“The worst of the worst”
Due to a leak, the trailer for the Suicide Squad from the San Diego Comic Con has been officially released. Come on, it’s the Age of Leaks: if it can be leaked, it will be leaked. The same thing happened to the Batman v Superman teaser trailer, if I remember correctly. Suicide Squad is something I’m only familiar with due to Smallville and Pam Grier, so I had a little bit of interest in the concept and the film. The trailer doesn’t reveal too much about the plot, for obvious reasons, but looks like it will offer something different from the barrage of comic book films we will be hit with over the coming years. And for that reason I’m looking forward to it! Here’s the trailer:
The concept of the Suicide Squad is that a bunch of villains are used by a shady part of the government to carry out secret missions. The woman at the beginning of the trailer, Amanda Waller, She’s the leader of the Suicide Squad, the woman who brings them all together. In her words, “maybe Superman was some kind of beacon for them to creep back from the shadows.” So, it’s established that this takes place after Man of Steel. I assume it takes place before Batman v Superman, as there’s no mention of a team of superheroes uniting to save the world. But I could be wrong! Of course, assembling a team of supervillains to carry out justice doesn’t appear to be the most logical course of action, but as Waller says in the trailer, the team will ge the blame if something goes wrong. It’s a win-win situation!
A refreshing sight to see is the focus on Harley Quinn over the other villains. A female being highlighted in a comic book film? Not since the days of Catwoman and Elecktra have we seen that! But, come to think of it, those were awful films. She looks like to be a badass in the film as well: just look at the armed guard surrounded her isolated cage of a prison! It’s easy to portray her as the Joker’s lackey, but hopefully she will be an independent woman who can handle things on her own. In one second long sequence, she floors a guard in a very gymnastic fashion. Girl Power! Either way, it will be good to see a big screen version of one of Batman’s primary villains.
“We’re the patsies”
However, I fear that, if left unchecked, it will become the ‘Will Smith’ film. Next to Harley Quinn, Will Smith as Deadshot was the second-most featured villain. There appeared to be a little bit of back story about him, taking his daughter (possibly) out Christmas shopping. He even says “we’re some sort of Suicide Squad.” As the most popular actor in the film, will there be a tendency to make him the star of the show?
However, I’m sure that the star of the show will be Jared Leto’s The Joker. Could he be the ‘villain’ of the piece, the one that the Suicide Squad have to take down? Certainly, in the shot of the Suicide Sqaud together, he’s not in the picture…As the most established villain of the film (his third incarnation on film in thirty years!), he’s the only villain non-comic book fans will know. I for one only know a few of the other villains through my playthroughs of the Batman: Arkham video game series. We only see a few fleeting moments of The Joker, and not enough to judge. Will the memory of Heath Ledger’s Joker forever cast a shadow over Jared Leto’s Joker, especially less than a decade after The Dark Knight? We shall see!
“I’m just gonna hurt ya…really, really bad!
But that brings me to my main concern about Suicide Squad. With so few of the characters known to the masses, will anyone but comic books fans care about the film? I know of Killer Croc, Deadshot, Harley Quinn, but as for the others, I haven’t got a clue! People will be curious to see how Leto’s Joker compares to Ledger’s Joker, and I suppose Will Smith still puts a few bums on seats, but apart from that, what is the selling point of Suicide Squad? Will most of the characters be merely part of the background, there to make up the numbers as Deadshot, Quinn and The Joker command the screen? There also seems to be a number of flashbacks about the characters as well, so be prepared for another long comic book film! Also, it has Jai Courtnery in it…
But, it’s early days yet. Last year’s Guardians of the Galaxy was an unproven comic book commodity, until it did big money at the box office. But that was another film in the proven Marvel cycle. How will Suicide Squad perform, with only two DC films as part of its universe? But for now, the tone and look of the film seems appropriate and enticing. It’s always good to see villains as the heroes of the piece!
Leave your thoughts below!
Hammy Reviews 
I think it looks great! I’m interested to see how they handle somebody as lovable as Will Smith. Jared Leto will make The Joker his own, I think it’ll be a more maniacal whereas Ledger’s was very calculated and methodical.
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I was impressed by the trailer! Wasn’t one I was looking forward to beforehand!
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It think this is going to be a hit for DC. We’re past the point of superhero movies only been watched by comic book fan boys. In the same way that Superman is a beacon that’s inspiring all the freaks to come out, the Golden Age of superhero movies is gonna lead to all the unknown gems of the comic book world coming out to play. I didn’t really like this trailer, it gave me less than the leaked set photos did. I did like the moment with Joker. Leto is TERRIFYING.
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But I think we will soon hit a point of superhero saturation (if we haven’t already), where people will get tired of superheroes dominating the big screen.
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I agree. Every decade has its golden age of films. 80’s had actions, 90’s romantic comedies, early 2000’s had teen comedies. Now we have comic book movies. It will fade and when it does and no one wants to watch superheroes on film anymore, Marvel and DC will be forced into a giant publicity stunt and that’s when we’ll have a crossover movie.
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