Suicide Squad was a financial success when it released in 2016 but failed to meet expectations of critics and audiences. Several factors led to the jumbled mess that is Suicide Squad. What were they and how can they be fixed in Suicide Squad 2 directed by The Accountant’s Gavin O’Connor?
The marketing of the movie is the first problem. While the trailer promised a plot with Jared Leto’s Joker, the final product didn’t live up to those expectations. The Joker had under ten minutes of screen time, and he wasn’t important to the plot of the movie.
Having the Joker as the main villain in the movie rather than Enchantress would have given a more focused threat who has ties to several members of the squad.
This is a fact even the Director, David Ayer, acknowledged on Twitter. When asked what he would do differently, he replied:
“I’d make Joker the main villain and engineer a more grounded story. I have to take the good and bad and learn from it.”
The movie also fails in conveying the complicated relationship between Joker and Harley. Instead of showing the psychical and emotionally abusive relationship the creative team made it a cliché love story.
Leto’s portrayal of the character split fans. I believe having a plot focusing on his villainy, a stronger script, and a more Joker-like look would have helped him.
The confusion of a muddled plot was only continued by the Taskforce’s mission: to save HVT-1.
HVT-1 is a trapped Amanda Waller who needs the expendable villains to escort her from one floor to another. The real mission should have taken the Taskforce onto the front lines to fight Enchantress.
The film featured only an ounce of Waller’s true nature. The sequel needs to build upon it. Let Amanda Waller be the character who manipulates her own Taskforce for the greater good. Don’t have her using them as her personal bodyguards. Let her be the cold calculating force the bad guys are scared of.
The biggest problem the movie faced was coming off the back of critically-panned Batman vs. Superman: Dawn of Justice. Due to this, Warner Brothers moved Suicide Squad to be a lighter movie. The finished product became a mash-up of several cuts of the movie, including one from an external company Trailer Park who created the Bohemian Rhapsody trailer.
Suicide Squad 2 needs to have a story-focused script, less studio interference, and the right villain. But who is that?
