DC Comics and Marvel are the new sheriff in town, if you are a law-abiding viewer when it comes to movies. Hollywood, for a generous amount of time, has been cashing in on the Superhero genre; that is because they can smell money in the darkest of any abyss; nevertheless, they continue with their diligence and sacrifice of sponsorship and continuously welcoming audiences, specifically a younger generation of moviegoers.
Ignorance, violence, cruelty, bravery, and Vertical Limit intellect makes up the character indoctrination of this film. If that is your forte, then you can easily indulge your senses into the exaggerated color and cinematography that the film encapsulates. It’s a mess of clever plots and twists and highly sorted but carefully regulated personalities for each character. Will Shepard, who plays Floyd Lawton/Deadshot, is a confounded mercenary who ‘attempts’ to always do the Right thing but is always attracted to the dark side of reasoning and mischief. His main concern is to preserve his ego and to advance his audacity on all those who oppose his will. Then there is Margot Robbie who plays a splendid mess of a character, the notorious and poisonous Harley Quinn! Robbie does an insane job of performing mind clashes and juggling mood swings with such a disturbed and deeply menacing villain; it is perfectly fitting that she was once a respected Psychiatrist, perhaps gone mad herself. The zenith of the serrated structures of the film is the marveled appearance and malicious intent of The Joker played by Jared Leto. Leto’s superb delivery of Method Acting is perfectly akin to the lunacy and diabolic intent that is associated with, perhaps, the most notorious villain of DC Comics.
Light and sound and cinematography are gloriously demonstrated and illuminatingly tameless as the film capsizes into its own chaos and mayhem. If disturbance and maniacal exaggeration is attractive in your film-watching experience, then this mistiness of understanding and acerbic intensity shines across the galaxy of destruction that all the likeable villain’s trample upon in their personal and tangled odysseys of struggle and endurance. The film is highly episodic and cleverly demented to deliver the viewer sympathetic eyes, but not too much. There is always room to be unsympathetic with each personality, that is what criminals are all about, after all. But the film regards and retains much more than just chaos and aggravation. Each person carries a struggle that is swiftly invoked by their charisma and purpose of conflict; they seem to amuse themselves with their tumultuous tasks and swift evasions from morality. Nevertheless, the scenes throughout the film retain their colour and extravagance that give them a special place in the darkness and the story. What is the story? It appears that each miscreant preserves their struggle until the near end of each morbid and languish energy vacum of their undertaking; it is both cheery and pondering to witness.
As the film climaxes, the viewer is persisted by unanswered questions. Will the villains complete their purpose? Will they turn the other cheek? Are they good enough to involve themselves in their destiny? If your imagination is more active than others, you can fill in the missing pieces; if, however, your reason is superior to your mentality, you may walk away vexed and uncertain about the next film that encapsulates such a panoramic landscape of uncertainty and unfinished actions. Still, this film serves and fulfills its original intent, to make these characters larger than life, perhaps more paramount, than reality. After all, it is a Superhero/Villain themed film. It is highly advised not to stray too far away from that saga.
© 2024, Mark Grago. All rights reserved.