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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

Warner Bros. 
Pictures

Rave & Quality 16

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