As I have mentioned several times by now, I don't read many comic books. I know, every time I mention it, someone's head probably explodes, and someone else probably ignores everything else I have to say. It's not that I haven't tried - the most recent attempt was Watchmen, and I made it through, damn it - but the medium doesn't get my gears running quite like others do. Video games? Aw yeah, that gets me pumped, especially if it's a new Zelda title, or some unexpected random genius from the minds at Nintendo. Movies? Throw me in to an action movie or an art-house film - either one can get me excited (unless the art-house movie turns out to be pretentious garbage). TV? With my limited time (I am a teacher with two foster children, after all), I find it hard to get into many shows, especially the new ones where I need to wait until the next week to catch the next episode (thanks, Netflix, for helping busy people like myself). Nonetheless, I get into shows when the time permits, and I always want the time.
Comic books, though? Sorry guys, although I will keep trying, I promise.
My reason for bringing this up today is the Suicide Squad trailer that recently premiered at Comic-Con. Yes, I know - this news is at least a week old, so why bring it up now? Because I have had to watch it several times during that span of time to really get at why, as someone that knows very little about these characters, I want so badly to go see this movie and for this movie to be good. Sure, I know a few - anyone that doesn't know The Joker probably lives in another dimension (and anyone that doesn't have an opinion about the new Joker ... yeah, I haven't found any of them yet), and Harley Quinn is notable because I play Batman: Arkham City (I also periodically watched the 90's Batman cartoon). Overall, however, these guys are quite new, even if I know some of their names. The biggest challenge in these comic book-based movies is getting those that know nothing about the comic on which the movie is based to go and see this movie. I know very little here, so here's what I find so goddamn fascinating about this trailer.
It starts out with eerie music and those rotating, clicking logos. That music really does it for me - it lets me know that something here is off, and man, when things get off in superhero movies, I am all in. Too often, we get the typical hero doing the typical heroic thing. Even the Marvel movies, as awesome as they are, stick with some tired stereotypes (although, in their defense, they had to do this in order to effectively give some of them origin stories). The hero is powerful and has his or her heart in the right place, but has a bad attitude? Yup, all over the place. Nobody understands the hero, so some people think he's the villain? Yes, between Batman and The Hulk, we've heard that a lot. Even though those sorts of stories can be done well, I crave something new and different. This music lets me know right away that maybe, just maybe, something is going to be different this time.
And it is - we've got three people talking about some horrible, heinous villains they have locked away (rather, put them in a hole and "threw away the hole" - what a line). We know right up front that these guys aren't going to be model citizens, and that no one expects them to live up to any sort of standard of goodness. They want to recruit them to save the world, and if they don't? They're bad guys - can't blame us! The thing the TV show Dexter does really well is present characters that are neither good nor bad - they all have shades of gray, even the ones that are supposed to be "good" or "evil." Right away, we've got a table full of characters, and possibly a "hole" full of villains, that could fit into these shades of gray. Maybe we're actually talking about characters with ... gasp! ... depth!
We then get the obligatory montage of these guys (which happens in every ensemble movie trailer, superhero-themed or not). Yeah, nothing too special here - it goes on just long enough for us to go, "Hey, where's this Joker everyone's been talking about?" More on that later, though.
The music continues to grab me, and naturally, I did some research on it. Growing up in the 90's means I don't get every reference to every song made before the 80's. So, finding out that this song is a song by The Bee Gees surprised me. Yes, for those that aren't as meticulous in their research as myself, the song is titled "I Started a Joke," and the cover is significantly more haunting than the original. It's an incredibly sad song, though, and it really wasn't as much of a stretch to get it to resonate with the "villains" in this trailer as I thought it might be. As the trailer continues, the chords get stranger and stranger, slowly pumping up the twisted nature of this trailer and, naturally, pulling me in deeper and deeper.
As the music gets stranger, so do the visuals - we get several great shots of Harley Quinn as the music amps up a bit, the most notable featuring her licking what appears to be a bar from her jail cell at 2:16. Then Harley is tied up and gagged at 2:18, definitely the darkest image given so far. Then there's Harley in a car, biting the air, at 2:21 and then
HOLY CRAP IS THAT BATMAN?!?!?!?!
Sorry, sorry - my inner fanboy just came out. I don't actually think a Batman appearance would help this movie, given he's in the rather boring-looking Batman v. Superman (maybe I'll write more about that one later). We all have those random, instinctual outbursts, right? Those moments where you get surprised by something, even if, after giving it some more thought, you aren't quite as interested in that surprise as you initially thought? I don't think I'm alone there. This was one of those moments for me.
As I went back and watched this part of the trailer, though, I was stuck by how much more twisted and insane Harley got after her initial appearance in the trailer. And that's something that really amped up my interest in this movie - its ability to show a villain/hero/character with such range. She starts out simply hanging around (pun intended) in her jail cell, and then she's doing crazy things later, and we perhaps get a look at where the crazy was born. This trailer does what most trailers should - leave us asking questions about how things happen, or why things happen. I want to know more, man, because at this point in the trailer, the focal point of the trailer has become Harley Quinn and what appears to be a rather dark, twisted background.
And then, after the music gets a little less intense, we get what most people have been waiting to see. The appearance of The Joker was one of the most talked about pieces in any of the comments I read accompanying articles about this trailer. Does it look like a good take on The Joker? Is he copying Heath Ledger at all? Does he look like The Joker? Or does he look ridiculous? From my end, it looks like a different take on The Joker than we have seen from the movies thus far - I read someone point it out as a cross between Jack Nicholson's Joker and Heath Ledger's Joker. At first glance, I definitely get that comparison. But really, people, you won't know how Leto's Joker will be until you actually watch the entire movie. We just got a glimpse, a snippet, of what Leto's performance is all about, so we cannot possibly judge at this point. At least, I'm not going to judge.
(Quick aside - I've got a whole, whole lot to say on the subject of Jared Leto, but in order to do it justice, I am going to write another entry that features my opinions on him and a few other famous people that have garnered some rather notorious reputations.)
But judging The Joker aside ... what a trailer! It starts out chill and slightly eerie, then slowly gets more and more intense and creepy, and then calms down slightly, only to reveal what has been the most talked-about, most anticipated piece of the movie thus far. I mean, I have been pulled in, guys, and I know nothing about any of the other villains in this movie. Really - I do not know who these guys are. If I didn't name them, I've got nothing.
But here's the question - even though the trailer is constructed beautifully, do I want to go see this movie? Did the people in charge of putting this together do their job and rope in someone that isn't already familiar with the comic books on which this movie is based? Am I interested enough in what's going on here to actually shell out money and hire a babysitter and go see this with my wife? Will my wife want to go? It depends, really, on what comes next. There will be more trailers, especially since this movie is still over a year away (yes, you read that correctly - over a year away). I am definitely interested enough to keep an eye out for more trailers and see if those hold up. I'd like to see Will Smith deliver a line that isn't quite as "Will Smith-y" as the lines given here, and I'd love to get a better look at some of these other characters that I don't even know. Will the other trailers do that? I certainly hope so.
Until then, I'll be forced to watch and re-watch this one, and then maybe download the hauntingly beautifully song that accompanies it. Congratulations, movie-makers - you've caught the interest of many people out there. The ball is in your court - can you keep us interested, for a year?
We'll see.
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