Every movie or story stemmed from comics, shares a few staple ingredients. A courageous hero, supporting characters and the most important of all, the villain. The sole purpose of a plot is to provide that ‘tadka’ and ‘masala’. Without it, well there is no purpose. DC Comics is known for its uniqueness, for possessing the ability to create such formidable villains, leading to an almost cult following for their shows and movies. But what if, one fine day, it decides to take up the challenge of producing a movie solely run on DC Comic’s greatest villains of all time? Removing the concept of heroes all together, for the villain fanatics all over the world, DC Comics gives you ‘Suicide Squad’.
A U.S. intelligence officer, Amanda Waller – played by Viola Davis – decides to unite a team, Task Force X, comprising of deadly, detained and dangerous supervillains for a top-secret mission. Now under the careful watch of the government and in possession of an arsenal of weapons, Harley Quinn (Margot Robbie), Dead Shot (Will Smith), Captain Boomerang, Killer Croc and other despicable inmates together form a lethal combination and are forced to work together for a mission they aren’t aware of. The convicts join to clash against an ambiguous and powerful force known as The Enchantress (Cara Delevigne), while the diabolical Joker (Jared Leto) thrusts a sinister plan of his own into the mix.
Villains sparring villains, the so-called Task Force X sets their path to defeat Enchantress who intends to destroy and take over the world, although their initial purpose was to complete the top-secret mission. This was solely due to Amanda Waller not having sufficient containment strategies for Enchantress causing the world to be on the edge of devastation.
Although the movie received a positive response, fans were a bit disappointed. Running for 123 minutes, this movie is jammed with so much adventure and dementia that it makes the audience overlook the plot holes and the action, which was bland. The meagre attempt of comedy to save it at some moments falls flat as well. The effort made to incorporate all the beloved villains has generated some attention. However, this has given rise to a movie that lacked details and content, leading to a very plain story that includes a lot of foreshadowing.
The foreshadowing was minimized by combining backstories of most characters into the plot. The backstory of Joker and Harley Quinn stands out as one of the most surprising pieces. It proves the Joker’s abilities to captivate one’s mind and use it like he did Harleen Frances Quinzel’s, his speech therapist during his years of captivity. And thus, a demented version of Harleen Quinzel was born – Harley Quinn. This wasn’t known by most of the viewers so it generated a lot of buzz. There are quite a lot of appearances and the unexpected plot changes that no one had foreseen, which rolls another gossip trail, adding more spice to the story.
The dark tone of the movie was frowned upon by some of the viewers. Nonetheless, one of the positives is that the movie doesn’t aim to be like the mainstream superhero movies. One thing that excited the majority of the audience is that the movie remains true to its comics; as if the characters have come to life.
The three characters that were very notably well thought out were Harley Quinn, Dead Shot aka Floyd Lawton and The Enchantress aka June Moone. Margot Robbie pulls off Harley Quinn with such precision that her mere movements are enough to highlight her deranged self though she has a conscious control of her character and motives. Likewise, Dead Shot (Will Smith) brings in his well-known charm and sense of humour, making a decent entry in the movie. Cara Delevigne’s role as Enchantress is very haunting, achieved by excellent visual effects, and has an exquisite feel to it. Cara not only amazingly plays the mythical goddess but exceptionally plays the innocent and humble June Moone.
Overall it is an entertaining and fascinating movie and provides insight on the future that lies ahead for the villains that feature this movie. This is unquestionably for those who appreciate the unpredictable Joker and the perky and bemused Harley Quinn. Despite the percentage of hate or love received, one must watch this movie.
Rating: 4/5
-Thea Mudaliar (A2 Science)
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