Suicide Squad may have originated back in the late 1950s, but not a single member from that version of the team, other than Rick Flag, features in the recently released DC Extended Universe installment. The movie is based on the modern version of Task Force X that was created in 1987 by John Ostrander.
The creator of the modern Suicide Squad has already watched the August 5 release, and he isn't happy with the critics! He recently wrote a piece for Comic Mix in which he slams the critics for their response to Suicide Squad.
According to the writer, it’s okay that some of them haven't liked the movie, since everyone has a right to their own opinion, even if it's wrong. But, there is a BUT! He explains:
My problem is that, at least with some of the media reviews, is that the critic is also tired of superhero and "tentpole" films and, overtly or covertly, would like to see their end. Look, I get it - they have to see all the films out there and they must be tired of all the blockbusters.
If every superhero film is not The Dark Knight, they'll bitch. I think that's going on here to a certain degree. Just as I came prepared to love the movie, they came prepared to hate it.
He adds that his late wife, Kim Yale, had served as a movie critic too for a while and that he knows very well that some critics "come with pre-conceived attitudes" to some movies.
Like many fans (including me), John Ostrander admits that Suicide Squad was "not perfect by a long shot", but he "really liked" it, and had "a really good time" in the theater while watching it. He thinks a lot of it was "just amazing", and goes on to say, “The look, the detail, the feel of the film is not something I've seen in superhero movies before.”
Unlike many other Suicide Squad characters, Amanda Waller is one that Ostrander himself created. And he thinks Viola Davis embodied her "to perfection". He praises Margot Robbie, who plays Harley Quinn, calling her "a thief" because "she steals just about every scene she's in".
According to the writer, Will Smith's Deadshot may not be white like his version of the character in the comics, but he is fine with it and thinks the actor did "a great job". He also speaks highly of Jared Leto's The Joker in Suicide Squad. He explains:
Like Pygmalion, he creates a woman that he can love; in this case, it's Harley Quinn. If we accept his love for her (and her love for him) as genuine, does that make him less of a sociopath? Ledger's Joker loved no one except, perhaps, Batman. He's no less strange or deadly, but his entire plotline revolves around being re-united with Harley.
Ostrander reveals that he wanted to see more of Jay Hernandez's Diablo and Jai Courtney's Boomerang. While he believes that the former has "a significant role" in Suicide Squad, the latter is "very well adjusted" and resembles to a great extent the version he wrote in the comics.
According to the writer, the David Ayer flick has "a surprising theme" running through it, and there's "a lot about love". He points out that there's love between The Joker and Harley Quinn; there's love in Deadshot for his daughter; in Diablo for his family; in Katana for her dead husband; in Rick Flag for June Moone; and in June's alter ego, the Enchantress, for her brother Incubus. He further adds:
Even with Amanda, there's a brief phone call and there's tenderness and love for whoever she's speaking with. Love shapes and forms a lot of the characters and they, in turn, mold the story.
Ostrander says that the only problems that he sees with Suicide Squad are that the antagonists are "not well defined" and that the story is "a little more generic". He also addresses the absence of "a political and/or social edge" in the story.
