By Travis Trombley | |
Despite its moral (or amoral?) posturing, high body count and on-the-nose soundtrack, Suicide Squad - arguably the worst of DC’s three attempts at a live action, cinematic universe film - proves that splashing around in the safe waters of the genre kiddie pool will be the death of the superhero film.
And that’s too bad. Given Director and writer David Ayer’s history with films about people who cross the line (End of Watch and Training Day, just to name a few), Suicide Squad should have picked up Dawn of Justice’s torch of superhero deconstruction and explored moral complexities of punishment, right intent, human rights, and that cold pragmatism that defines get-it-done government types like Amanda Waller. Instead, it gave us a Guardians of the Galaxy knock off that fails to meet the quality of its Marvel counterpart in almost every way due to an overstuffed, lazy narrative and lackluster cinematography.
The film’s premise follows its comic origins closely: the government answers the threat to their power posed by metahumans like Superman by coercing jailed metahuman criminals to execute covert operations on behalf of the US government. With her typical gravitas, Viola Davis’ Amanda Waller secures the team’s sanction and subsequently leads it into its first mission - a rescue operation of a mysterious figure from Midway City, which is under attack by the Enchantress, an ancient witch/goddess who was formerly under Waller’s control but finds an easy out and who seeks to build a “machine” weapon to take over the world. Or something like that.
And that’s too bad. Given Director and writer David Ayer’s history with films about people who cross the line (End of Watch and Training Day, just to name a few), Suicide Squad should have picked up Dawn of Justice’s torch of superhero deconstruction and explored moral complexities of punishment, right intent, human rights, and that cold pragmatism that defines get-it-done government types like Amanda Waller. Instead, it gave us a Guardians of the Galaxy knock off that fails to meet the quality of its Marvel counterpart in almost every way due to an overstuffed, lazy narrative and lackluster cinematography.
The film’s premise follows its comic origins closely: the government answers the threat to their power posed by metahumans like Superman by coercing jailed metahuman criminals to execute covert operations on behalf of the US government. With her typical gravitas, Viola Davis’ Amanda Waller secures the team’s sanction and subsequently leads it into its first mission - a rescue operation of a mysterious figure from Midway City, which is under attack by the Enchantress, an ancient witch/goddess who was formerly under Waller’s control but finds an easy out and who seeks to build a “machine” weapon to take over the world. Or something like that.
