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DC and Warner Bros. didn’t have a memorable roll-out when the first images of Jared Leto’s Joker were released. The “Damaged” tattoo on his forehead, for all intents and purposes, flopped. With that said, if “Suicide Squad” is as good as its first trailer when it hits theaters Aug 5, 2016, then all will be forgiven.
As someone who doesn’t particularly have a vested interest in DC projects — my allegiance was to Marvel growing up — certain questionable aspects of film (e.g., Joker’s unique dental work) do not serve as deal-breakers. The essential question is “Does it look cool?”. The answer appears to be “Yes.”
Does Will Smith look like he will do an admirable job as Deadshot? Yes.
Does it ever get old hearing Mr. Smith say things like “Let’s save the world”? No.
Does Margot Robbie sound demented while looking absolutely gorgeous? Yes.
Does Adewale Akinnuoye-Agbaje as Killer Croc look cool? Yes.
Does Karen Fukuhara pull off Katana? Yes.
The only real question mark will be Leto’s Joker, and even that can be turned into a plus for opening weekend. Countless fans will want to see how he performs out of sheer morbid curiosity.
Warner Bros. has done an admirable job — with its trailer. I know this because I am not fond of movies that turn twisted men and women into heroes. From a cultural point of view, I would prefer movies like “Suicide Squad” were never made. I don’t think it’s healthy to portray evil as “cool.” Regardless, from a cinematic point of view, I would be lying if I said “Suicide Squad” looked like a bad movie.
If you have a strong opinion one way or the other on the trailer for David Ayer’s “Suicide Squad,” then let me know in the comments section below. I’m interested in hearing your thoughts.
Douglas Ernst Blog 
This could be entertaining. But why anyone even in a fictional world would put THE JOKER in a team is beyond me.
Is Joker on the team?
I’m more curious about why Katana’s on Suicide Squad. I mean, I haven’t read any new stuff with her in it since the 80s, but I thought she was a good guy?
I doubt Joker will be on the squad. I don’t think he ever has been, they just frequently encounter him because of Harley.
As for Katana. Sometimes good guys end up on the squad. You just have to remember it is determined by how the government classifies them and vigilantes are criminals.
Yeah, I guess given that she was from a team Batman put together, she’s probably not high on the “trusted by authorities” list.
I’m not sure if you saw Batman: Assault on Arkham, but if you’re interested in Suicide Squad, then it’s worth checking out. It may answer some of your questions about Joker, but also ruin some surprises that are probably worth waiting for until next year. 🙂
After what happened to Alexander Luthor in Infinite Crisis, I think everyone offers Joker a slot just in case.
I was wondering if anyone was going to bring up “let Joker play” in here.
“From a cultural point of view, I would prefer movies like “Suicide Squad” were never made. I don’t think it’s healthy to portray evil as ‘cool.'”
In response to that, Suicide Squad has a tendency to not let the villains look that cool. Yeh I’m sure Deadshot will be a badass, but they will also paint him as a concerned father who went outside the law to provide for his daughter. Alternatively, a big part of the books is showing criminals acting foolishly (or like criminals) resulting in them dieing foolishly. I’m willing to bet that for every “cool” villain they will have one that gets killed in some embarrassing manner, simply because they decided to act like a villain.
It’s also interesting how their group dynamic, at its best, is about the virtues they have rather than the vices (thinking of Secret Six here). Their loyalty and teamwork are what creates their successes. As you say, when they act like villains they tend to lose, and often get themselves or teammates hurt or killed in the process.
If that ends up being the case, then my opinion of the film will certainly shift in a positive direction. 🙂 I hope you’re right.
I had an odd reaction to this trailer. For whatever reason, I can accept intentional ugliness, but I just can’t handle all the disgusting tattoos on all the characters. There’s ugly like Deadpool, and then there’s ugly like Harley in this version with all the garbage all over her. It makes my skin crawl. I know they’re supposed to be bad guys and all, but if you’re going to cover a character with tattoos it ought to make sense that they would have them. In this case they’re just doing it to be “cool,” which it isn’t. And I can’t take chrome-grill tattoo Joker seriously.
Yeah, that’s not joker. That’s “marketable-Joker.”
And what works best with Joker is when he has an air of normalcy about him. Like a suit like a businessman might wear. Only it’s bright and garish…
Someone who, at first glance or in poor light, you might mistake as just a regular guy, but then as they get closer and you see more details… is just wrong. THAT is Joker.
I dunno. Green hair, chalk-white skin, ruby red lips, and a perpetual leer is pretty hard to put over as the average fella.
I think Nate spends a few months out of the year in San Francisco. That’s considered normal there. 😉
…You didn’t get the point did you.
This looks pretty good. I really don’t know all that much about “Suicide Squad”. I have a couple of issues from the 80’s in my collection somewhere. Might dig them out later. 🙂
Batman: Assault on Arkham is one of a few animated DVD’s I’ve yet to purchase and should probably check it out to get a bit of a heads up on this crew.
Kudos to Margot Robbie for landing the Harley Quinn role. Hopefully she nails it. She sure has come a long way since her Aussie TV soap opera days. 🙂
Some talent scout did a really good job finding her and giving her a shot. She definitely has the “it” factor that helps make someone a star.
I think this has potential but it is one that I will wait for on DVD.
I am not familiar with Suicide Squad at all, never read the books, but I am forever attached to Harley Quinn, having witnessed her transcendence from comedy sidekick to either Joker or Poison Ivy on Batman: The Animated Series straight through to the multi-layered and fractured character keeping some of those old allegiances while forging her own identity independent of The Joker. Amanda Waller, Deadshot and Killer Croc I’m also familiar with, so that will help maintain my investment. I quite like the line from the trailer “let’s just say I put them in a hole and threw away the hole”…very apt way of describing the desperation it must take to pull them out of their burrow.
Another plus is the use of the Bee Gees “I Started A Joke”, I’ve been listening to it all day thanks to this trailer.
Agreed! I’ve been singing that all morning. Luckily I work remotely so I don’t annoy my coworkers. 🙂
“Are you the devil?” Of Amanda Waller is my fave line and IMO the most faithful thing in the trailer. (Harley is starting to reach dangerous Mary Sue levels nowadays.)
Still, less thrilled with this than “Legends of Tomorrow” or any of the DC shows. Heck Arrow/Flash have had better suicide squads on them.
Everyone looks awesome except for Jared Leto. No one will ever be a better Joker than Ledger, but even if we’re not comparing the two, I just don’t like Leto’s version.
The question I ask is, will there be anyone to root for? Anybody remember THE DIRTY DOZEN? That was the inspiration for series like these. Some of the Dirty Dozen were outright lunatics (Telly Savalas’ Maggot), but others were just dumb trouble-makers, there was one huge guy who couldn’t control his temper, and in one case a decent sergeant (Charles Bronson) who shot and killed a guy because he was deserting with the unit’s medical supplies. And you liked the character played by Lee Marvin, who wrangled all these bruisers. They’re going to need a Lee Marvin type (Waller isn’t it, she’s nigh unto a villain herself), and some of the Squad need to be semi-sympathetic and/or semi-normal. I don’t want to see a movie with seven Lee Harvey Oswalds.
That’s generally why I stay away from movies like this. I don’t want to pay $12 to sit in a theater for 2 hours watching characters who are rotten people. I’m probably going to be in the minority with this one, but I may not even see Deadpool while it’s in theaters…