The Big Problem With Suicide Squad

With all the issues that Suicide Squad has, its biggest problem may not be what you expect.

First of all, let me begin by saying this article will be completely spoiler free. So it’s safe to proceed if you haven’t seen the film yet.

Was Suicide Squad a great film? No. In fact, we have our official review of the latest DCEU film right here if you want to check it out. But I’m here to tell you that Suicide Squad isn’t as bad as critics are making it out to be, and that’s because of the biggest problem facing the film.

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Suicide Squad has its fair share of issues. There’s pacing issues, choppy plot in areas, and a very crowded lineup that leaves some characters feeling flat. But none of those are the film’s biggest problem. The issue that truly holds it back from reaching its potential.

No, Suicide Squad‘s biggest problem is that Warner Bros. tried to make it appeal to a larger audience rather than going with the natural flow of the story.

Calling Suicide Squad a mess of a movie isn’t an unfair judgment. The plot doesn’t make the most tangential sense, and you can tell the movie was re-written and re-shot significantly while watching it. But if Warner Bros. wasn’t so obsessed with trying to play off the success of the Marvel films and trying their best to appeal to everyone, then Suicide Squad could’ve been a great film.

The potential was there. I kept watching the movie and catching myself hoping that a certain story point or character was going to blow me away because it had that potential building up in it. But for all the talk of how gritty and violent this film was going to be, it felt like it was having to hold itself back all because Warner Bros. didn’t want to have the “R” rating slapped on it.

In order to reach that coveted 13 to 17 age range that super hero movies love to target, they have to keep their films in the PG-13 arena. However, if any DCEU film was going to be R-rated, Suicide Squad was it. And the opening scenes of the film show why it would’ve worked as one.

The first twenty or so minutes of the film had some of the most intense, psychologically stressing moments of the entire movie. In fact, it was probably the most on-edge I’ve ever been during a super hero film aside from actual suspenseful action sequences. Once those scenes were over, that kind of emotional intensity was never really approached again at any point in the film. There were some dark, morally ambiguous moments to be sure, but they didn’t hold the tension and creepiness of that first act.

That’s why Suicide Squad should’ve been written more as a psychological thriller/horror film and less like a movie that’s “okay to take a middle-schooler to.”

Rumors have surfaced of a leaked list of several scenes that were cut from the original film in order to both cut down on time and to secure the PG-13 rating. Several of these scenes change character dynamics completely, especially between the Joker and Harley Quinn. Not only that, but they add a more disturbing, sinister quality to the entire film.

Most of the scenes listed in that leak fit the overall tone of the opening act of the movie better than what was left in. Everything from character motivations to the violence in those scenes paint an enticing “what could’ve been” for the film.

Keeping in those scenes and making Suicide Squad R-rated wouldn’t have hurt profits that much. Deadpool proved that an R-rated super hero film can be commercially successful, becoming the highest-grossing R-rated film worldwide, hauling in $745.9 million worldwide as of late March.

The reason Suicide Squad felt so disjointed in areas was because of the reworking of the script and removal of scenes that added much more depth to the overall film. And all that can be directly attributed to the fact that Warner Bros. valued making the movie easier to access by younger audiences rather than letting the film be crafted how it should’ve been.

Next: Suicide Squad Review: Warner Bros. / DC Need To Start Over

Say what you will about Suicide Squad. I personally think much of the criticism is undue. Does it fall flat in areas? Absolutely. But it’s not as bad as the 26% rating Rotten Tomatoes gave it. Its biggest issue is that Warner Bros. decided to make it something it’s not: a movie that appeals to anyone who likes super hero movies.

Deadpool made R-rated super hero movies a true possibility. It’s a shame Suicide Squad didn’t seize that opportunity.