Movie review: Suicide Squad

By Madi Tortora
Staff Writer

Over the past couple years, comic book movies have been rolling out left and right, including three Batman movies, Deadpool, Ant-man, and Captain America: Civil War. However, the newest movie coming right off the pages from DC Comics brings about a whole new type of hero: one that is supposed to be a villain.

After terrorist attacks and apocalyptic events have begun to be a norm in Gotham City, the government decides that they must try something new. U.S Intelligence Officer Amanda Waller, played by Viola Davis, starts off the movie by  expanding on her idea to bring evil villains together for good. Waller hand-picked these criminals for their ideas and skills, including having impeccable aim that cannot be faltered, being a ruthless killer with no remorse, and believes that the evil traits can form one big force to do good. The members of this squad are known as Deadshot (Will Smith); Harley Quinn (Margot Robbie); Enchantress (Cara Delevinge), Captain Boomerang (Jai Courtney), El Diablo (Jay Hernandez), Killer Croc (Adewale Akinnuoye-Agbaje),Katana (Karen Fukuhara), and Rick Flag  (Joel Kinnaman).

Although not  all of the villains are so keen on being in a group that does only good, the explosives implanted their necks that can be triggered at any moment seem to keep them in check.

Without giving too much away, Enchantress is a villain that is too tricky for the U.S Intelligence Agency to keep under control, and things go awry when she finds her brother, who gives her more power. Her main goal is to destroy all human machinery.  The ‘Suicide Squad’ is enlisted to stop her plan from succeeding and ultimately save the world. Along the way, we meet some more interesting villains, including the Joker, who is played by Jared Leto.

I am going to be honest and say that superhero movies aren’t really my thing. That being said, I absolutely love villains and seem to connect to them on a deeper level. I have read many Harley Quinn comics and have found myself more and more interested in her background with every comic that I read. Again, that being said, Margot Robbie’s version of Quinn was slightly disappointing and even broke character a few times. Quinn is a ruthless villain who isn’t genuinely capable of remorse or feelings, except when she is thinking about the Joker.

In certain parts of the movie, we found Quinn almost bonding with the group, befriending Deadshot, who is played by Will Smith, and genuinely hoping that she can help save the world from Enchantress. Whether or not this is because of the explosives in her neck because her explosive is disabled and she is able to be free; but still chooses not to run because she wanted to ‘help.’ This completely breaks what Quinn’s character is supposed to stand for, which is being a ruthless killer who doesn’t care about anyone except herself and her man. I can’t say that this necessarily ruined the movie for me, but Quinn was the main reason I went to see this movie, and I left disappointed.

All in all, I would say that Director David Ayer was successful in his attempt to recreate one of DC’s most famous comics, and I obviously enjoyed the movie because I ended up seeing it twice, and would probably see it again.

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