Why we can’t wait to see Suicide Squad
FUNNY FREAKS: Parsing the latest teaser shows there’s plenty to look forward to in the superhero/villain actioner
Is this the real life? Or is this just fantasy?
It’s hard to believe, but out of the two DC Comics movies coming out this year — Batman v Superman: Dawn of Justice in March, and Suicide Squad in August — it’s now the latter, with its group of misfit antiheroes, that we’re much more excited for.
And that’s all thanks to the new Suicide Squad trailer that premiered Tuesday night during the DC Films Presents: Dawn of the Justice League TV special, which also featured new concept art from Batman v Superman and footage of 2017’s Wonder Woman film.
The Man of Steel, the Caped Crusader and the Amazon Princess might be DC’s holy trinity, but Suicide Squad is fast becoming DC’s “holy crap!” And while trying to get a sense for how good a movie will be from its trailer is the cinematic version of judging a book by its cover, director David Ayer’s freaks and whackjobs look like they’re going to be a lot more fun than Zack Snyder’s glum saviours.
Here are five reasons why the new Suicide Squad trailer has us so excited.
1 It’s dark, but very funny
The first Suicide Squad teaser, released last July, gave us glimpses of the supervillain prison inmates who get coerced into forming a covert government task force, as well as a first look at Jared Leto’s Joker in action. But some fans found the teaser too arty and serious, something that wasn’t helped by its morose cover of the Bee Gees song I Started a Joke. The new trailer, craftily edited to the beat of Queen’s Bohemian Rhapsody, is infused with energy, humour and tons of action. If DC is trying to position Suicide Squad as their darker version of Guardians of the Galaxy, they’ve succeeded.
2 It makes silly heroes look dangerous
As team leader Rick Flagg (Joel Kinnaman) flips through the inmates’ files, he runs down their abilities in a way that’s both informative and condescending. It’s a wink to the audience, as if to say, “Look, these guys are strange and kind of dumb and you’ve probably never heard of most of them. But look what they can do!” Almost every one of the anti-heroes gets a moment in the trailer to demonstrate their powers, from Deadshot (Will Smith) showing off his prowess with guns to El Diablo (Jay Hernandez) blasting walls of fire from his hands to Capt. Boomerang (a nearly unrecognizable Jai Courtney) punching out a guard … and pausing in the middle of battle to sneak a beer.
3 It doesn’t give everything away
Other than perhaps confirming that the origin of Harley Quinn (Margot Robbie) is similar to DC’s New 52 comics, the trailer conceals some of the movie’s core mysteries and story beats, something Batman v Superman doesn’t seem to be doing. We’re not even sure who the main villain is in Suicide Squad, or the nature of the creature seen tearing apart a subway train (although there’s speculation it could be an entity created by Tattooed Man, played by rapper/actor Common.) Sometimes less really is more.
4 It’s not taking itself seriously
From the cool, ’70s-flavoured posters to the Worst. Heroes. Ever. tag line, everything about Suicide Squad seems to be geared toward fun (with, we hope, some emotional heart as well.) Maybe the Justice League and Suicide Squad will be lovely counterpoints to one another — one team of everso-serious super-types, and one loose assemblage of psycho goofballs. That could be great. But we know which group we’d rather party with.
5 We’re sold on Leto’s Joker
In the trailers, Batman v Superman’s Lex Luthor (Jesse Eisenberg) comes off as an annoying twerp, and Doomsday appears to be just another Zack Snyder CGI construct. (Don’t even get us started on the rumours that Bizarro is in that movie.) While the Joker isn’t Suicide Squad’s villain, per se, he’s certainly a very important character to get right. And despite the tattoos and grills, Leto’s scenes in the trailer have done even more to assure us that he’ll make an awesome Clown Prince of Crime. Very, very different from Heath Ledger and Jack Nicholson’s versions of the character, yes, but then this appears to be a very different sort of superhero movie.
Mama mia.