Now, I was only a couple of years old back when “The Phantom Menace” came out. But I have gathered that the hype was real for that film. There are people who ended up watching that film close to a dozen times before admitting to themselves that it was actually a bad movie. But - you might be wondering - what does any of this have to do with the 2016 movie about a group of super-villains forced to carry out missions for the government? You see, I saw this movie 3 times over the course of 2 days. Back then, I convinced myself that I loved this movie. Some time passed and I found myself absolutely hating this movie. But what about now? Well…it’s complicated.
One thing I should address was that the movie did some fairly extensive reshoots following the release of “Dawn of Justice”. This was due to the criticism that Snyder’s film was too dark and serious. So the reshoots for Ayer’s film was meant to add in humor. Yes, ADD humor. If I saw the movie that had “extra” humor, I’m not sure I want to see the Ayer Cut. Don’t get me wrong, I’m not saying I expect the Ayer Cut to be bad. But his serious approach to this super-villain team doesn’t quite understand the tone and style of the team as seen in the original Suicide Squad comic series from the late 1980s. Yes, I know it is supposed to be based on the New 52 version. But do we really want to be that faithful to THAT era of DC Comics? Now, there were small brief moments when the tone and style actually did work. But they were few and far in between.
Will Smith as Deadshot is…above average. Not quite how he was originally portrayed in the comics. But definitely more entertaining above the bland personalities of most of the other characters in the film. Margot Robbie as Harley Quinn is - in my opinion - iconic. BUT I say that in despite of how she was physically portrayed in the film. You can tell by her outfit that the movie more or less treated her as eye candy. All the other members of the team are just too forgettable and unremarkable to talk about. (But I will say Croc did get one line that was so bad it actually was hilarious.)
And now we come to the most talked about character from the film…Jared Leto as Joker. All right…I understand the whole “Three Jokers” argument. There can be multiple different versions of the Joker and there will always be people who will support any version of the character. But I am so frustrated by this version and portrayal! Let me try and condense my argument into one point. If you think having your character have the word “damaged” tattooed on their forehead makes them come across as dark and twisted, the chances are no one is going to think your movie is that impressive.
By the way, the argument the movie gives for why this team should exist is stupid. Their hypothetical situation of what would happen if Superman broke into the White House to kidnap the POTUS is a decent enough hypothetical to consider. But their answer includes a man who shoots guns, a crazy girl with a bat, a man/reptile hybrid, a drunk with a boomerang, a woman with a sword, and a man who creates fire but who doesn’t want to make fire? That is the WORST team you could assemble to take down an evil Superman. And the villain they had to fight in the movie was someone they recruited for the squad BUT COULDN"T CONTROL!
So yeah, I think there is a lot about this movie that is stupid and bad. Admittedly, I don’t hate it as much as I used to. But I don’t want to see the Ayer Cut. I know the Snyder films have a similar dark and serious tone, but you could feel their was purpose and a reason he did it. He had a longterm goal in mind that would unfold over several movies and ultimately end on a positive note. This just feels dark and serious simply because it thought it would be considered edgy and cool. Not impressed.