“Suicide Squad: Extended Cut” strengthens the original film, but falls short in improving the film’s flawed structure

By Corey Vikser

Executive Online Editor

Containing brand new footage, “Suicide Squad: Extended Cut” marginally improves the film, but fails to address its significant pacing problems.

“Suicide Squad: Extended Cut” is noticeably improved by its additional footage, as new moments strengthen the character ensemble, but the new edit cannot fix the massive structural issues the film suffers from.

Faced with a paranormal threat, the US government decides to form a secret task squad comprised of super villains such as Deadshot (Will Smith), Harley Quinn (Margot Robbie) and several others. Led by Lieutenant Rick Flag (Joel Kinnaman) and his team of soldiers, the rogue group of villains have to fight their way through a monster-infested city in exchange for their freedoms.

Link: Warner Brother’s official website hosted for “Suicide Squad,” where promotional material is hosted.

After a critically derided theatrical release, Warner Brothers Studios announced an extended version of “Suicide Squad” would be released on home media, similar to its predecessor “Batman v. Superman: Dawn of Justice.” The film’s original runtime of 123 minutes is expanded to 134, featuring 11 minutes of brand-new footage.

Brushing aside its problems, “Suicide Squad” remains a very entertaining film. The action set pieces prove extremely engaging, as the group’s massive variety of powers, such as pyrokinesis and witchcraft, provide dazzling visuals to the battle scenes.

Link: The Metacritic page for Suicide Squad, where critic’s reviews are aggregated for an overall perspective on the film.

Furthermore, the film’s protagonists are some of the most unique to ever be featured in a large superhero film. Deadshot (Will Smith) is a cold-hearted mercenary who enjoys killing others, and Harley Quinn (Margot Robbie) is the Joker’s psychopathic lover. The use of unpredictable super villains as protagonists gives the plot a sense of spontaneity that many recent comic book films have lacked.

“Suicide Squad: Extended Cut”’s new scenes largely focus on the titular ensemble, providing much needed context to the team members. Almost all of the new additions are character moments, fleshing out the cast’s backstories and motivations. The theatrical version’s breakneck pace left little time for character development, and that aspect is greatly improved in the new cut thanks to additional interactions between the cast.

The supporting characters gain the most from the extended footage, as the cast’s chemistry is much stronger compared to the original cut. Smaller characters such as Captain Boomerang are given a much larger presence, creating a sense of ensemble the theatrical cut was desperately lacking. Although Will Smith and Margot Robbie are still undoubtedly the stars, the side characters are given larger roles in this cut.

For all the good the new footage provides, it only creates marginal improvements, as the film still suffers from a number of fundamental flaws.

The film’s extremely poor editing significantly hinders the story’s structure. Scenes are often placed out of order with no context, turning the plot into an incoherent mess. The incredibly short length of the opening scenes, often a minute or two, leaves no time for the audience to properly comprehend the film’s events. The first hour proves especially hard to follow, as crucial scenes are cut likewise to a montage, containing 6 different songs in just the first 10 minutes.  

Tonally, the film is no better than its editing, as the filmmakers sloppily attempt to mix popular culture references and dark subject matter. The combination fails horribly, as pop songs are shoehorned into serious moments, resulting in a forced atmosphere.

One of the worst examples of the stylistic inconsistency comes in the opening, when Harley Quinn violently abuses herself as the pop song “You Don’t Own Me” gleefully plays in the background.

“Suicide Squad: Extended Cut” as a whole is a highly entertaining film, with impressive action sequences and a strong cast, but its massive problems hold it back from being a good one. The extended material does strengthen character interactions, but doesn’t significantly impact the film as a whole.

“Suicide Squad: Extended Cut” is available now on streaming services, and will be available on Blu Ray and DVD December 13th.