SUICIDE SQUAD
Batman versus Superman wasn’t all DC had to offer audiences when it came to giving a sneak peek to their connected, cinematic venture. A pleasant surprise at Comic Con was the debut of the Suicide Squad trailer. It first leaked online via smartphone capture, and it was enough to prompt Warner Bros. heads to release the 3 minute spot officially. Suicide Squad is a mixed bag of marbles, and its choice to convert the comic into a movie is can probably be seen as DC’s dark and moody answer to Marvel’s Guardians of the Galaxy. To be fair, in comic terms, Suicide Squad predates Guardians by ten years. But it’s all the same. A ragtag team of the worst criminals are assembled to go after someone worserererer then them. Instead of light humor and classic pop music from yesteryear, we’re greeted with moody harmonics and prophetic lyrics talking about “the joke was on me…” I bet we’ll see the Joker in this trailer. Because Suicide Squad isn’t as well-known as other DC titles the trailer spends a considerable amount of time with expository dialogue from Viola Davis as her character Amanda Waller. Viola is a strong actor, and she exudes authority, but the exposition spilling from her mouth dulls that a bit. The trailer’s next stumble comes with Will Smith as the assassin Deadshot. “We’re the patsies. I guess we’re some sort of Suicide Squad.” Really? Thanks. But the bigger problem is Smith himself as part of the ensemble. He has such a presence it’s too hard to ignore, and kind of takes you out of the experience the trailer is trying to sell as a collective. It’s not a Will Smith movie, and shouldn’t be thought of as such. That wouldn’t be fair, but…there’s Will Smith…in a movie…Another downer for me was Killer Croc looking like something out of 1993’s Super Mario Bros. movie. But the highlight of the trailer is Margot Robbie as Harley Quinn. Once the trailer focuses on her, you forget the first half’s clunkiness. And just in case you forgot that Batman was created under the DC umbrella, we see he’ll be here in this movie as well. To what capacity, who knows? But there he is, on a car steered by the Joker with Harley Quinn laughing all the way. It all climax’s with the Joker’s sinister laugh, a great welcoming to Jared Leto into the role. A few quick speaking lines and I was sold. I might be a little wary of the look, all ‘tatted up and what not, but it’s good to see the Joker…joking…having fun rather than rolling his eyes and being cynical. Despite my critiques, I’m looking forward to the film and getting more tidbits of the plot beyond the obvious. My take, however, was that it was meant to be a private trailer to only those in attendance, but it was strong enough for release when it got leaked. There was also some really good buzz with its leak, so nothing was hurt in the matters of enticing an audience. Suicide Squad is set to create havoc August 5, 2016.
