Suicide Squad's Extended Cut: 8 Problems The Movie Needs To Fix

5. The Movie Didn't Settle On A Single Tone

suicide squad cast
Warner Bros.

David Ayer's original cut of Suicide Squad was reportedly a lot darker than the one we got. Warner Bros didn't like it, however, scheduling reshoots to make the movie a bit lighter, resulting in a finished product that combined Ayer's grit with a candy-coloured sheen that's typically found over at Marvel. Consequently, Suicide Squad was a tonal mess, and it would be far better if the extended edition stuck to its guns and picked one side over the other.

It's not even like these problems were subtle, either; they were blatant. One moment, Rick Flag is giving a super-serious, hard-edged lecture to the squad before they set out on their mission, and seconds later, Eminem's 'Without Me' starts playing over a humorous montage. The film was full of illogical juxtapositions like this, and it made the entire product rather jarring to watch.

So how can the extended cut help? Given that we know there's a darker 'Ayer' cut out there somewhere, it would be wise for this version to be reinstated as fully as possible, or at least scenes exclusive to that reintroduced. For starters, a grittier feel is a much better fit for the film's premise (a group of violent, despicable supervillains) and it would also bring Suicide Squad more in line with the rest of the DC universe tonally.

Plus, by settling on a single direction, the film will feel more confident in itself, rather than coming across as slapdash and carelessly thrown together.

Contributor
Contributor

Danny has been with WhatCulture for over ten years, and is currently Doctor Who Editor and WhoCulture Channel Manager, overseeing all of WhatCulture's Whoniverse coverage. In 2022, he took charge of WhoCulture and has grown it into the biggest Doctor Who channel on YouTube, and one of the biggest Doctor Who communities on the web full-stop. He has been writing and video editing since his early teens, and first got a taste for content creation after making his own Doctor Who trailers, off the back of a burning obsession with the Matt Smith era of the show. Like many his age, he first got into Doctor Who with the 2005 revival, but has since gone back and fallen in love with the classic years too. If you need someone to recite every Doctor Who episode in order, or to give you a random factoid about the making of Gridlock, Danny is the person to ask!