"Suicide Squad" (2016)

How many times can a story-telling company like DC afford to tell lame, ill-conceived stories before they have to toss in the towel? Well, the way geek culture has embraced style over substance the answer may be never.

Back when Marvel decided to do what amounts to serials in the modern age of cinema, many thought it was an impossible task. The fact that they pulled it off seems to have other companies now thinking that it is automatic. But it is still a tenuous effort, and solid story telling is the key. DC began by handing the reins to people who didn’t understand their characters or stories, and have since switched course to follow the whims of audience reaction. That may make them enough money to keep going, but it doesn’t make for great film-making.

Initial reviews of “Suicide Squad” (from people who had actually seen it, not the fanboys giving it 10s sight unseen) ranged from verdicts of terrible to the idea that it was actual cultural poison. It is not that bad.

Sure, there are the issues of: objectification of women, glorification of abusive relationships, giving power to actual evil people out of a fear of potential evil threats, and a glorification of violence instead of heroism, just to name a few problems. But this is hardly as culturally poisonous as other movies have been. Mostly because it is too poorly made to have that kind of impact. (Hopefully.)

The main problems in “Suicide Squad” are script and editing. Both are so poorly done that it is hard to know what is happening and when it is happening. It is clear that this movie went through several permutations during filming and post-production. Again, a case of trying to give the audience what it seemed to want. Again, a story telling company forgetting that it exists to tell actual stories.