Film Preview: Suicide Squad (2016)

Page Revisions:

(July 19, 2015) Original
(January 24, 2016) New Trailer (#2) / New Posters (#1-#12)
(April 17, 2016) New Trailer (#3) / New Posters (#13-#23)
(July 31, 2016) New Trailer (#4) / New Posters (#24-#48)

Release Date:

August 5, 2016

Synopsis:

From IMDb: “A secret government agency recruits imprisoned supervillains to execute dangerous black ops missions in exchange for clemency.”

Poster Rating: B+ / B+ / A (10) / C / A- (10) / B / B- / B+ (11) / C+ (11) / D

SEE ALL POSTERS BELOW
Review: (#1) Why so serious? Yes, that’s the tagline of The Dark Knight, the last DC adventure to feature the Joker, but it seems to apply more readily to this design among all of them. It uses the x’s and eyes death motif, positions the Joker right in the center of that and then the rest of the laughs are provided by the squad itself. It works quite well.

(#2-#12) These posters, a single combined design (#2) and a series of ten character posters (#3-#12) are an energetic blend of creativity, character identification and inventiveness that many character designs lack. While the combined image is a bit bland when compared to the main design, these individual character designs are quite fascinating and make me curious what it might be like to have similar character posters featuring actual images of the characters.

(#13) The dingy pastels of the character designs are embodied in this lackluster minimal title design. (#14-#23) Another series of character posters that are artistically bold and fascinating. Perhaps not as bold as the prior set and unfortunately don’t include images of the characters themselves, this is nevertheless a bold alternative.

(#24) A strong, nuclear option for a design that effectively, if somewhat cornily, gets everyone together in an explosive way. (#25) I’ll give the designer credit for doing something unexpected. The cereal motif may not fit in with the other designs, but it’s fun and engaging as a result. (#26-#36) A set of eleven character posters that improve on what’s already been done, employing strong shifts in color and background detail while emphasizing the attitudes of each character.

(#37-#47) The final set of individual character designs use mostly new poses, but the comic book art style becomes grating quickly. (#48) What’s most irksome about this design is that it presents 10 of the film’s 11 characters. The one that gets left out is Adam Beach as Slipknot. Whether that’s a product of targeting to an international territory where a Native American actor appearing on a poster isn’t wanted, but that seems pretty shady if that’s the case. Otherwise, it’s just simply disrespectful.

Trailer Rating: B / B+ / B- / B

SEE ALL TRAILERS BELOW
Review: (#1) This teaser trailer gives just enough information to tantalize DC fans, but not enough to give away the plot. There are plenty of shots of some characters, but never enough of all of them. Unfortunately, it looks like Will Smith is playing himself, Jared Leto’s Joker isn’t crazy enough and Margot Robbie isn’t going full-on psycho as Harley Quinn.

(#2) It doesn’t look like the high-minded super hero adventures we’re accustomed to and that’s the right attitude to have when you’re whipping a bunch of villains into a frenzy to take down an even bigger villain. There’s a level of joyous destruction on display here and that’s just what the fans will want.

(#3) Lacking a lot of the fun of the first two trailers, this design tries to over-emphasize the action elements, which might be fun in general, but unnecessary with a film like this. It still looks fairly engaging, but leaving most of the crass comedy behind might be a mistake.

(#4) This longer, Comic-Con trailer for the film better showcases the characters of the film and gives the audience a better understanding of some of the stakes of the events in the film. The music selection is strong, which adds to the populist appeal of the film.