By RILEY GOLDEN//Entertainment Editor
Task Force X.
That’s the official name given to the “Suicide Squad” by Amanda Waller, portrayed by Viola Davis, a high-ranking government official, insistent on ‘employing’ the world’s worst of the worst to defend it. They are an extremely dangerous and extremely expendable team of lowlifes.
In DC Comics’ “Suicide Squad” movie, Waller uses the apparent death of Henry Cavill’s Superman in “Batman v Superman: Dawn of Justice,” as leverage to get approval from the United States government for Task Force X.
Though there have been many different villains who have been members of the “Suicide Squad” in the comics, the movie uses characters who are all pretty well known for having been on the team throughout the comics.
Floyd Lawton, better known as Deadshot, is kind of the spiritual leader of the group, an expert marksman and assassin for hire. He is portrayed by Will Smith. Ben Affleck’s Batman appeared to apprehend Deadshot, which is cool, because in the comics, Deadshot is primarily an antagonist of Batman. The scene could’ve been a lot cooler though. The potential action was halted by the presence of Lawton’s daughter, which I just found annoying. But I thought Smith did a great job with the material he was given.
The Joker’s girlfriend, Harley Quinn, is also on the team. She used to be Doctor Haeleen Quinzel until she met the Joker while working at Arkham Asylym and fell in love with him. Harley Quinn is played by Margot Robbie, who honestly nails her character. It was as if she was ripped out of the comics and put on the big screen.
George “Digger” Harkness, better known as Captain Boomerang, is a thief whose primary weapons are bladed boomerangs. Harkness is played by Jai Courtney, who does a good job of portraying his character. Ezra Miller’s the Flash, from the upcoming “Justice League” movie, showed up to put Boomerang behind bars, which was unexpected but a pretty cool cameo, as Boomerang is a longtime enemy of the Flash in the comics.
Rick Flag, the technical leader of Task Force X, is a graduate from West Point Academy and a tactical expert. Flag is played by Joel Kinnaman, and he does a decent job. In the movie, Flag has a relationship with June Moone, A.K.A. the Enchantress.
The Enchantress is a 6313-year-old magical being from another dimension. She was released by and possessed Dr. June Moone, played by Cara Delevingne. She need only whisper the word “Enchantress” to be taken over by her. Delevingne did a decent job, but I thought the Enchantress character was over sexualized in the movie.
Killer Croc, or Waylon Jones, lived in the sewers until Waller had him taken into custody. He’s played by Adewale Akinnuoye-Agbaje, and he’s one of my least favorite characters in the film. His voice and lines are cheesy, and his appearance is a result of the director not wanting to use a full CGI character—bad call.
The other member of the team I didn’t love was El Diablo, also known as Chato Santana. Played by Jay Hernandez, he held back his powers during a large part of the movie, which was really just annoying.
The final member to show up was Katana, or Tatsu Yamashiro, played by Karen Fukuhara. Katana is a samurai assassin. She plays her character well.
My least favorite character in the movie was the Joker, played by Jared Leto (who is not a member of Task Force X). He made animal noises and acted weird and eccentric. The only time he killed someone in the whole movie was by shooting him face-to-face, which was followed with a cheesy edit.
Aside from that one scene, however, I liked a lot of the edits and the ‘theme’ surrounding the movie. It was kind of cheesy, but it really made me feel like I was reading a “Suicide Squad” comic.
Much of the acting in “Suicide Squad” is above-par but a lot of it was also sub-par. Some of the edits were cheesy, and several of the scenes were cheesy. My biggest problem with “Batman v Superman” was the lack of action. This movie fixed that but added more cheese. That being said, “Suicide Squad” is an enjoyable flick that I’m giving a 3.5 out of 5 stars.
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