Harley Quinn redeems Suicide Squad
A group of expendable super villains are forced to work together to overcome an ancient evil, in the hope of redeeming themselves in the eyes of their loved ones.
HIGHVELD – Movie theatres have been flooded by super-something movies for the past few years.
If it’s not prequel, it is a sequel or a remake or a crossover and The Suicide Squad movie falls right into this category.
It feels a bit like the exposition-centaur that comes around in the middle of a film to quickly explain who is who and what their motivations are.
Viola Davis makes a masterful debut as a ruthless puppet master Amanda Waller, but somehow her character falls a bit flat towards the end and lacks a deeper driving force.
Rick Flag, portrayed by Joel Kinnaman who conveniently wears a hat with his surname on the whole time, tries to be an all American hero, but Chris Kyle he is not.
He has some depth due to his love interest, Dr June Moon/Enchantress, played by a swooning hip swaying Cara Delavigne.
The dichotomy that is the one body two minds mess known as the Enchantress, offers a fresh take on arch evil, but somehow her motivation for being a super villain falls short.
Diablo, Boomerang and Killer Croc are interesting characters, but the dialogue is lazy and this does not allow them to colour the movie with the necessary bad-guys-for-a good-cause-flair.
Will Smith is one of Hollywood’s biggest stars and he made an effort to make Deadshot his own.
Maybe because he has played the belligerent anti-hero once too often, it was nothing new, but it wasn’t bad either.
One redeeming factor is Margot Robbie as Dr Harleen Quinzel/Harley Quinn and Jared Leto as the Joker.
We have been spoilt over the past few years with truly awe-inspiring portrayals of the Joker and Leto had a tough act to follow in Heath Ledger’s shoes, but he did well.
He moved away from the overt chaotic and somehow chromed up his performance.
He is slick as an oil-spill and equally treacherous.
In a dark twist on the Pygmalion, the Joker builds himself a woman to love, creating an unhinged vexing hot mess.
Harley Quinn will be the new benchmark on the hot/crazy scale.
She is self-aware and ignorantly violent at the same time and the tender moments shared between her and Deadshot are far too few in my opinion.
The look and feel of this movie is different from the other offerings of 2016, but not nearly as groundbreaking as for example Sin City was.
The soundtrack is however one of the best in a long time and that in itself makes the move worth watching.
