I'm warning you now if you hate spoilers don't read this review, I'll be dissecting the film.
The movie is good, most people will enjoy it in the same way one almost always loves a Batman movie. You can't throw the Joker and Harley Quinn in a movie and it NOT be watchable, like pizza..even when its bad its still good. That's exactly what I would say about this movie.
Lets start with the tone of the film. For whatever reason people keep complaining about the sound track, which is awesome. Its one of the better parts of the film. I have read other reviewers complaining they tried to make the film one long trailer..good for them. The directer obviously tried to give the film way to dark of a tone and good thing the studio stopped him. I don't want to see that movie. Right now our favorite charters are all anti-heroes set to music. To be quite honest I felt there wasn't enough music used and I found several places I would have added a song here or there. The directer fails to create a unique world even though he has characters like the Joker at his disposal. Then again due to the story line he had no opportunity to do that, except of course he wrote the movie too, so that's his fault. If anything I felt the movie needed to be more light hearted and fun to watch not less.
Which brings me to the fact that there were way, way to many characters in the film. Seriously its a movie not a comic book series. You don't have to try and use every possible character in the first film. Eliminating characters would have given the movie time to focus more on the characters central to the story and perhaps give us a story where the introduction of the characters and their story is intertwined with the mission the squad goes on. Not to mention that the bad guys hardly seem like bad guys, emotionally damaged anti-heroes is the worst I can say about them. The only real bad guy in the film is Amanda Waller. However make no doubt, she is not a nice guy.
Harley Quin/Joker- I'll start with them because I know some people will just read for this part. I was that kid in school who got 100% on the reading for comprehension state tests and I haven't heard anyone think about the characters the way I do. HA! So I liked this portrayal of the Joker and Harley and it took me two viewings to figure out what I think everyone missed. In this version of the story the Joker isn't abusive to her. Lots of people say the tone is uneven ( with abusive scenes but also scenes where he cares about her) and I thought so to until I saw the film a second time.
So the "abuse" scenes ..to me..are pretty obviously the joker creating Harley. It seems purposeful upon me thinking about it. Now after hearing all of the backlash I think that will change in subsequent films and be more in line with the comics. I like this version of the Harley and Joker love story better. They are more Bonnie and Clyde and less crazy joker fan who the "star" occasionally sleeps with. Its ok for characters to change from film vs comics or games. He doesn't have to beat the crap out of her in this version, I'd rather he didn't to be honest. The joker loving someone makes him more interesting and multifaceted. I like the idea of a change. In addition when he leaves her in the lake its obvious to me he knew the bat would save Harley. If he saved her they would both go to jail, if only she goes, he can break her out. I mean the joker toys with and then kills a man who just looks at Harley and tells him he is a lucky man, As Amanda Waller said-no one disrespected the queen. Anyone else notice the twin baby clothes he got her or that in her dream she sees them married with twins. I wonder if she miscarried in the movie but they chose to cut that out.Just something I noticed. Am I saying the joker is the best boyfriend ever..no-I mean he is a criminal. A deranged killer. What I am saying is in this cut of the film (and not necessarily the directors cut) the joker is abusive in that he manipulates her and does some crazy stuff to her to make her his..but he isn't necessarily smacking her around.
Deadshot- By far the best played and executed character. As mentioned above I would have liked to see more of him being actually cruel. He is a bad guy, act like it. Its ok to love your daughter and still be a horrible person. Well not ok, but quite possible.
Diablo- Wow what a great character, to bad you don't really get to know him until the end of the film. There was an interesting story in there that deserved more screen time..pity he wasn't given it. Diablo would have been a great character to either have as a bad guy in another heroes film or possibly have him be a hero in his own right, the director threw that possibility right out the window though.
Killer Croc- Why is he in this movie? They hardly give him any screen time. You dont get to know much about his character. This is a character that eats people.... wasted in this film. His character should have been reserved as an additional character for the next film when they would have had time to better explore his personality. This character is scary, I'd loved to have seen him eat someone! You are going to tell me you are going to put a cannibal in a film and not have him eat anyone?? I feel like Joe Dirt in the scene where he talks to the fireworks owner about snakes and sparklers..Where is the good stuff man..you are going to tell me you got a 400 pound half man half crocodile in a movie and all we get out of it is he was made fun of and is kinda sad..you are going to sit there and look me straight in the eye and tell me you got a cannibal and you dont even have one incidence of him even taking a teeney tiny bit of someone! Get the hell out of here. I have literally spent more time with this character than they do in the entire film. He seriously has less dialogue. I get they didn't have time..so don't put him in the movie. The film didn't need seven squad members.
Slipknot- This guy didn't even get any origin story and just shows up. His character was a red shirt and waste of time. He was in the comic books and his character does exactly the same thing in the comic book. That's ok, we didn't have to pick this one time to match the comic book. Apparently he can climb anything or tie knots or something like that. He isn't quite on the same level as the rest of the squad..except for one other character..who he probably was more dangerous than...Captain Freaking Boomerang.
Captain Boomerang- Are you freaking serious? Hello 1960 Batman called and wants his character back. He also doesn't get much screen time and I'm ok with that because his character is ridiculous. Its 2016 maybe its time to retire some of the squad members and come up with new characters. This guy literally throws boomerangs. Seriously. He pretty much plays the guy you are supposed to dislike but uh, he throws boomerangs...I can't take him seriously.
Katana- Another useless character. She isnt even a bad guy and is there to watch Ricks back, except that Deadeye and Harley actually spend most of the film doing that. She kinda sucks at her job. Again to many characters, the movie would have had to have been four hours long to properly introduce these characters. I don't have time to care about her, I don't have a real reason to care about her. I honestly don't even find her character interesting.
Rick Flag- This guy needed his own film. You get no origin story about the guy actually leading the squad. The person playing the "hero" of the film. At a minimal he could have been in the Batman vs. Superman movie as a cameo..something. I don't know this character and quite frankly in the movie he seems fairly incompetent. The movie really doesn't tell you anything about him other than he is on love with Dr. June Moone. I mean..so?
Enchantress- Interesting if she had been a squad member that was scary evil and they had to control..stupid as a bad guy. Even worse as a love interest..sure I totally get falling in love with a possessed woman. Having sex with her wouldn't be completely terrifying.
Amanda Waller- Holy crap she is the real bad guy, doing things in the movie the "actual" bad guys would never do. She forces Dr. June Moone to serve the government, never mind that she hasn't actually committed a crime. Even though the possessions obviously take a toll on her and frighten her..so what..leverage! Yikes..she also casually shoots several FBI agents because they saw things they had no clearance for. She tells Batman in the film..I don't believe in friends, I believe in leverage. She can't control the good guys..so fine..sign on with the bad guys. This isn't exactly the person I want in charge of protecting people. She is the most dangerous person in the squad, evil, selfish and a bit insane herself.
The plot- Really?? So listen up, you have a squad of bad guys-the point of that should be they can do stuff the good guys can't. You can't send Batman in to
assassinate say Kim Jong-Un or perhaps steal classified documents from an ally we think may be double crossing the United States...but you can send the bad guys and then deny you sent them. They should basically be used to take care of the things the good guys, for technical reasons ...can't. The whole thing with Deadeye is laughable because if he was really that good..the CIA would recruit him to work for the government. Please. A money minded hitman who loves his daughter would be fairly easy for the CIA to control. We have a bad guy who is magical but decides to build a war machine because people worship machines now or something like that. I think my brain had an aneurism during that part because it was so inane. She is magical. She does not need a machine. With the exception of Diablo and possibly Killer Crock, the characters have no superpowers and they are fighting magic with like bats and guns. Facepalm.. Riiiggght. This is a job for like Wonder Woman or the Flash. The Enchantress would have laughed at them and then killed them on the spot. I'm not even going to get into the monster army part. just no. It didn't make much sense if you think about it, so I suggest for the sake of enjoying the film you don't. I would have much rather seen them perhaps take out a bad government official from some other country, gather intel on other "meta-humans" or steal something the government needs from a civilian who isn't a bad guy but wont sell and gee...and if this thing gets in the wrong hands!!!..oh no it just did..kinda thing. Magic? The movie looked like the end of Ghostbusters. Hell did the directer/writer watch Ghostbusters while writing?
How could the film had been better? Easy half of the characters didn't need to be in the film. I would have taken out Killer Crock, the Enchantress, Slipknot, and Katana. Good grief my review is so long because of the multitude of characters. I can't even seriously get into the Harley/Joker dynamic with any authority because well..the film didn't have the time to really do that either. One of the most popular female comic book characters ever and her story is told in snippets of flashbacks. Why did she fall in love with the Joker? What was the jail scene where he gives her shocks all about. I mean Quite honestly we don't know. We aren't told. If you aren't going to spend the time creating movies for each character that stands alone, then at least give each character in the film time to shine or don't bother. I mean again why are there so many damn people in the film? How much better would the film had been if it had focused on Deadeye, Harley, Diablo, Rick and Amanda? (and thats still a formidable amount of lead characters to introduce in a film successfully) We could have gotten to know them much better and quite honestly they were the only ones given any real screen time anyway.
Let the bad guys be bad, really bad from time to time. They are in jail for a reason. Not every character needs to be a sweet misunderstood anti-hero. (although you could say Captain Boomerang almost fits that bill, the problem is its almost and I mean, he throws boomerangs. I'm still not over how stupid that is.)
Spend more time on cinematography and set design. Everything was just dark and rainy..give me something visual to remember. Take a note from Guardians and Deadpool. Plenty of people have said well Squad is good but its no Guardians or Deadpool and its not. It however should have been. It could have been. Hell the poster mark ups look better than the film does with its neon and punk coloring. Its pretty clear to me the director didn't want to go the same direction the studio did. This is probably the one time I'll side with the studio..the director has no idea what he was doing with this film and despite being a decent movie to watch..that is why it is rather forgettable. He didnt care about these characters and so no one else does either.
