Film Analysis Essay on Suicide Squad

Introduction

As it may be known to many, Suicide Squad is a superhero film of American descent that was produced in 2016, that bases its plot on the DC Comics supervillain team with the same name. In this film, a secret governmental agency under the leadership of Amanda Waller recruits supervillains from a prison to execute dangerous operations missions in the bid to save the world from an impending powerful threat and in return get reduce jail sentences. The film was written and also distributed by David Ayer, featuring Will Smith, Jared Leto, Margot Robbie, Viola Davis, Jay Hernandez, Scott Eastwood, Adewale Akinnuoye-Agbaje and other as well. Produced by Dan Lin, the film was announced in 2009, with Stephen Gilchrist being the co-producer and Justin Marks as the screenwriter. The movie has received negative reviews by critics, with the film holding very rating in various sites. For instance, the film received an approval rating of just 28% on Rotten Tomatoes, with a weighted average of 4.8/10. This study synthesizes some of the literature that has been published about the film by different authors.

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Literature Review

Film critics have negatively rated Suicide Squad on many fronts and few, if any, have disregarded its influence on the viewership across the globe. While its arrival in the theaters, especially across the USA was highly anticipated, the critics have been downright savage (Arnold). According to Nathaniel Arnold, the film was a total mess, despite it being the most talked-about film in twitter at the time of its release (2016). Arnold argues that the film should have taken the advantage of the failure of another blockbuster, Batman vs. Superman: Dawn of Justice. In his article, Arnold argues that the said movie failed to live up to the fans' expectations, which mean that they were looking forward to the Suicide Squad (Arnold). In contrast, the author argues that the enthusiastic and optimistic fans were treated to what the Rotten Tomatoes described as a "disappointing end result," then hobbled by a "muddled plot, thinly written characters and choppy directing." Arnold, in his article, posits that since David Ayer's original version of Suicide Squad had not been seen at the time, it was impossible to assert if it would have been better (Arnold). One of the reasons why the film was a mess was the lack of character development. Arnold posits that the film exhibits a clumsy effort to inject some enthusiasm into the movie which originally was intended to have a dark tone.

Richard Lawson asserts that David Ayer's super-villain team is dull, lacks inspiration and will soon be forgotten (2016). He argues that it was meaningless for the writer-actor Ayer to make desperate scrambles for a sense of style, whereby he ends up confusing it into a muddy and smothering soup of wasted possibility (Lawson). He argues that the film is so bad that is ugly and boring, and that even its highly rampant violence does not bring an exciting tingle of the wicked or taboo. The film is dull and lacks shape and chronology, according to Lawson (2016). He adds that Suicide Squad is ultimately too shoddy and forgettable and it will take little time for the viewers to throw it into the litter bin (Lawson). Lawson laments that Ayer had made some repugnant movies in the past, but Suicide Squad was up there with the worst. Although the film boasts some of the best talents in the industry, Lawson asserts that their characters in the villains' roles were a disservice (2016). There is a feeling that the film does not present the best of big talents involved in the film and that the script forces a massive shift in character and tone, adding further that it would be impossible for even the most nimble and talented actors to keep their footing (Lawson). Apart from the main characters in the movie, the rest of the squad does not register much at all, according to Lawson. Finally, the plot of the film is also erroneous, skipping in spaces. Most of the film takes place in one night; a brilliant idea but executed terribly and that the logic fails as well.

The Suicide Squad promised creativity and film-maker-centric, which was a sly dig at Marvel's Pixaresque top-down structure (Schilling). The advertising of Suicide Squad made the film look quirky and visually arresting, according to Dave Schilling. The author argues that Suicide Squad offered something different and this meant that it would be terrible. According to him, the film business is not meant to produce original works that are starkly but is should rather produce widgets with merchandising potential (Schilling). The film in question was not going to become another supervillain blockbuster, but it could have been more coherent with less involvement of the studio (Schilling). There was even a clash with the scriptwriter with the executives and mandated that there should be some reshoots to enlighten the film's tone, which meant that the unfinished product was a clash of conflicting ideas.

However, even though the film had been a mess in the first act with a chunky editing and incomplete scenes, it has managed to overcome all that to become a success, according to Rohan Naahar. The film was burdened by the expectations placed on it and massacred by some harsh critics, but it was as bad as many think it was (Naahar). Initially, the film was supposed to make up for the gap left by Batman vs. Superhuman, and according to Naahar, it did not fail (2016). Nahaar posits that Suicide Squad is a hugely frustrating film because it has scenes where it shines, but very infrequently (Naahar). The strongest part of the film is that it loves the characters in the cast, despite the fact that it leaves them stranded for most parts of the movie. Finally, the film exhibits a live action, which is by far an upgrade of Batman and which makes the film a huge success, as opposed to what many critics argue (Naahar). It may not be vintage or an exact upgrade of Batman vs. Superhuman but Suicide Squad features numerous positives to make it a success.

Conclusion

The negative reviews of Suicide Squad have impaired its performance in the market and viewership as well, with the exquisite scenes portrayed in the trailers placing a huge expectation on the film. Poor organization in the shooting of the film and conflicting ideas may have been the reason for a bad reception. A sequel for the film would aim at making the first one better and quench the viewers' expectations of a quality and a well-developed supervillain film for the decade. It is up to the scriptwriter and the producer to ensure that their work demonstrates a class above the rest, in the sequel.

Works Cited

Arnold, Nathanael. "Why 'Suicide Squad' Was A Mess." The Cheat Sheet. N.p., 2018. Web. 24 Oct. 2018.

Lawson, Richard. "Suicide Squad Isn't Even The Good Kind Of Bad." HWD. N.p., 2016. Web. 24 Oct. 2018.

Naahar, Rohan. "Suicide Squad Review: Ignore All The Negativity, Joker And Harley Save It." https://www.hindustantimes.com/. N.p., 2016. Web. 24 Oct. 2018.

Schilling, Dave. "Suicide Squad Makes Con Air Look Inspired. It's Time For A Blockbuster Face-Lift." the Guardian. N.p., 2016. Web. 24 Oct. 2018.

Addresses for the References

https://www.theguardian.com/film/2016/aug/08/suicide-squad-hollywood-creativity-blockbuster-films

https://www.vanityfair.com/hollywood/2016/08/suicide-squad-review

https://www.hindustantimes.com/movie-reviews/suicide-squad-review-joker-harley-right-the-wrongs-of-batman-v-superman/story-lIHdZkKXiSYnDpniEu4JHM.html

https://www.cheatsheet.com/entertainment/batman-v-superman-doomed-suicide-squad.html/