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SUICIDE SQUAD: RECONSIDERED

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 (Edited)

I’ll start by saying it wasn’t that bad, imo. There was very little Joker and Harley was almost secondary to what became another Will Smith vehicle, but for a PG-13 version I thought it was passing serviceable.

But it’s not the movie I would have made, and even the best is subject to improvement. Let’s try our hand at it.

First, I’ll confess that I’ve never been a great follower of the DC verse. AW BATMAN and LC WW were hokey fun from my childhood, '89 and the Nolan BATMANS were interesting and I enjoyed 79 SUPERMAN, but that’s about it.

Step one would be fixing the entire verse. I thought WATCHMEN was quite good, (I had no expectations going in) but after seeing Batman v Supes I believe the criticism of MOS. I liked the casting and performances of BvS, but story and direction were a bit of a mess. The Bvs fight should have been the climax, WW should have had more of a role with very little or no Lois, and, above all, there are a hundred ways to skin a cat and at least a HUNDRED BILLION different ways to pit the heroes against each other. Most of those would be awful, but they should have kept at it until they found a few that made sense.

Step one: The first mission of the squad should have been to find the rock Joss Whedon is hiding behind and drag him back under a baseball bat to, like, fix this sh@#. Avengers1 was great and Ultron was quite good. What problems there were in Ultron were mostly due to the need to service the entire universe of films, lack of time to develop the wonderful supervillain and his shifting motivations, and the dark second act structure with somber characters. It should have been a brighter standalone. No more trying to out-Nolan Nolan. Batman is Gothic and Hulk is a quasi-tragic figure. They should be dark and brooding to a degree. For the other characters it should be remembered that this all comes from the comic books. They should be colorful and fun and have some good humor.

More in next post…

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Step 2: Hard-R all the way. The moment they heard that a Deadpool movie had been greenlit they should have suspended all but R rated scriptwriting for Squad. Let Fox test the waters. This Squad is very uneven in tone and mood with PG-13 here and hardcore mass murder over there. Brutal and insane with as much dark comedy as possible.

Step 3: Character/story structure. WB-DC did it to me twice within a few months. I was sold on a Titanic struggle between B&S, and a wild group led by and centered on Joker and Harley.

It could have had the four character archetypes and the other-worldly and mystical super threat found in Ghostbusters and, indeed, ANH. But it would have tremendous insanity and criminality ladled over the top. Great passions and instabilities.

Han/Peter/Joker, Leia/Egon/Harley, Luke/Ray/Deadshot, and Ben/Dana/Waller. Utterly twisted and bizaaro world versions of these types. H/P/J is self-involved and sardonic and skeptical and always wise-cracking and quipping, L/E/H is analytical and clinical and practical while incredibly toying and manipulative, L/R/D is the heart and soul though murderous, B/D/W is foreseeing and alert to the threats and driving for the solution while joining the group a bit later than the others and brutal in her methods. Joker and Harley would be out front throughout and there would be versions of the droids and Chewie and Moranis and Hudson and Genine and the X pilots.

Davis could definitely handle it and I believe Robbie could play her expanded role very well. The Joker would require someone very skilled with black humor, genuinely funny. If Leto would have difficulty, I would have cast with male-model headshots and high school yearbooks until I found someone with the right physical qualities and a natural gift for sardonic wit. Smith was the best part of this PG-13 version. Nobody can do Will Smith better than Will Smith. But Will Smith is very PG. I missed him in ID:R. I wish he would have gone there and used his personality and clout to fix that film. I’d have cast a hard-R menacing badass instead.

Step 4: Logical and sensible within it’s fictional universe. Why not call in Batman and Flash? Waller could learn that the outside threat deals very harshly with any power that dares to oppose it. Plausible Deniability. They assemble a team that no responsible authority would ever entrust to do anything. Officially they act entirely on their own.

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Also, as in GB and ANH, it could have a great mystery slowly unfold. Neither the Squad or the audience knows exactly what they will be facing until later.

Well, those are my thoughts. Any others, or should we allow the thread to drift off?