Just when I thought DC must be resting quite satisfyingly after that awesome Batman v Superman, one day later later they drop the Suicide Squad trailer. Firstly for obvious reasons, its not as epic as Batman v Superman trailer was and its not going for that either. It definitely is more of an edgier presentation.
Viola Davis' Amanda Waller just works. That headstrong authoritative character remains intact in the performance. In the trailer Waller seemingly discussing with an Army general for what looks like a grant to assemble a team which consist of convicted people. This what is Suicide Squad main premise lies and they also have a great excuse to build this team since they have 'built-in deniability' meaning the authorities can just blame them for if anything goes wrong. That's quite tragic yet interesting. The film-makers also managed to throw in a superman reference claiming him as a beacon for the villains to go back into hiding. I think from here we again can see the First Contact story angle in the DC universe where the arrival of Superman is used as a world-building device.
I will be honest I did not know what Suicide Squad was before this, maybe I've heard the name before since it seems familiar. Anyway, my point being that when I was looking into the characters, many of them have you can say, 'exotic' abilites and I remain curious has to how writer/director David Ayer portrays these powers in a universe that is quite adamant about its realism. Though what does excite me is its really edgy tone with a dash of mania to it.
The trailer also gives us little bits of action, which again has a sense of zaniness with examples such as those absolutely crazy panda outfits and that Batman Mask. And yet somehow does sell an atmosphere of anarchy and distraught in a plausible way which DC seems to go for in its cinematic universe. They also put in that leaked Lamborghini scene with Batman on the roof, I'm personally quite hyped as to how this sequence takes place in the movie.
Even though we see all the team members of Suicide Squad such as the likes of El-Diablo, Killer Croc (though absurd looking in that press photo, surprisingly working in film), The Enchantress, Katana, Captain Boomerang etc. But this trailer mostly seems to focus on 2 of the members, Deadshot (Will Smith) and Harley Quinn (Margot Robbie) in particular plus the ending to which we shall come. shortly.
The trailer shows a sort of fatherly relationship with Deadshot and really delves into the whole anti-hero aspect of it all and even though I had my doubts with Will Smith's casting but from the trailer, I think I can run with it, he looks and sounds good in this. There is also a line by Jai Courtney as Captain Boomerang, he just sounds like Jai Courtney in a weird get-up, but again we haven't seen enough of him as of this point.
Most of the screen-time in this trailer is occupied by Margot Robbie's Harley Quinn. First Impressions: she fits as Harley Quinn and the design is accurate in terms of the 'New 52' rendition. The trailer first reveals her in what I assume is Belle Reve Penetentiary (from where the Suicide Squad operate in the comics) in a special cage, doing gymnastics? but it sells the whole creepiness the movie is going for. Robbie nails the voice where she does not copy Tara Strong's voice and her performance is quite original yet gives you a sense of how messed up she is remaining true to the character. I do have a theory that they will change her origin and as an extension Harley would play a really major part of the main story. In the original story Dr.Harleen Quinzel, psychiatrist at Arkham Asylum basically had Counter Transference (Google-it) with Joker and she got enamoured by his personality and since became his follower/sidekick. But in the movie I think that she will get (potential spoiler) mental torture as we can see when Joker is escaping the asylum (I think) and Harleen Quinzel strapped to a hospital bed and we see the Joker with that looks like electrodes used in Shock Treatment. It could be that he uses those on Quinzel to physically mess up her brain and you add the trauma of the event which makes her into Harley Quinn. Still just a theory. It does seem that the David Ayer will push this character and it could be something truly awesome.
And of course we have our first performance reveal of Jared Leto as The Joker. I always did support this casting because he is an actor that can take his performance to crazy places which you need for this villain. When the first look of him in bleach came, I was quite mixed, where he did capture the psychopath side of him but overkilled it in what looked like a Marilyn Manson tribute. Plus that cringe-worthy 'Damaged" forehead tattoo, ugh and I don't like the teeth-grills too much since (to me) the silver just doesn't go with the white skin like it doesn't contrast the teeth. However Leto does justice with his performance where there are clear influences of Heath Ledger in his voice but his face does emote more than past Jokers and that completely sells the character. But in the end it depends on the character written because with Joker, a writer has 2 options: crazy lost the mind joker or the more calculative criminal who is seriously dark. The best Jokers (including Ledger's ) often walked the fine line between the two. From the looks of it, its gonna be the former, but you cannot judge a character from just a line though the performance is very scary and spot-on indeed. In many respects one can argue that Suicide Squad is DC's answer to Guardians Of The Galaxy and in that case it is a serious contender. It is pretty much DC setting out to prove that there can be a movie consisting entirely of villains though there is definitely a more anti-hero angle than downright villains with Suicide Squad. Nonetheless this teaser sets the stage and grabs our heads. My takeaway from this is that it looks to be a character driven adventure with a really edgy tone. However we are still not properly introduced to the whole team so we are still short of seeing the dynamic between the members. Though we must remind ourselves that this is a teaser, and a friggin great one at that. DC is totally hell-bent to capture Marvel's lead.
ps. ANT-MAN should have released this weekend but it has been postponed to next week in my region but I will try to review asap. God knows how much I want to kill the executives who changed the date.
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