Suicide Squad's Extended Cut: 8 Problems The Movie Needs To Fix
7. The Virtually Nonexistent Second Act
Suicide Squad's most common criticisms generally stem from its structure and pacing. The movie seems like it's in a rush to sprint to the boss fight and get to all the action, and consequently, it lacks a definitive second act. When watching the movie, this may seem like a relatively minor problem, but it actually carries a lot more consequence than you'd think.
The first act mostly consists of introductions and backstories - which is fine - but then the team is unceremoniously shoved together and sent after the big-bad, and the movie just devolves into one long third-act action sequence. What we should've got, in between those two moments, is a much longer second act, and ideally, this would consist of us spending more time with the team before all the shooting and quipping starts.
We've seen many shots in the trailers that could provide this - Deadshot gazing at the rain, deep in thought, El Diablo contemplating then extinguishing a flame, Rick and June sharing a moment - and these tiny pieces, when combined, could help flesh the characters out. Currently, they're not fleshed out at all. The squad is a collection of wacky personas and surface-level relatability that lacks real depth because the movie, judging by the trailers, chose to cut most of it out.
By filling out the middle of Suicide Squad a little bit more, the extended cut could give us that depth the theatrical cut sorely lacked.