Suicide Squad may have made Warner Bros. a lot of money, but there’s no denying that it was a total flop in the critical department. Fans tore the movie apart for its incoherent storyline, wayward characterization and choppy editing style. Nevertheless, WB is pressing forward with Suicide Squad 2, with Gavin O’Connor in the director’s chair.
But what can the sequel do to make sure it avoids the pitfalls of the first film? Star Joel Kinnaman – who played Colonel Rick Flag – was asked why Suicide Squad didn’t quite work in a recent interview with Yahoo. The actor at first gave a surprisingly blunt reply – “the third act,” he commented – before elaborating on what he wants to see in the second movie.
“It was a great set-up, great characters. I think when we do the second one I wouldn’t be surprised if we saw a more grounded version of the film. The characters are so extreme it could be more effective if we saw less sorcery. I think the characters become more extreme if you see them in conjunction with real people.”
Kinnaman’s probably hit the nail on the head here. Task Force X are usually employed in the comics to deal with more real-world, militaristic matters. While the Justice League handle fighting alien invasions and apocalyptic events, the Suicide Squad are good for more underground operations.
As such, it was a bit of a bizarre idea for David Ayer to send the squad in to deal with Enchantress and her scheme to end the world. As fans have poked fun at ever since, why would a guy with a gun and a crazy woman with a baseball bat be able to combat an all-powerful sorceress?
This is even something that Ayer himself regrets. Since the movie came out, the writer/director has said that he believes he should have made Jared Leto’s Joker the main villain of the piece instead of Cara Delevingne’s gyrating witch. Most would agree with him, too, as infamously, the theatrical cut only gave the Clown Prince of Crime ten minutes of screentime – which rubbed fans the wrong way.
Suicide Squad 2 is one of many upcoming DCEU films on the slate and could be with us sooner rather than later, as Margot Robbie has promised that she’ll be filming something as Harley Quinn at some point this year. Whether that’s O’Connor’s sequel or something else remains to be seen, but as always, watch this space for more.
