Suicide Squad director and writer David Ayer has written a screenplay that is flat and not very exciting. The editing is all over the place and most of the characters are boring. This may not be all Ayer’s fault. According to the Hollywood Reporter, Warner Brothers gave him only six weeks to write whatever he could and went straight to shooting. Why did the studio let this happen?!
I will give Ayer props for making the cast unique in that it’s one of the few (maybe the only) comic book film with such a diverse group of actors in major roles.
Amanda Waller (Viola Davis), forms a Suicide Squad in order to stop the Harlem-shaking, hip gyrating witch, Enchantress (Cara Delevingne) from destroying Midway City. The group roster includes, Harley Quinn (Margot Robbie), a violent psychopath linked to the Joker; Deadshot (Will Smith), the world’s deadliest assassin; Killer Croc (Adewale Akinnuoye-Agbaje), a crocodile humanoid; Captain Boomerang (Jai Courtney), an Aussie jewel thief; Katana (Karen Fukuhara), a Samurai with a magical sword; El Diablo (Jay Hernandez), a fire starting, gang banging cholo; Slipknot (Adam Beach), it’s not clear why he’s there or what he does; and Rick Flagg (Joel Kinnaman), the gung-ho military consultant put there to keep the squad in check.
Don’t know if Ayer knew it, but he gave the characters of color, the most dynamic, perhaps, in-depth backstories. Both Will Smith as Deadshot and Viola Davis as Amanda Waller exceeded expectations in their respective roles. Smith is charming as Floyd Lawton, the world’s greatest marksman. He provides the right laughs at the right time — which is probably due to his comedic timing and not the plot itself. While Deadshot is the funny man, Amanda Waller is the one in charge. Waller is the liaison between the Suicide Squad, the meta-humans, and the caped superheroes, and she is also wrought with her own agenda. Davis is commanding and scary as Waller. You just know she is not one to be messed with.
Jay Hernandez as Diablo, while stereotypical, is a sympathetic character and is really the heart of Suicide Squad. The role is well acted, and Jay Hernandez is really charismatic. From the audience reaction, he seems to be a crowd favorite. Killer Croc, also a super stereotypical role, did add some laughs and made Croc likable. And while Katana and Slipknot didn’t do or say much, I was still glad they were featured.
The supposed highlight characters of the film end up being part of the problem. Margot Robbie as Harley Quinn is a ‘fetch’ character. The film desperately tries to make her happen but it doesn’t work. Make no mistake, her acting isn’t bad, and she has the look, but the character and portrayal are poorly written and boring. More depth or backstory could have made her more sympathetic; instead, she’s just there taking up space. Harley’s counterpart, The Joker (Jared Leto), is even worse. He is given little to do in this which is probably why he had so much time on set to carry out creepy pranks on co-stars. He isn’t the main villain, and he’s not a part of the Squad either, so why the hell is he there? Leto takes himself too seriously and it screws up the flow of the film (whatever that ‘flow’ is).
Rick Flagg? Who gives a shit about him. In fact, Joel Kinnaman and Cara Delevingne were by far the least interesting and delivered the worst performances. While Jai Courtney as Captain Boomerang is probably his best role to date, it’s nothing to write home about. Believe what you want, these characters could not have carried this movie without its PoC characters.
Aside from the performances, let me prove to you how diversity helped catapult this film to success. Deadline states:
PostTrak which is a box office exiting poll has collected data for Suicide Squad Friday night, that has African-American and Hispanic moviegoers making up 39% of the audience for Suicide Squad, with both audience demographic giving the film an 81% positive score.
Could you imagine this movie without Will Smith, Viola Davis, Jay Hernandez, Karen Fukuhara, Adam Beach, or Adewale Akinnuoye-Agbaje? Admit it, diversity saved this film. You know it, and I know it.
