Suicide Squad: Trailer Review

What is it with DC and their inconsistency with trailers? In the case of ‘Batman v Superman’ they can make a superb one for Comic-Con and then an awful one. Then with ‘Suicide Squad’ they can make a rather mediocre one for Comic-Con and an utterly fantastic one to follow it up.

Firstly of course we must mention the soundtrack. I’d have thought ‘Bohemian Rhapsody’ could never be used as the soundtrack to a trailer, the soundtrack of a trailer should be able to supply the most simplistic and primal sense of what the tone of the movie will be, something like ‘Hooked on a Felling’ for ‘Guardians pf the Galaxy’, weird, exciting and amazing. Freddie Mercury’s soaring ballad on the other hand is thoughtful, haunting, thrilling, ridiculously entertaining and completely insane. If I were to be asked what I want this movie to be, that’s a rather good description.

We open with Jai Courtney actually displaying another emotion other than mundane boredom, so that’s one miracle already achieved. A number of sublimely striking images depicting our main characters and their incarceration from Harley Quinn (which differs from her suspended cage look in the first trailer) to Killer Croc’s water logged enclosure.

Another thing I love is the darkly humoured way in which it sets out this scenario and describes its characters. As Deadshot is being beaten by guards it’s done so in a restrained manner that emphasises the brutal and bleak nature of the scene while also being somehow enthralling. It effectively sets a scene in which we are witnessing damaged characters being brought together (that’s what you call ‘a time bomb’ Bruce Banner).

Margot Robbie may be on the way to becoming an icon of superhero cinema here, the pressure of bringing such an iconic character as Harley Quinn for the first time in live action is daunting, but she just seems to cope with ease, finding a troubled yet playful attitude and making the playful side the more threatening aspect. Will Smith also looks like he’s bringing a good amount of attitude to the role, of course we’ll have to wait to see if he can sustain it for the entire film, but for now it looks very promising.

I don’t know why, but I find it immensely satisfying when trailer match their sound effects with their music (so if you still can’t understand why I love this trailer so much, that may be a big reason). It just works so perfectly, finding humour in atrocities, bringing a sense of intensity to what was already quite a thrilling sequence and one hell of a crazy ride.

Jared Leto is slowly meandering his way into the Joker role, inch by inch. He’s yet to convince me of whether or not he can pull off the role (and I’m still not sold on the look) but he’s edged his way forward with the few lines of dialogue and images he has here. Occasionally breaking the sequence of music to showcase some smaller moments like Captain Boomerang secretly taking a swig of beer, they work surprisingly well, though it’s slightly jarring it seems to suit the tone of the film, much more than the effect did for ‘Batman v Superman’.

There are any number of images here that conjure up various questions and I’m sure one could spend hours delving into them and pondering their many secrets. But frankly, I’m already sold. It seems to be heading closer to the vibe that ‘Fury Road’ wanted of utter insanity, which I’m fine with as long as there are moments of gravitas to back that insanity up, and from the number of beautifully stark images it looks as if they have that as well. Even better is the fact that the trailer still didn’t give anything away in terms of plot, all I know for sure is that this is a team made of the ‘Worst Heroes Ever’ and I can’t wait.

I am about to make a bold statement here, but after this trailer ‘Suicide Squad’ is now my most anticipated superhero film of 2016. Now before you throw your computer against the wall in rage (I’m kind of honoured anyone takes this page that seriously) I can easily say that ‘Deadpool’ looks more entertaining, and I have much more confidence in ‘Civil War’ being a generally amazing movie over this, but in terms of one that I genuinely cannot wait to see, ‘Suicide Squad’ just topped that list.