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Thursday, August 11, 2016
The Michigan Daily — michigandaily.com ARTS
‘Suicide’ fails to live
up to its ‘Squad’ goals
FILM REVIEW
DC’s latest a pathetic
excuse for a superhero
movie
By ANA LUCENA
Daily Arts Writer
With a talented cast and a
premise even more subversive of
the superhero genre than “Dead-
pool,” “Suicide
Squad”
held
promise. Quite
a bit of promise.
Add the mas-
sive buzz it gen-
erated — from
the
well-done
trailer
leaked
at
Comic-Con
2015 — to Jared
Leto’s shocking
appearance and preparation as the
film’s Joker, to the fittingly moody
soundtrack that was leaked to the
guilty delight of Twitter, and it was
fairly easy to buy into the hype.
All things considered, it was sadly
undeserved, with lousy execution
at every turn. Stationary shots that
last too long introduce Amanda
Waller’s (Viola Davis, “How to Get
Away With Murder”) plan to fight
fire with fire by having villains take
down evil in dangerous missions
for the government in exchange for
ten years off their respective prison
sentences.
Davis’s
no-nonsense
performance makes the stakes her
character’s gamble has for the safety
of the country feel palpable. Other-
wise, her central figure would be
lost among the many dark, drained-
of-color shots that paint the bureau-
cracy she works for.
The bad guys Waller unites must
successfully collaborate at the risk
of being killed at a moment’s notice.
The acting of the Squad itself is
also solid. The talented Will Smith
(“Concussion”) as hit man and con-
flicted father Deadshot and Margot
Robbie (“The Wolf of Wall Street”)
as the crazy psychiatrist-turned-
right-hand-woman and lover to
the Joker (Jared Leto, “Dallas Buy-
ers Club”) are stand-out leads.
The remorse of pyrokinetic gang
member El Diablo (Jay Hernandez,
“Hostel”) is brought to life by Her-
nandez’s
down-to-earth
perfor-
mance and is refreshing and real in
the midst of his chaotic associates,
and Jai Courtney’s (“Divergent”)
quiet but sure presence is reflec-
tive of the thief’s role in the original
comic book.
The bad guys must fight the pos-
sessed but benevolent anthropolo-
gist Dr. June Moon, played by Cara
Delevingne of “Paper Towns” the
way I play recorder. The way she
spends the better half of the movie in
a two piece, after only being capable
of one expression for the first (dis-
tress) makes clear why she was cast.
Moon is eventually overcome by her
alien possessor, called Enchantress,
and threatens to destroy everything.
She annoyingly pops in and out of
the film whenever tension is needed
or the script gets too close to the
character development it begs for.
Not counting Delevigne and
the odd Leto, the latter unable to
marry his second-rate Heath Led-
ger’s Joker imitation with his curi-
ous El Chapo Guzman aesthetic, it
would be unrealistic to expect the
Suicide Squad alone to make up for
how sloppy this movie is. Listing the
surplus of protagonists in the film is
as repetitive as the sequences direc-
tor and writer David Ayer uses to
explain the circumstances of each
bad guy before they have to save the
world together from being sucked
into some giant vortex of doom (no
context even necessary.)
It’s clear the Marvel Cinemat-
ic Universe’s precedent is partly
to blame for “Suicide Squad” ’s
stretched-thin plot. DC has relied on
the integrity of their solitary protag-
onists since the conception of Super-
man. Marvel, on the other hand, has
thrived on keeping its universe fluid
as to allow for crossovers to maxi-
mize their appeal (just compare
the box office sales of less popular
heroes like “Thor” to “The Aveng-
ers” or “Age of Ultron”.) Warner
Bros. tries to emulate the formula to
no avail. So little time is spent with
any of the characters, that “Suicide
Squad” ’s intent to build brand rec-
ognition for the future installments
we all know are coming overshad-
ows the chemistry between the
ensemble cast. A repeat of their ear-
lier superhero failure this year.
However, in spite of my skeptic
self, I do think DC has a chance to
redeem itself as there are rumors
of a Harley Quinn movie. Not only
would it mean the gorgeous Robbie’s
talent is taken seriously despite the
many predictable fanservice shots
of her butt bared in hot pants, but it
would also give DC the opportunity
to be bold and adapt her relationship
with Poison Ivy, who helps her canon
girlfriend overcome the effects of
Harley’s abusive relationship with
the Joker in a notably realistic way.
This would be important represen-
tation on several levels. And after
seeing Harley’s biggest dream in the
film is to be married to Leto’s sleazy
Joker in a vision straight out of the
1950’s, I never want to see Robbie
or Leto embrace in a film ever, ever
again.
After looking past the choppy
editing, weak writing and nearly
non-existant characterization, “Sui-
cide Squad” has too many unique
villains and could not find a way
to showcase them all. No matter
what DC’s die-hard fans say about
the critical backlash the film has
received, the fact of the matter is
DC’s characters and moviegoers
deserve better.
WARNER BROS.
Like our tenure as arts editors, this could have been so much better.
HBO finds itself
at a crossroads
By ALEX INTNER
Summer Managing Arts Editor
We’re used to hearing about
HBO as being the standard-
bearer of television. For years
now, it’s the network that’s
been the most Emmy nominated
(mainly because of the variety
and quality of content it pro-
duces). It’s the network that the
likes of Netflix, Showtime and
Starz try to emulate in their
everyday programming deci-
sions.
Yet, HBO finds itself in a pre-
carious position for the first
time in several years. While
there’s no denying the massive
success of “Game of Thrones,”
the drama will only have two
more seasons on the air. Out-
side of “Thrones,” the network
has very few other established
dramas. “The Leftovers” is its
only other drama existing past
its first season, and that will
end with its third airing in
2017. Their last big attempt at a
drama hit, “Vinyl,” was uncer-
emoniously unrenewed after it
realized the dramatic retooling
the show’s second season would
require wasn’t worth the invest-
ment. They’re even considering
reviving the “True Detective”
franchise after its critically
panned second season without
showrunner Nic Pizzolatto.
That means that, if nothing
else succeeds, HBO will find
itself with zero established dra-
mas on the network. To combat
this, they’re going to be putting
a heavy emphasis on new pro-
gramming. This starts this fall
with the launch of “Westworld.”
The network has invested sub-
stantial time and money into the
series. A pilot was first ordered
back in 2013, and in 2014 it was
picked up to series with a tar-
geted 2015 premiere date. How-
ever, production stoppages and
other delays forced the show off
that date, and it finally makes its
debut in October. The network
also has upcoming shows from
familiar creators already picked
up to series. David Simon (“The
Wire”) will be making a series
about the porn industry in New
York City in the ’70s called “The
Deuce” and Alan Ball (“True
Blood”) will be returning to his
roots in family drama, though
the show does not yet have a
title.
Still, none of these shows
are guaranteed surefire hits. A
development process as tumul-
tuous as “Westworld” ’s does not
usually inspire confidence. And,
though Simon has created what
are considered to be two of the
network’s most acclaimed series
in “The Wire” and “Treme,”
they never had huge audiences
at the level of a “The Sopranos”
or a “Game of Thrones.”
All these problems are com-
pounded by the recent regime
change at the network. Michael
Lombardo
recently
left
his
position as president of the
network and was replaced by
one of his key deputies Casey
Bloys to replace him. Usually it
takes a new leader a few years
to establish their presence at
the network and develop shows
in their own voice, but HBO
doesn’t have time to lose. It
needs to work on developing
hits fast. HBO’s development
process is notoriously slow, as
exhibited by “Westworld.” They
don’t have the years it takes to
slowly nurture something out
of the gate right now. They need
to get a hit drama on the air in
the next year, or they risk being
without one at all.
However,
HBO
has
been
in this position before. “The
Sopranos” went off the air in
2007 and was immediately fol-
lowed up by the flop “John from
Cincinnati” and “Tell Me You
Love Me,” which was renewed
for a second season and can-
celled
several
months
later
when they couldn’t figure out
what a second season would be.
Still, a year later, “True Blood”
premiered. The vampire drama
quickly grew into the network’s
biggest hit since the famous mob
drama, giving them a building
block they could used to sure
up their schedule. It meant they
could maintain their reputation
as the home for quality, buzz-
worthy TV. After all, what’s the
TV landscape without a strong
HBO?
D
Suicide
Squad
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