The Not-So-Bad Guys: The Surprising Complexity of Suicide Squad

By Keona Tang, @KeonaTang

I wanted to try something a little bit different with this post, since this blog has dealt with a lot of the events of the past year and a half of my life. Rather than focusing on all of that stuff, I'd like to talk about one of my lifetime obsessions: comic books. More specifically, the cinematic adaptations of said comics, one of which has just opened this weekend amidst a cavalcade of relentless criticism. I am, of course, talking about writer/director David Ayer’s take on the classic DC Comics supervillain team called Task Force X, also known as the more provocatively named Suicide Squad.

But wait, did I say supervillain team?!? Why, yes, I did, but there is more to the concept than meets the eye. The modern comic book incarnation of the team began in 1987, and was heavily inspired by the World War II drama, The Dirty Dozen. DC’s creative team on the book, led by such legendary talents as John Ostrander, Len Wein, and John Byrne, came up with the idea of forming a motley crew of villainous characters who are brought together by a secretive and well-connected government agent named Amanda Waller in order to complete non-sanctioned covert missions for the government. Such operations are necessary to maintain national security, according to Waller. In exchange for their cooperation, the villains receive time off their prison sentences and get a few special privileges. Oh, and just to hedge her bets, Waller also has each Squad member injected with nanotech explosives at the base of their necks in order to ensure their compliance. When it comes to securing assets, it’s plain to say that Waller doesn't play around.

*Before I go on, I want to be clear that I won't be discussing the major plot points of the movie here. Instead, I want to talk about the principal cast of characters and the actors who portray them. Still, I'm going to label this post as a SPOILER DISCUSSION, just in case you haven't seen the movie and don't want to know anything about it. Go see it, formulate your own opinion, and then come back and check this post out, if you wish. It'll be here waiting for you.*

Basically, the movie follows the same outline as the comic. Waller, portrayed perfectly by the incomparable Viola Davis, is shrewd, tough as nails, and utterly fearless in her quest to control the uncontrollable. She does have backup in the form of Col. Rick Flag (Joel Kinnaman), America’s top special operative, and Katana (Karen Fukuhara), a Japanese assassin whose sword traps the souls of its victims. Together, they recruit the worst of the worst, including Deadshot (Will Smith), the hitman who never misses a target; Harley Quinn (Margot Robbie), a former prison psychiatrist who fell head over heels in love with the Clown Prince of Crime himself, the Joker (Jared Leto); Enchantress (Cara Delevingne), an ancient and extremely powerful witch; Killer Croc (Adewale Akinnuoye-Agbaje), a cannibalistic, sewer-dwelling former wrestler who suffers from a skin condition; Captain Boomerang (Jai Courtney), an Australian thief and career criminal who's really good at, well, throwing boomerangs; El Diablo (Jay Hernandez), a former gang leader who can generate and manipulate fire; and Slipknot (Adam Beach), a man who's very good with ropes, but not so great at following orders.

Each of these characters has an Achilles heel that Waller utilizes to secure their cooperation, in addition to the aforementioned explosive charges in their necks. They all have unique backstories that the film either charges through very quickly or glosses over, which is one of the problems many critics had with the film. That said, the movie would have to be at least four hours long to give every character a proper origin story, which simply isn't feasible. While it's true that much of the plot is a bit undercooked and many of the characters are underdeveloped or just not utilized all that well (poor Adam Beach), those who do get substantial arcs throughout are the saving grace of the piece, and yes, I'm specifically talking about Deadshot, El Diablo, and Harley Quinn.

With regard to the former, if you had told me last summer that I would be sitting in a theater ready to applaud a Will Smith performance, I would have thought you were joking. Smith is an incredibly talented actor and musician, but his career has not exactly been on an upswing in recent years. However, after seeing him play Deadshot (also known as Floyd Lawton), I can honestly say that I’d love to see him reprise the role again, either in a sequel or in a standalone movie. He brought a sense of pathos and honesty to the role that I wasn’t really expecting, and you can tell that he relished playing a guy who didn’t really give a crap about authority or the world or being the “good guy,” except when it came to one person: his daughter. Lawton is intent on proving his worth to her, perhaps because she is the only other person in the world he cares about besides himself. The one thing he really wants in the world is for her “to know that her father isn’t a piece of shit,” as he says in the film, and that reveals a moral and emotional complexity that lies beneath his outwardly cold, no-nonsense personality. Maybe there’s hope for Floyd Lawton, the man known as Deadshot, a “serial killer who takes credit cards,” a remorseless man with a heart of stone... but for the love of one little girl, who means more to him than anyone on the planet.

Then there’s Jay Hernandez’s understated and downright mournful performance as El Diablo, the man who can control fire, but can’t control himself. After a long career as a gang leader, Chato Santana returned home to discover that his wife was planning on leaving him and taking their two young children with her. Unable to stifle his rage at her actions, Santana channels it into an inferno that destroys his home, resulting in the murder of his own family. Stricken with guilt, he vows never to tap into his powers again, making him the most powerful Squad member and simultaneously the most reluctant. Hernandez brings a quiet, anguished intensity to the role, and when Diablo finally cuts loose in the climax of the film, he unleashes the fury of hell itself in order to save his fellow Squadmates. As the most penitent member of the Squad, Diablo ends up having one of the most satisfying character arcs in the entire movie, and it’s going to be interesting to see what’s in store for him in the comic book world, as well.

Finally, I need to mention Harley Quinn, as she’s my favorite character in the movie. Margot Robbie absolutely nails the role, and her complicated and twisted relationship with Jared Leto’s Joker is one of the highlights of the film. It’s quite obvious from the beginning that the woman formerly known as Dr. Harleen Quinzel is a complex and multifaceted character, and that she is both a victim of a psychopath and a willing participant (and an enabling agent) in his reign of terror. The movie gives us mere glimpses of Harley’s origin: there’s a quick flashback to her sessions with the Joker, wherein she is clearly in love with him, even allowing him to torture her, seemingly for his own pleasure. She also throws herself into a vat of acid to prove her devotion to him. The Joker apparently reciprocates this affection by attempting to rescue her throughout the film, but I believe that he does this out of possessiveness rather than love. He clearly lusts after her, and maybe he really does love her on some level, but he also abandons her after a run-in with Batman (who briefly appears in the film), and he forces her to flirt with a mob boss while he looks on with a predatory snarl on his face before flat-out killing the man for daring to even look at “his girl.” I think it’s fair to infer that Joker is obsessed with Harley rather than strictly in love with her.

On the other hand, it’s obvious that she is madly in love with him. Though she is quite a capable and strong woman, she has modeled herself on the Joker’s persona, and the specter of their relationship haunts her throughout the film. When she believes her “puddin’” to be dead after Waller attempts to take him out two-thirds of the way through the film, Harley is crestfallen. She perks up when she spots her newfound teammates, but it’s obvious that she’s hiding the pain she feels. Robbie’s performance in that moment works wonders for the character, and I couldn’t help but feel sympathy for her.

All these character beats come to a head in my favorite scene in the entire film: as the Squad heads toward their main objective, they discover an abandoned (but conveniently well-stocked) bar on the way. Taking a break to discuss their current predicament, Diablo reveals his backstory to his fellow teammates, after which Harley tells him to own up to what he did and accept himself for who he is.

Captain Boomerang berates her, “Look at you. Outside, you’re amazing! But inside… you’re ugly.”

Harley emphatically replies, “We all are! Except him,” she says, gesturing at Killer Croc. “He’s ugly on the outside, too.”

“Not me, shorty,” Croc says defiantly. “I’m beautiful!”

“Yeah, you are,” says Harley, smiling wide, obviously impressed by his outlook on life.

That single exchange made me fall in love with this movie.

Well, that and the fact that I could relate to Harley’s situation more than I’d care to admit. Love is a difficult thing to deal with, particularly when it’s unrequited or when it feels like something you can’t control. I think that Harley loses sight of herself as she pursues the Joker, or at the very least, gives herself over to him so completely that she neglects her own desires and individuality. The Squad at least gives her a chance to be her own person outside the Joker’s sphere of influence, and that is exactly what she needs to grow and develop as a character.

In the end, regardless of its narrative pitfalls and sometimes manic editing, Suicide Squad is one of my favorite movies of the year. It’s funny, subversive, brash, violent, sexy, crude, and surprisingly complex. Its main characters may be the “bad guys,” but they’re also just people who are doing the best they can. Yes, they’re deeply screwed up and sociopathic, but still… maybe there is a chance for them to find some form of redemption, if not in the world’s eyes, then at least in each other.

I’d say give the movie a chance. It may be a flawed film on the surface, but look a little deeper and you might be surprised at what you find.

Which, come to think of it, is pretty funny. After all, isn’t that how we all are, as human beings?