The catastrophic and terrifying events narrated in Man of Steel and Batman vs. Superman: Dawn of Justice provide U.S. government employee Amanda Waller (Viola Davis) with an opportunity to act on her suspicion of the intentions of all metahumans. Her plan is to emotionally manipulate and physically coerce a group of gifted criminals, i.e., super villains, to thwart any metahuman activity perceived as a “threat.” Ironically, the problem this “Suicide Squad” is sent to remedy is caused by one of Waller’s criminals, Enchantress/Dr. Moone (Cara Delevingne) who manages to escape Waller’s oppressive grip and retaliate, as any supervillain would, by destroying the world – okay(?) sounds good. But wait there’s more!
Suicide Squad also delves into the psychologically tumultuous past of each criminal as the main plot develops—highlighting the events of Harley Quinn’s (Margot Robbie) life to justify introducing the DCCU’s Joker (Jerod Leto)—while making the film long enough to give the Squad and their “good guy” baby sitter, Captain Rick Flag, who’s also controlled by the domineering Waller, an opportunity to come to terms with their checkered past, accept who they are now, and build the necessary camaraderie to defeat the (super) bad guy and save the world! It sounds like a hot, complicated mess, because Suicide Squad in the end is one. However, Ayer’s film had a few creative and compelling strong points that I found refreshing, which says a lot considering the exhausting effect this genre has had on me lately.
While Deadpool was advertised as “a new class of superhero” film, I think Suicide Squad is the first film within the genre to make cinematically and thematically intriguing attempts to expand the conventional style of the comic book genre.
As I have mentioned in previous articles, cinematically adapting comic book stories is almost visually impossible. However, using slow-motion and creatively framed shots, filmmakers have found ways to successfully adapt the visual aesthetics of comic books. The aesthetic that Suicide Squad adapts well is the color popping of comic book graphiation. Color popping is the subtle, yet exaggerated use of color to draw the reader’s attention or set the tone of a panel. While non-superhero comic book films like Sin City and The Spirit have adapted the color popping of comics, no superhero film has made as consistent a use of color popping as Suicide Squad. The vibrant colors of the Squad members’ costumes and make-up (Deadshot’s ruby red eye piece, Killer Croc’s multicolored skin, Katana’s hauntingly white mask, etc.) continuously remind us of their intriguing, dynamic personalities, and the monochromatic outfits of the ordinary humans consistently portrays their shallow, dubious characters.
The most brilliant example of color popping is when the Squad, with obliterated morale, shares one last drink with one another in a bar lit with a bright white light silhouetting all of the furniture in the space. In this black and white setting, the flamboyantly dressed characters struggle to understand what to do with their villainous past and despair the fact they can never outrun the ramifications of those choices in a black and white world that has no space for “bad guys.” However, in this moment of dejection, the Squad finds the strength to accept themselves for who they are and hope to do something worthwhile together.
Still, I feel Ayer and crew could have done a better job at challenging the good guy/bad guy paradigm of the superhero genre. Based on recent interviews with Ayer and other cast members, subverting this paradigm was the key to making a film unique to the genre. Their desire was to present audiences with fallible characters who people in the real world could relate to.
However, I’m not sure telling a story about “bad versus evil” is a convincing way to portray the reality that no one is truly good, especially when most of the evil is represented by literally faceless, CGI minions. I don’t think it’s too much of a challenge to find something relatable about a criminal when they are compared to a demonic goddess bent on world domination. Exploring how Harley’s dysfunctional relationship or Katana’s excruciating grief influence their life choices could be stories much more relatable than “bad versus evil.” Given the climate of American politics, our culture could use more stories that demonstrate the pernicious consequences of ignorantly vilifying another person for their appearance and/or past mistakes.
As usual, the superhero genre has a lot of room for improvement in terms of creating high quality adaptations of the books on which the films are based. However, Suicide Squad does give us a story of a very diverse group of people whose lives do not orbit around doing bad and getting caught by the “good” guy. These are people who desire good things but, choose (self)destructive ways to attain the good they want – as we are all wont to do.
You might also find these reviews of Suicide Squad helpful:
Larsen on Film
Reel Dialogue
Reel Gospel
Reel World Theology