Our opinion on Suicide Squad, to be seen again this Sunday on TF1

Fun and chaotic, the start of Suicide Squad is very successful. Afterwards, everything collapses.

Suicide Squad, the DC Universe blockbuster from Warner Bros. released in cinemas in 2016, returns to the clear at the end of the weekend followed by another blockbuster, but this time from Sony: Morbius. Unfortunately, these are far from being very successful comic book adaptations…

Warning, this review necessarily contains some spoilers. Allergy sufferers are asked to take precautions.

Initially, everything is fine. The first thirty minutes of Suicide Squad are devoted to the presentation of the team members. More or less crazy criminals, from the sniper hitman to the crocodile man, forced to put themselves in the service of the government. A succession of barred and messy vignettes, revolving around a super-prison for super-villains, teeming in the shadow of Batman and Superman in playlist mode.

Each character appearance has its own song, from ““Sympathy of the Devil” has “Fortunate Son.” It's fun, it's light, it works wonderfully well because it really never takes itself seriously. It is to the film's credit that it never plays the forced cool card. Guardians of the Galaxy (note the presence of ““Spirit in the Sky” in the soundtrack as in James Gunn) or meta nonsense Dead Pool. Director David Ayer is not a smart guy, he sincerely believes in his characters. Even when they are sexist caricatures like Harley Quinn, reduced to a stripper in tight panties who demands to be mistreated… Fortunately for her, her interpreter Margot Robbie had the opportunity to make up for it with The Suicide Squadby Gunn, and his own film Birds of Prey.

The most important issue of the film (read: the issue highlighted by the promo) was the Joker of Jared Leto. He is reduced to the background, that of a cartoonish and hysterical gangsta not very thrilling. And his rare appearances without stakes allow the role of the Joker to now be freed from the overwhelming shadow ofHeath Ledger.

After this not-so-great performance from Leto (here closer to Jim Carrey In Batman Forever, which is not a criticism), the way is once again clear to reinvent the most iconic villain in the world. Speaking of reinvention, Will Smith finds here a job perfectly suited to him as a daddy sniper, effortlessly cool, present without overwhelming others too much, all in tune with their sub-superhero characters (special mention to Jai Courtney in Australian tramp) chaotic.

Our interview with the entire Suicide Squad: Jared Leto, Will Smith, Margot Robbie…

But chaos does not survive the presence of order and as soon as Suicide Squad begins to have a semblance of direction in its second part, everything collapses. Paradoxically.

In the middle of the film, as soon as the members of the Squad come together to face a terrifying and superhuman threat, there is a moment of uncertainty where our antiheroes wonder what the hell they are doing there, basically. Before allowing themselves to be convinced and setting out with guns blazing to accomplish their mission. The film then continues the most clumsy script clichés and descends into a dismaying final scene, on the borders of nonsense.

Faced with the choice – let yourself be carried away by chaos or obey order – Suicide Squad ultimately chose the order without having the vision and ambition to Batman V Superman. This was the deep meaning of the director's fake group films, Sabotage And Fury : virile camaraderie does not exist, the group is a corrupted and violent entity, survival requires individualism. In Suicide Squad these nice, truly caring supervillains become the best friends in the world. This is Ayer's first film where the group functions. Morality is almost safe. Not the cinema.

There is perhaps, like Dawn of Justiceanother film behind the failure of Suicide Squad, the number of missing images between the many trailers and the finished product attesting to a substantial initial material which has disappeared. The very bad DVD Sabotage featured three very different endings, the best of which was not that of the cinema edit. Maybe one day we'll see it on DVD the chaotic and fragmented version of Suicide Squadthe one who doesn't try to submit to order, to take herself for a superhero film like the others?

David Ayer turns the page Suicide Squad, “one of the best superhero films of all time”