From Batman Vs Superman to The Suicide Squad, which of the DC Comics movies is best?
Thanks to the success of the Marvel Cinematic Universe, interlinking superhero franchises are all the rage right now. Their closest competitor is Warner Bros’ DC Extended Universe, but in reality it’s not that close. There have been more lows than highs for Superman and company on the big screen in recent times, and it’s undeniable that the DCEU is a lot messier than it should be 11 films in. The upcoming Flash movie – which will reportedly be adapting elements from the popular Flashpoint comic book arc that reset the universe – may help remedy that. But with The Suicide Squad having recently landed in theaters, now is as good a time as any to look back on the bad, the good, and the great of DC’s live action offerings over the past eight years. The jury is still out on whether or not we’ll get to see David Ayer’s purported cut of Suicide Squad (though it seems unlikely). But the movie that was released in 2016 was a terrible, badly edited mess. The reason for the squad assembling in the first place is nonsensical, the villains-become-family arc is unearned, and the performances by Jared Leto as The Joker and Cara Delevigne as The Enchantress are among the worst in the genre. The lone saving grace is in the casting of Margot Robbie as Harley Quinn and Viola Davis as Amanda Waller, two characters who show up in the sequel. But not even they, along with the charisma machine that is Will Smith, can save this one. The biggest problem with 2017’s Justice League is that it’s the product of two different visions colliding. When Zack Snyder left the project due to personal tragedy, WB brought in Joss Whedon to finish the project. The results weren’t pretty, from humor that felt forced and at times inappropriate to visuals that looked flat-out ugly. The audience were left unsatisfied, and it’s become clearer and clearer in recent times that the actors who worked on the movie weren’t happy either, with Cyborg actor Ray Fisher accusing Whedon of « gross, abusive, unprofessional, and completely unacceptable » conduct. Gal Gadot shared her own story about the experience, too. The first live action team-up of DC’s most iconic heroes deserved much better. Batman v Superman: Dawn of Justice is what you get when the writers and director don’t understand what makes their titular characters special. Doubling down on the broody Superman established in Man of Steel is bad enough. But turning Batman into a killing machine is a choice so incompatible with the character that it breaks the world of the film (why would Commissioner Gordon still light the Bat-signal if Gotham’s famous vigilante was dropping bodies? He should be hunting him down). One of the few bright spots in all the doom and gloom is the introduction of Gal Gadot’s Wonder Woman, who makes a fun splash in the final battle against Doomsday.
