Just as the world was beginning to forget about one of 2016's biggest cinematic disappointments, it slowly creeps back into the spotlight for one last fleeting attempt of claiming victory. It would appear that DC are up to the same old tricks, having released a film that was not well received by the masses, leading them to offer a solution that isn't actually a solution. Towards the end of last week news broke that an extended edition of Suicide Squad will be released later this year. Many of us predicted the release of an extended edition right from the film's opening week in cinemas, having heard the news of extensive cuts and re-shoots taking place earlier this year, it was inevitable that they were going to somehow try to utilise most of the footage they shot. Obviously this is intended to excite those who genuinely liked the film, whilst offering a solution to those who didn't particularly like it by adding in extra footage in a hopeful attempt to patch up any holes and iron out the creases. I understand that many people are intrigued by this, and some would even go so far as to say they are excited by the promise of additional footage, but I think we all need to take a step back for a moment and ask ourselves the all important question: is this actually going to improve the film?
It feels rather like an old record that is stuck on repeat playing the same shit song, as we already saw a similar attempt from DC earlier this year to glaze over the damage caused by their other catastrophe this year; Batman v Superman. Similarly, this was not a film that well received by audiences, particularly fans of the genre. So when the inevitable home release drew closer they decided to release an extended edition on Blu Ray, providing more fun for fans of the film whilst grovelling for forgiveness from those of us who didn't like the film. Now in the case of this attempt there was limited success. It managed to plug a few plot holes and disambiguate some of the more ludicrous of moments, but it certainly didn't fix the film. It sanded some of the rough patches and made the edges a bit smoother, but the picture as a whole is still bloated and tedious, and the reason the extended edition couldn't fix it is because there are multiple fundamental flaws concerning elements such as structure, tone and stylistic choices. Adding extra footage on top of the film only added to the mess. With this in mind, I feel we will have a similar, if not worse, scenario with the new promise of an extended Suicide Squad.
I don't mean to be cynical and to judge this new extended edition before I have seen it, but I still maintain that this is not going to solve the major flaws of the original film. There was so much wrong with Suicide Squad, so many deeply embedded fundamental flaws that surely adding extra footage to this is only going to make matters worse? Fans of the film seem to assume that the people who didn't like Suicide Squad were film snobs, the cinematic intelligentsia who turn this nose up at action films. Well quelle surprise, the people who were annoyed at the film were largely fans of comic book films and DC enthusiasts, two groups that I would associate myself with. We didn't slate the film because it was a little bit rubbish or because it was action packed, we did it because we were excited for this film and we wanted it to be good, but it prevails that it is genuinely an awful film with too many problems to look past. Casing point, I've actually made a list of the main problems I had with Suicide Squad, so we can determine whether this extended edition is actually going to help.
Plot
The writing for this film as a whole is all over the place, but even if you strip this film down to the basics, the plot alone is ridiculous. It would appear that the people involved in the making of this film have completely forgotten one of the most basic uses for film, and that is to tell a story, because this film fails at even taking the audience from A to B successfully. Now I know that films don't necessarily run from A to B smoothly and there are various forms of narrative that can be utilised by writers, but this film doesn't utilise any discernible technique or skill in terms of writing. It's a really disconcerting and uncomfortable experience when a film stops and starts as much as this because it doesn't allow the audience enough time to become engaged in the story. And even if you did put the pacing to the side and just wanted to consider the actual events this film focuses on then it is still a mess. The whole set up of the film is that the squad itself is assembled to take on high risk cases that our favourite superheroes wouldn't take, much like the old eighties comics in which the squad was dispatched to deal with cases like advanced terrorist groups. So why then, in a cinematic universe that has already introduced powerful characters such as The Flash and Aquaman, would it makes sense to send a team of criminals to deal with a huge supernatural crisis? It really leaves a sour taste in the mouth to see the film rush past the assembling of the team, before dropping them headfirst into a case that is hugely inappropriate and negates the whole point of them. From there it only gets worse as the plot itself feels as though the writers were making it up as they went a long, so we have strange tangents and elements added for the convenience of the plot, leaving us with a film that feels incredibly ill disciplined and actually rather lazy.
Character Development
It's quite ironic that for a film that contains a lot of characters, the film itself distinctly lacks character. This film should have taken more time to introduce us to the characters and to develop them so we understand their motivations and their history. It's not a lot to ask for, especially considering a lot of people who saw this film wouldn't have known who the characters were, so its just a basic courtesy that the writers take time to ensure their characters are more accessible. There are only a small picking of characters that are actually developed to a point that allows the audience to give a shit about them, the rest are just like cardboard cutouts. I can't argue with the development of Deadshot and Harley Quinn because they were the two best characters of the film, but the rest of the squad just feels like packaging, just confetti in the box. Characters like Killer Croc, who is genuinely an intriguing and complex character, is reduced to just background noise and the guy who sits with his hood up grunting and chuckling to himself, it doesn't make sense! You've got some of DC's coolest and most interesting characters and you're just going to have them as members of the cast without developing them? There were times whilst watching this film when I genuinely felt as though it was a film comprised of extras, as if the squad consisted of the characters we see credited under names like "shop assistant #3" or "Gotham citizen #47." It was such a waste to of time to have so many characters on screen who weren't developed and weren't interesting, and you can't say that this was because of the re shoots or the hassle they had post production; this was a fundamental flaw that was a result of the writers clearly not putting in enough effort. The film reminded me very much of the line from Woody Allen's Hannah and Her Sisters: "your personality certainly left a lot to be desired. Namely, a personality."
Screenplay
This is arguably one of the biggest flaws for me personally, because writing is one of the things I look for most in a film. I love script writing, it's a hobby of mine in my spare time and I feel as though while my writing is nowhere near anything even vaguely good, I have over the years developed a rather keen eye for a good screenplay. The screenplay for this film could have been so intelligent and so funny, think about it, they're bundling together some of the weirdest and dark characters DC has to offer and they're telling them to work together as a team. The clashing of the characters alone could make for an interesting and funny film, so why the hell didn't this film capitalise on the enormous opportunity it had? The film actually becomes quite infuriating part way because it is not entertaining or fun in any sense of the word, and yet after every action sequence we have at least one of the characters (mainly Harley Quinn) say something along the lines of "well that was crazy!" or "that was fun!" and it's annoying because they're wrong. The film is trying to tell the audience they're having fun when clearly we aren't. It's like Kanye West; the more important he tells us he is, the less important he becomes. Hence, the more times the characters reference the "fun" they're having, the less fun the audience has. However, it's not just the lack of humour that is annoying, because this is a film that has characters that need to show how sinister they are, and yet we don't see them in all their glory. Most notably for this is the character of Amanda Waller, the government official who actually assembles the team. In the original comics she is formidable! She is one of the most terrifying characters, and in fact there is a famous panel from the comics in which we see Amanda Waller backing Batman against a wall and pointing her finger at him as she cuts him down to size. The character is far more interesting than the film presents her to be, and her character development is basically whittled down to one line: "if you misbehave, I'll blow up your head." When a filmmaker is given a fantastic premise for a film and a top notch cast, you'd expect them to behave accordingly and try their hardest to make a film that pleases the crowd, but as I've said before, clearly there was not enough input from the writers.
Editing
What's interesting with Suicide Squad is that it's not just a film to dislike because it's uninteresting or because the writing is beyond sloppy, but also because of just how poorly made it is. The actual film-making itself is ludicrous, it doesn't feel like a cohesive film. Because of the so-called re shoots and the changes they made to this film post production, we're left with a film that feels like a series of random clips that have been spiced together, as opposed to a sequential act of storytelling that flows smoothly. There are moments throughout this film where the editing is appalling as it is apparent that footage has either been taken out or placed in randomly, and it's not only distracting but actually quite annoying. I can understand if the studio wasn't happy with the original cut of this film that they would maybe want to go through it with a very slim blade and operate on this film carefully like a surgeon, but there is more than enough evidence to show just how brutal and choppy the editing was. If they really cared about this film then they would have postponed the release and taken the time to edit it properly, instead of hacking through it with a chainsaw and adding scenes in wherever they felt like it, because that way the fans would have been given the film they waited so patiently for and everyone would have a lot more respect for the people involved in the film-making.
Lack of substance
While many of the flaws of this film are mere annoyances, this one actually rather hurts. There's a common erroneous assumption that comic book films don't make for mature cinema, a viewpoint that I will always question because clearly if you look over some of the best comic book films of our time there are so many of them that are teeming with substance and that ask intelligent questions for the modern world. Suicide Squad is absolutely not one of them. There is no form of social commentary hidden away under the surface of this film, and in fact there is no depth to the film at all. With most comic book films there is at least a second layer or a third dimension that allows the audience to immerse themselves into the film and consider concepts like good, evil, justice, revenge, technological developments, and there was absolutely no third dimension to this film. Interestingly, I recently stumbled across quite an old interview with Alan Moore, one of the single greatest writers of all time, and part way through the interview he's asked about some of the first comics he read from Marvel and DC. At this point he comments on how one note the DC comics used to be, and how the characters only had one characteristic. That is basically Suicide Squad in a nutshell, it is absolutely all surface and no substance which really makes me struggle to see why this film exists. It doesn't tell an interesting story, it's not entertaining and it doesn't provide any thought provoking social commentary so what is the point of it? And I can't even use my usual expression of "it's style over substance" because that leads us into my next point.
Obscure style
If any of you reading this have ever seen a film by David Ayer before then you'll know that at the very least he is a good filmmaker. He has a real keen eye for cinema and has always flirted the line into edginess without going too far into artistic obscurity. With Suicide Squad there is a clear absence of style, particularly in the second and third act. The first act of the film is a little offbeat and refreshing, with some interesting music choices and flashbacks that allow us to see at least some of the squad's background, in a rather Tarantino-esque sequence that was at least tolerable. As soon as the film moves into the main body of the story, which takes place in a city, the film loses all focus and just becomes one heated mess of action and not and awful lot else. Don't get me wrong, I really like David Ayer as a filmmaker, but I think stylistically he made more than few questionable decisions for this film, and it resulted in him making just another tedious, faceless action flick that didn't offer anything fresh or exciting. The quirkiness of the first act was probably the most interesting element of this film, but when the flashbacks appear sporadically and the action scenes all bleed into each other this film quickly loses its spark. Is this more to do with the editing? Potentially, but there is a lot more going on here, and it hurts to know that this film came from a filmmaker that I have actually liked a lot in the past.
Tone
This issue leaves me quite puzzled if I'm perfectly honest, because as far as I'm aware the re shoots that took place at the start of the year were largely to brace the topic of the tone of this film. After the apparent failure of Batman v Superman from DC just months before, and the mixed responses to the film's first trailer, the studio raised concerns that this film was going to be too dark and too serious, which I'm not ashamed to admit I agree with. This film is based on a comic book property that is largely based on fun, it's a gang of weirdos and criminals bundled together by the government to fight crime. What about that doesn't sound fun? If you know anything about the comics you'll know that these people aren't necessarily friends, they grate against each other and piss each other off, and part of the fun is seeing just how much they disagree and fight among themselves whilst on a mission. What this film needed was a huge injection of fun, but what it instead received was a lethal injection on death row. The whole film just lacked a sense of humour, and when it did attempt to be funny it was awkward forced humour that squeezed nothing but a mere snigger out of the audience who sat in the same screening as I did. It seems as though the characters on screen are having a great time, but more poignantly they were having a better time than the audience. It still felt as though it took place in this stupid washed out, one note, grey scale bullshit universe that Zack Snyder is building for DC, and from the person who wrote the film Training Day this should clearly have been more fun than it was. Quite often with films there is evidence of self importance and a feeling that the film takes itself too seriously, but with Suicide Squad it doesn't feel like they're taking anything seriously. Instead of settling on a solid tone or transitioning between tones smoothly and appropriately, the tone of this film buzzes around the room like a wasp, stopping at irregular intervals to sting the audience in the face. I think it's a bad sign that I had more fun in the two and a half minute trailer than I did during the two hour run time of the film itself.
The Joker
I'm aware that I've already tackled the issue of character development, but there is still the elephant in the room; the irrefutable waste of screen presence that is Jared Leto's Joker. I'm not going to waste my time talking about the character traits of this incarnation of The Joker because it is clearly one of the worst. I know some people really liked this street gangster "fuck bitches get money" version of The Joker, for me it didn't really work and wasn't that interesting, but I don't necessarily think that it's Leto's fault. I'd much rather focus on how the character is used. If you'll recall the opening week of Suicide Squad you'll no doubt remember the internet being largely in uproar that The Joker was used as one of the most prominent characters throughout the advertising campaign, and yet it prevails that he is onscreen for all of eight minutes. And for me I'm not sure that was problem, because I'd much rather he was onscreen for significantly less than that. Possibly reduced to a non-speaking role, that is in fact not a visual role either. I can only assume that because of his rather limited appearance in the film there is quite a lot of footage that ended up on the cutting room floor which is more than likely to resurface in the extended edition, which absolutely will not help matters. I think this is another clear cut example of DC ruining their chances by cramming the content of a number of films into one film, so they can rush through the world building process and establish their cinematic universe quicker. In the case of Suicide Squad this means showing an abrupt montage of how Harley Quinn and The Joker came to be the brilliant mess they are, and I'm sorry but that is just inappropriate. Their story is one of the most brilliant and popular stories in comic book lore and it deserves an entire film in itself, so to see it rushed in thirty seconds just to bring cinema audiences up to speed is ridiculous. And is shoehorning in more footage going to solve this matter? Absolutely not. It's just going to make for an even more bloated mess of a film. Regardless of what you thought of Leto's performance, which personally I didn't like, it is clear that he is surplus to requirements. He isn't incorporated into the film well, his actions don't have any consequence on the story, and really all his character stands for in this film is a sign of just how much they messed around with the original product of this film. I'm sure somewhere on the cutting room floor there's the remains of a good Suicide Squad film with The Joker as a stronger and more purposeful character, but that is far from the film that was screened in cinemas.
There are of course other flaws within this film, but I feel as though this list tackles those that are most pertinent to the subsequent failure of the film. If you look further then you will find minor imperfections and smaller details that need to be straightened up, but if we are to understand exactly what ruined this film then clearly we need to look at the very basic elements that set the groundwork for a flawed film. I'm sure there are countless other blogs written under far better authority that take a more critical view against this film, but for me personally the elements listed above are the ones that Suicide Squad was let down by.
At the end of the day what we need to ask ourselves is when you have a film that has so many flaws, are you really going to improve said film by adding more footage to the mess? Short answer: no. When the flaws are so deeply embedded that the film is essentially built upon them, adding to the mess isn't going to help. It's like trying to add more layers to a house of cards that has already fallen over, or improving the hull of the Titanic by adding a few layers of tinfoil, it's just a lot of effort to put into a project that is going to have very little impact, especially after fans have been so bitterly disappointed. Clearly we all wanted this film to be good, and it would have been a refreshing experience to see a new addition to the DCEU that didn't fill the fans with anger. And it's actually upsetting more than anything to see yet another film end up on the scrapheap of wasted time. Furthermore it's even more upsetting to see them adding to the mess and unsuccessfully trying to keep the hope alive, like attaching strings to a corpse and using it as a human puppet instead of burying it.
I understand why they are releasing an extended edition, because clearly hidden away in all of the negative reviews there was a distinct amount of people who enjoyed it, so really this extended edition is for them. If we ignore the film critics and the negativity, there is a clear fan-base for this film and it is those people that the studio are going to focus on. I am eventually going to watch the extended edition of Suicide Squad but my expectations remain low, and I will do so with the unequivocal understanding that this extended cut is not designed for comic book fans such as myself. I think with Batman v Superman they released the extended edition with the expressed intent of fixing some of the plot holes and making it more bearable for those of us who are well versed in comic lore, but with Suicide Squad they need to realise that an extended edition is not going to fix the film, and its only real purpose is fan service. That is essentially going to be the best way to view this new extended edition, as an act of fan service rather than a solution for a doomed film.
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