Trailer Trashin’: DC’s Villains Go to War in the Suicide Squad First Official Trailer
We’ve reached the end of January, dear readers, and we’ll soon find out if that groundhog in Pennsylvania will curse us with six more weeks of winter. But while we wait for warmer weather, there are always new movies for us to look forward to. This week’s column takes a look at the first official trailer for Suicide Squad.
Premise: The secret government agency A.R.G.U.S., run by Amanda Waller (Viola Davis), creates the “Suicide Squad,” a task force made up of imprisoned super villains. They are assigned to carry out dangerous missions in exchange for shorter prison sentences.
My take: I’m written several times in this column about my fairly ambivalent feelings toward the upcoming Batman v Superman: Dawn of Justice. I want to be excited about the first big-screen meeting between the Man of Steel and the Dark Knight, but there are just too many things about what we’ve seen that give me pause. But I am completely onboard with Suicide Squad, this year’s other DC Comics film. The first official trailer for Suicide Squad is now here, set to Queen’s classic “Bohemian Rhapsody,” and it really has me excited.
There are a lot of talented actors in the cast, and so far it looks like they’re doing a good job bringing to life these characters, a number of who are largely unknown to the general movie-going public. At this point, my pick for the standout member of the cast is Margot Robbie as Harley Quinn. Not only does she look like she stepped off a comic book page, but she seems to have nailed the two key aspects of the character, her fun playful side and her twisted dark side. I’m also surprised by how much I like Jai Courtney as Boomerang. It seems like his character will be pretty fun and a source of comic relief, hopefully without becoming annoying. I was skeptical at first whether I could buy a huge star like Will Smith as the assassin Deadshot, but he’s starting to win me over. And while I still have some issues with the look of Jared Leto as the Joker, I do think his version of the character will be interesting if nothing else.
Why am I so jazzed for this movie and not for Batman v Superman? One word: fun. Batman v Superman looks like it is playing things very seriously, and the few lighthearted moments – i.e. pretty much everything with Jesse Eisenberg’s Lex Luthor – look painfully unfunny. But Suicide Squad looks like it’s trying to be entertaining, even with the dark elements inherent in the concept of the team. And all the moments of humor we see in this trailer actually work. From Harley in her cell drinking tea and reading a romance novel, to Boomerang cracking open a beer and taking a swig during a lull in the action, to Rick Flag (Joel Kinnaman) and one of his fellow commandos fist-bumping each other, it all put a grin on my face. Of course, some would argue that this is just DC and Warner Bros. ripping off what Marvel and Disney did to promote Guardians of the Galaxy (2014), down to using a recognizable song from the mid-1970s. But that strategy worked like gangbusters for Guardians, so why shouldn’t they steal from the best?
In addition to being fun, the film looks like it’s going to kick a lot of ass. You’ve got Deadshot, Harley, and Rick Flag firing all kinds of guns, you’ve got Boomerang and Killer Croc (Adewale Akinnuoye-Agbaje) beating people up, and you’ve got Joker and his gang out causing chaos. And I appreciate that they’re not revealing the exact nature of the threat the Squad is facing. There are brief shots of a person and parts of the city covered with what look kind of like vines or tentacles, as well as people who look like they’ve been infected with something. But exactly what’s going on isn’t clear. Is it something from the cosmic or magical parts of the DC universe, or is there some mastermind villain at work that we haven’t heard about yet?
Yeah, this looks really good to me. If you’d told me a few years ago that Suicide Squad would be the DC Comics film I’m most looking forward to, I probably wouldn’t have believed you, but that’s definitely the case now. With a talented cast, a good director, and cool action, this looks like just what I want out of a summer comic book movie. When we get to the beginning of August, there’s no doubt that I’ll be checking out Suicide Squad.
ANTICIPATION: They may be the “Worst Heroes Ever,” but this looks like a good movie.
Starring: Will Smith, Jared Leto, Margot Robbie, Joel Kinnaman, Viola Davis, Jai Courtney, Jay Hernandez, Adewale Akinnuoye-Agbaje, Cara Delevingne, Karen Fukuhara, Adam Beach, Jim Parrack, Ike Barinholtz, and Scott Eastwood
Director: David Ayer
Writers: David Ayer, based on characters published by DC Comics
Timothy Monforton
