‘Suicide Squad’ Movie: Villains Make Heroic Effort to Leave a Generation Smiling

Hitting the box office in the United States and the UK on August 5th, Suicide Squad is well on its way to breaking the box office bank. DC Comic’s misfit group of anti-heroes may well be one of the summer’s biggest hits in its first weekend at the box office.

5 days until #SuicideSquad hits the big screen. What are you most excited for? #KillerCrocTakeover @adewale

— Suicide Squad (@SuicideSquadWB) July 31, 2016

The recent resurrection of retro comic book characters has been a little piece of heaven for the self-professed superhero/antihero nerds of Generation X over the past few years. Marvel began the race to produce the best antihero with the production of Ant-Man and Deadpool. Both movies killed the numbers in their first weekend, and both movies fared rather well with the critics.

DC Comic answered with Batman v Superman: Dawn of Justice, where Superman is not necessarily the picture of morality and chivalry he has always been. His pride gets in the way when Batman expresses concern about his recent behavior. Superman then begins the delicate process of unraveling a rather unruly course of events, leading to an epic battle between Batman and Superman.

Comic Fans are absolutely giddy over the flood of nostalgia being entertained on movie screens all over the world. Moviegoers in the U.S. and the UK are the lucky ones with the newest installment. Suicide Squad is set to be released on August 5th; a month earlier than September’s release in Japan.

Suicide Squad is reportedly the first installment to DC’s newest antihero journey. The storyline follows the efforts of a secret government agency headed by Viola Davis as Amanda Waller. The agency decides to hire a team of criminals to carry out some extremely dangerous, Black Op missions to save the world in exchange for freedom and clemency from their crimes.

The Joker (Jared Leto), Harley Quinn (Margot Robbie), and a few of their other well-known colleagues in crime ultimately form the most well-rounded supervillain collective in comic history. The irreverence of each character shines brightly in their hero endeavors.

In preparation for his iconic role as Batman’s nemesis, The Joker, Jared Leto fully immersed himself into the mind of the villain and never broke character while filming. In an interview, Leto spoke of the once in a lifetime opportunity to play the Joker.

“The opportunity to take on this nearly Shakespearean character- that’s what graphic novels and comic books are becoming, right? [He’s] this beautiful disaster of a character- what a big challenge,” said Leto.

It is yet to be seen exactly how comic fans will receive Leto’s joker, but he definitely has some large shoes to fill. Heath Ledger’s performance as The Joker in The Dark Knight set the bar high. The macabre ending to the beloved actor’s life only strengthened his legend as the creepiest Joker in Batman movie history.

Will Suicide Squad overtake the fan based craze of The Dark Knight series? We shall have to wait and see. The all-star cast and cult classic character base may prove to be just what the doctor ordered for the Suicide Squad. The ingredients are present, and the acting is strong.

Try to control the urge to quickly exit the theater once the movie is done screening. There is reportedly a very important and pivotal bonus scene mid-way through the ending credits. Unlike Marvel movie makers, DC writers chose not to make the fans wait until the end of the credits to enjoy a sneak peek into the future. Take a breather from life, and go see the Suicide Squad in theaters. It will surely induce a smile, and it may even offer the mischievous mind a few new ideas.

[Image by Matt Winklemeyer/Getty Images]