BulletPoints: Why Get Hype For Suicide Squad?

Some of you might have been wondering with the last issue of BulletPoints why I seem more inclined to like Marvel films over DC films. Taking it farther, why I was surprised by my excitement for Suicide Squad over… anything Marvel or Marvel-related. But there are some good reasons which I guess I’ll explain here. 

First off, I love the Marvel movies (not necessarily the Marvel-related movies). Avengers and all the build-up to a new Avengers is fun. You get to see how everything connects if you’re up on the lore and pay attention, but you also just get to see talented people having fun with fun characters. Guardians of the Galaxy is a perfect example of just a fun movie that I just enjoyed every second of. It’s hard to really put into words beyond that because how do you define fun when it’s so subjective? What’s fun to me may not be fun to you.

But the bright and colorful visuals of the Marvel films combined with the energy and hilarity provided by the stellar cast we see in each film combine to make something excellent almost every time. Hell, for as bad as Iron Man 2 is, I still had fun with it during the good parts. Contrast to that, a very similar film in terms of purpose, Amazing Spiderman 2 is a film I had virtually NO fun with because it just didn’t work on so many levels. And it helps that Avengers and the like have a decent writing staff that keeps everything connected in just the right amount of ways where it RARELY feels heavy-handed and more organic.

 DC films, on the other hand, have rarely been this way, least not since Schumacher left after Batman and Robin. Every Batman since has been dark, broody, gritty, and focusing on being so realistic that it almost damages how much fun the film can be. This was saved by Heath Ledger’s Joker in Dark Knight, but things immediately fell apart in Dark Knight Rises when such a welcome spark of joy and insanity wasn’t present. Then it was all serious business, the tone was very grey, brown, and black. And the plot just didn’t hold up quite as well.

Man of Steel suffered the same way. Sure, Zack Snyder’s visual set-pieces aided in making the film visually impressive, but the colors, once again, were toned down so much that it felt almost oppressive. What’s the point of HD visuals if we’re choosing color schemes that don’t best show the HD visuals? Not to mention that the writing and action made this feel less like a Superman film, and more like DragonballZ. I have nothing against DBZ, but I don’t want Superman to be DBZ. I want Superman to be bloody Superman. Save people. Stop bad guys without murder. Be a corny idiot surrounded by more interesting people.

And then there was Green Lantern. I’m just going to ignore this film-adaptation of the abortion of Hal Jordan and just leave it at that.

This is why, up until recently the Marvel Studios films have always looked more interesting. They were trying to be light, fun, and energetic while understanding they were comic-book movies. A serious story is good, but going too far will kill the spirit of the comics and the reason we went to an action movie showing dudes in colorful costumes in the first place. To have some fucking fun. I didn’t come to Iron Man 3 for a deep philosophical interpretation on Middle Eastern versus Western ideology and how advancing technology clashes with decaying religious/mythical beliefs. I came to watch Robert Downey Jr be a hilarious asshole that shoots lasers from his hands and flies in a robot suit.

If I get the serious philosophical stuff, that’s perfectly fine as well. BUT what I don’t need is it or other ham-fisted metaphors shoved in my face with the subtly of a breakdancing cow. This is why Man of Steel was so bland to me is because Superman is already a metaphor and here we have a film desperately trying to either invent new metaphors or just overexpose the existing ones to the point where they might as well have called the movie “Jesus from Space.” I’ve always felt that a story with a message is best when the message isn’t overt and in your face. When it’s something the audience can pull from the work on their own simply by watching the events unfold and not have to have a billboard up stating the message in the movie somewhere.

This is why Suicide Squad interests me so much. First, we’re getting Joker back, which means that the DC films might have us cracking a smile again. Second, Harley Quinn will be on the big screen, adding more diversity to a very white-male dominated genre at the moment. Hell, add to that fact that we’re getting Will Smith too! Third, the very notion or idea of the Suicide Squad is both realistic (we have special-ops teams for dangerous-suicide missions in real life) and silly because we’re using established criminals from comics to do dirty work that super heroes can’t do because of just how iconic they are.

There are a lot of levels in which Suicide Squad can work and that is what gets me relatively excited for it. Granted, it’s still a film by Warner Bros, the only studio to have as many fuck-ups with their super heroes as Sony with Spiderman. As interesting as the concept and cast sound, we could easily get a bad film on just the story alone and there goes all of Warner Bros’ hard work to compete with Marvel. Actually, this brings me to another fantastic point.

DC needs to slow down and stop announcing things right now. Or at least not have announced as much shit as they did. When Marvel started, they didn’t announce their big plans for the next five years. They simply released a couple of films and gauged fan reaction to see if there would be enough demand for more. They lowered expectations and built up an empire from humble origins. Warner Bros is just jumping into the fray with a reputation for less-than-stellar films at this point (DKR, MoS, and GL being their most recent examples) and saying they can compete too.

But instead of starting the same way by releasing a Superman film, a Wonder Woman film, and a Batman film to see where to go from there, they decided to announce the next five years of films, failing to see the many problems it could cause. First, if super hero fatigue actually kicks in, there will be multiple years of movies that won’t be commercially successful (and possibly even cancelled) because the market demand no longer exists. Second, if that doesn’t happen and one of the early films is just a disaster (or just boring) then the hype and interest for future films decline dramatically. If Suicide Squad is bad, my interesting in Justice League just dropped by a lot.

Third, if they get continuously beat in the box office by Marvel, Fox, and Sony, they’re going to look like idiots (especially if it’s Sony beating them). They need to make money to continue pumping out the films. If a film falls short, they need to adjust their schedule or cut something completely to make it all work. And should they not plan their releases properly in a year full of other comic book films to compete with, they will have trouble earning that money. But here comes the real kicker.

Fourth, if a film they make is bad enough, it could kill the entire genre completely. I’m talking Atari’s ET the Game, bad. I’m talking worse than Green Lantern or Amazing Spiderman bad. Like I said, their track-record in comparison to Marvel has not been good. And if a comic book movie they make is so unbelievably bad, it might kill interest for the genre entirely. In their desperate attempt to take some of the money that Marvel had been making, EVERYONE loses. I don’t anticipate this happening before the super hero fatigue comes in, but there’s a possibility and while the risk excites me, it worries me that it could happen. That said, I expect Sony’s Spiderman to be the ones that cause this problem more than anyone else.

So, yeah, Suicide Squad, while not being the biggest name among the comics is certainly one of the more interesting ideas being thrown around and I can’t wait to see how it plays out when everything is said and done. That’s all for me today and I hope to see you again soon for more stuff on comics, games, movies, and more. As always, if you like what you see, please be sure to like, comment, and subscribe. See ya next time!