wanted more Captain Boomerang, but then again I'm a Flash fan, so that shouldn't be surprising. Much like some of the other characters, there's just not a lot of substance to his character.
Which brings me to the less than satisfying aspects of the movie.
We've all heard the story about the reshoots that Suicide Squad went through. Almost every single movie has reshoots, so that's not a big deal at all. But the rumor that the reshoots were aimed at giving the movie a lighter tone feels true to me, because you can clearly see those efforts on the the big screen.
Most jarring is the use of music. It's ever-present, and most of the songs used to give scenes a lighter, slicker or more humorous tone. It works to varying degrees, but it's also really obvious. The song choices are pretty great overall, but they feel like a band-aid meant to be put over the editing choices made in the eleventh hour.
The biggest problem the movie faces is that very little of what happens feels earned. The story feels cut and pasted together, and relies heavily on flashbacks to fill in the gaps. The two characters that get the most backstory are Harley Quinn and Deadshot, and as such, those characters work the best in terms of the overall story. Everyone else gets almost nothing, and a couple of characters don't even show up until three-quarters of the way through.
In a lot of ways, Suicide Squad feels like a movie edited to get it down to about 80 minutes or so. The problem is, the running time for Suicide Squad is 130 minutes. It's amazing the story can feel so disjointed when the movie is so long. It's fascinating to me in the same way Jonah Hex was.
But unlike Jonah Hex, Suicide Squad still manages to work overall, and as I said to start with, I enjoyed it. I also have to cut it some slack, as a lot of the studio interference was in direct response to the Batman V. Superman backlash, and Suicide Squad just happened to get caught in the middle of it.
Like I said, I would love to see the cut of David Ayers' original vision for this film. But this version is definitely worth seeing.
*BtW, if you don't think that music and some cutting and pasting can give a movie a completely different feel, watch this:
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