6. Suicide Squad
Why I Like It (Matt Gilbert): Suicide Squad earns its place right next to on DC’s wall of movies people love to hate that I proudly defend. Is the script an incomplete hot mess? Hell yeah it is. I haven’t seen the extended cut yet, but from my perspective what David Ayer gave us this August was DC’s dark and gritty brand of Marvel’s Guardians of the Galaxy, right down to the classic rock soundtrack and underlying theme of misfit loners finding something to believe in again. But for me, it worked. I wouldn’t give Suicide Squad an award for groundbreaking blockbuster cinema, but I’d say it’s a far cry better than many of the worst Marvel movies.
Part of that is due to its diverse and incredible cast of characters. Not all of them get the screen time they deserve, but everyone still made an impression. Even Jai Courtney, Hollywood’s designated piece of beige, is immersed in his role and wildly funny as Captain Boomerang. Most notable, though, is Margot Robbie as Harley Quinn. She fills every frame with almost unparalleled charisma and life. She feels ripped straight from the comic pages and gives Harley everything that makes her such a fun and compelling character. Thanks to Robbie’s performance, Quinn’s lunacy feels almost equal to the Joker’s, and I can’t wait to see what the DCEU has in store for both of them down the line.
I know there’s a major consensus that Jared Leto was awful as the clown prince of crime, but I don’t see why. To me, Leto this role. We can laugh and roll our eyes at all the crazy antics he did to his co-stars on set, but if you asked me, it worked. Leto’s Joker is far from any version we’ve seen before, and in every second of his sadly small part, he positively radiates fear and unpredictability like a mad dog just waiting to get loose. The word “unrecognizable” is used so often, nowadays, it loses its meaning, but it’s not until Quinn’s vision at the end of the film that we as the audience can see how total his transformation into this character was. Leto doesn’t just put on the costume and say the lines like a Marvel villain. He is plainly a different man. His allotted screen time was far too short to be fully judged against the character’s other incarnations, but given some time with Ben Affleck’s Batman, Leto may very well pass the legendary Jack Nicholson as my favorite live-action Joker ever.
While it’s great to see these characters fight, as is the reason we comic book movies, the movie shines most in its dialogue. As the characters are revealed and reveal themselves, they break the perception that they are just bad guys for the sake of being bad, some with truly sad and sympathetic backstories. It definitely has its flaws, but a cast of great and fun characters with some truly stand out performances make it a fun, harmless romp with DC’s bad guys, and expands the DCEU a little more.
Favorite Performance: Margot Robbie (Harley Quinn)
Favorite Scene: The Bar scene
Favorite Line: “Stupid Bats, you’re ruining date night!” -Harley Quinn
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