Righto.
If you haven't seen this yet, or if you don't want to read my opinion then stop looking at this until you've seen it.
In short this is a film I will probably need to watch a couple of times to really make a full decision on.
Without giving too much away...
Deadshot. Read as the only coherent character arc. The whole thing is more or less a Will Smith vehicle. I have a feeling it wasn't completely intended to be, but Smith's performance is, essentially, Will Smith. At if not his best then certainly as close as the script will allow. He makes the best of the very simple plot he is given and through the magic of actual charm and talent makes a decent character out of what is basically a 2D cutout. He has highs, lows and most of the comic lines offered that aren't reliant on lazy stereotypes.
Harley Quinn, Margot Robbie is an excellent counterpart for Smith's performance. Her plot is, if anything, even simpler than that of Deadshot. However. her performance is nuanced, layering almost pitifully innocent longing and yearning over the top of some seriously deviant behavior. There is a constant feeling, particularly in scenes involving the Joker, that something truly hideous and, frankly, unwatchably grim is lurking around the corner. The genius of her performance is that she charms and nearly lulls you into wanting it to happen to get a glimpse of the freedom (twisted though it is) that she and Joker basically embody and are clearly enjoying.
It could be argued that she does pass the feminism test by having a conversation with a female character which doesn't involve or revolve around a male character. However it isn't exactly a conversation on an equal footing and we have to wait for 90% of the film to be done before we get even that glimpse. This isn't so much lazy writing as ingrained habit coming to the fore again. Also she is reduced to a sex object a number of times in the film...I cant quite decide if its OK because the character is still evolving away from the original line drawings and being fleshed out in the various forms of Cannon or if its something which really needs to be addressed. In all fairness given Harely Quinns' general style of behavior you never get the feeling she's in danger, usually the opposite.
Mr J. Jared Leto has come a fair way since Requiem for a Dream and his Joker is, lets be honest, the moneyshot of this review as well as big hint of what is likely to happen within the DC universe.
To sum him up?
Imagine Marilyn Manson, with a massive silver grill, channeling hints of ledger, Hamill and Nicholson into one twisted performance, topped with the only application of a hipster undercut that I have seen which hasn't driven me into a rage. The thing that jarred? The tattoos. there's one that really worked but whoever decided that they were a good idea clearly didn't have faith in either the character or the performer. Neither were vastly improved by 95% of the tats on show and they just distracted me from an otherwise massively entertaining performance.
Bearing in mind I was sat in a seat I had paid to sit in, watching what I know is a total work of fiction and that I am (or was once upon a time) a trained actor, it was enjoyable to find something as unnerving as Mr J's stare. It doesn't happen often that a single character with very little dialogue can dominate a film but Leto's Mr J did just that.
If you think of Spacey in Seven, you wont be far off...
In terms of things done well... they avoided giving us anything about the Joker's backstory. Which I cannot be more thankful for. The Joker is like Jack Sparrow. You don't need to know where they are from to enjoy their antics. In fact knowing where their brand of manic energy comes from would spoil the fun. Its the mystery behind them that makes them interesting to watch...
The only thing that remains is the Plot...
There isnt much of one. What there is is handled well enough but really suffers from a couple of key points.
1- where there's backstory given it reads as if there are scripts ready to produce a full movie for each and for some reason they couldn't be arsed to produce them. It might be a deliberate move on the studio's part but honestly? I just feel like we're getting a crash course in the DC universe-post batman.
As a standalone it works relatively well. As a part of a series aiming to rival the Marvel model, it needs to take its time, something it hasn't done. The major issue I have with that is that while I appreciate not being forced to go to see a whole stream of films for the sake of one character, I also don't particularly enjoy going to see one film with a load of poorly executed plot points.
Fred-o-miter watchability scale?
6/7 out of 10.
