Suicide Squad, or Squad 1 (2016) -- 6

Let’s call this "Squad 1."

1. "SS" is too Nazi
2. "Suicide" is too Emo
3. "Squad" is representative of the movie's theme.
4. "Skwad" is too much an in-joke for nerds to be fairly used in a regular review.
5. "1" is in anticipation that the DC comics extended universe demands sequels (and reddit rumors back that up)

So Cartoon. Much Bugs Bunny. Many Love.

So, Squad 1 evokes too many things in my little heart and brain to contain in one opinionated recap, so this is a short/sweet overview, and then, as they flesh out, I'll post topic-specific reviews.

Professional reviewers hate it, but the box office speaks for itself -- either nerds are now mainstream, or the main stream is getting nerdier. Squad 1 is enough of a success there will surely be more of them.

Full Disclosure: My wedding registry was full of Suicide Squad and Harley Quinn comics, but I understand a lot of what the professional movie viewers are saying: Squad 1 was not the greatest movie. Story and character motivation ranged from the extreme cliche to unbelievable. While the pacing is pretty smooth, it easily could have been better. The plot doesn't have many holes, but it doesn't make the most sense either -- and the ending is simply infeasible. The suspension of disbelief is totally snapped by Enchantress being defeated. If you believe the things you learn in the first half of the movie, she should be unbeatable by conventional weapons. Sorry Harley and Deadshot, your trickery and grenades should not be able to stop her.

Most of the skew-iffy stuff could have easily been fixed with simple one-liners here and there. I expect better from that much money and that many talented folks. Even considering the rumor that they reshot a bunch of scenes as late as Feb. 2016, that’s bad mgmt, not a good excuse. At best, David Ayer and his 10 Producers were negligent in planning; at worst, they just don't have a grip on how to direct a comic book movie.

On the other hand, people who were expecting a soulful drama are dumb. Just because Ayer also wrote and directed Fury, Sabotage, and End of Watch, does not mean Squad 1 was going to explore PTSD or alcoholism. That's like saying Kenneth Branaugh's Thor should have had the weight of Hamlet. DUMB. I'm looking at you Variety & Peter Debruge. It's an ensemble action hero movie about villains....by design it's unpredictable. But, I get it -- even by action movie standards, this was kind of a directorial mess.

"Your movie will not make $1M when I'm through with it!"

That said, reviewers may just feel betrayed by Squad 1. They are used to their power and infamy of calling and killing movies. Truly, they are like movie villains themselves. I wonder if they start looking like Dr Evil, sitting in the dark constantly, maniacally plotting revenge on some director or writer for slighting them at a Hefner party in front of a Bunny...

But I digress. Phenomenal trailers kept all of us rapt the past year. Nerds and writers alike, all bought into these glittering action-trains portraying a full fledged world, a tongue-in-cheek spray paint darkness, and story-telling without plot-spoiling. These were things of editing beauty. More than quick shots crammed together, they were rhythmically choreographed, and so well executed that the heart of the story was injected right into our eyeballs. So, we were suckered into thinking Squad 1 would be great, not just an action movie with colorful characters, but a thing of creative grace and savage beauty.

This built up two expectations: 1) the storytelling and execution would be amazing, and 2) there would be a lot of Joker. This first was quickly destroyed by the reasons detailed above, but the second is interesting. The trailers and production rumors make Joker out to be the main baddie, and he ain’t. So many assholes were butt hurt that they’d predicted one thing, and another happened. That is good work on the park of Ayer and his 10 producers.

Even without it being a soulful drama (seriously, Debruge, wtf) or as greased-leather-slick as Deadpool, we're all hooked on the potential of Squads 2, 3, and 4 that Ayer -- or whomever -- can go as low-budget and gritty or as high-SFX and glossy as they like and we will go see it.

Another point reviewers agree upon is an abundance of sexism and racism. Which may be just as dumb. This ensemble cast is an american diversity wet dream. Half the cast are women. Half the cast is not white. We have leading black, latino, asian squad members, plus a host of both dot and feather indians, black, asian, and latino faces in the supporting cast. It's like the feminists and the Pro-Race-Diversity people (we can’t call them "racists" … is there a real title for this?) were waiting for the first possible movie where gender and race diversity appears so they can say it's not enough. Of course it's not enough, it’s a GD movie, not a real cultural shift or support from Congress and police forces.

Beyond editing and sexism/racism, Squad 1 is pretty normal… The camera work and direction are standard. Nothing too outstandingly bad or good about how the scenes are sewn together, though there is some over-devotion to Margot Robbie's ass (I can only find three) but the comics play this up a bunch… so… I vote “appropriate to character.”

Notice Power Girl's exasperated 'tude.

Butts are funny. Harley is Funny. Ergo, Harley uses Butts.

 If you disagree, how bout you do some readin’ (you won't regret it!)
 The pacing is not bad. In fact, it's pretty good in comparison to some X-Men Apocalypse movies I've seen recently.

What sets this movie apart, stylistically, is the art direction. Brandt Gordon's day-glo palace of gore drenches every minute of digital media with visual joy. From color palette to backdrop to visual details on every character and wall  -- this art direction is out of this world. Vanity Fair's Richard Lawson called it "ugly."  If you were color blind and live in a Manhattan Ivory Tower, then I empathize. I hope Harley gets to beat you to death in the next movie.

Whose heart didn't break when Talia says goodbye to Bane?

What interests me is that Squad 1 exists at all. Our real world is portrayed by TV and internet news outlets as relentlessly dark -- a patch-work of terror and Corrupt Billionaires Running For President. Unfortunately, I guess art imitates life since we’ve just be swallowing Zack Snyder's unflinchingly morose Batman saga. It's no wonder that eventually audiences grow attuned to this darker aesthetic. When normal happy ppl like myself can react so violently against a white-washed rich-ppl-club member writing a review of a comic book movie, you know it's time for a villain-centric story.

Further, the story itself is started revolving and the Haves and the Have Nots in the Dark Knight Returns. When I watched Bane cut off the island of Manhattan, I was rooting for him. He and Talia were definitely onto something so devotedly followed in Fight Club -- not just “damn the man,” but a structured plan to actually damn the man. There’s a lotta sympathy for that in our post-Occupy Wallstreet era. The characters in Squad 1 are all damned by the man, and it’s easy to feel a lot of sympathy for them even though we know they’re villains. We are an audience who "need them bad." And that's why Suicide Squad is awesome.