Suicide Squad Reviews: 14 Early Reactions You Need To See
1. It's Not For The Easily Triggered
The Daily Beast review seems to have hit the nail on the head most pertinently in terms of the more outrageous (at best) or controversial (at worst) material on show when they say "Suicide Squad is probably not a comic book blockbuster for the easily triggered."
And a lot of it does seem to focus on the portrayal of Harley Quinn, whose sexualisation IndieWire note:
"Volatile, rambunctious, and sexualized to such an extreme that she feels like she wandered out of the film’s XXX parody (there are more shots of her ass than there are of several of the film’s supporting characters), Robbie’s take on the iconic sidekick is a spellbinding bit of bubblegum savagery, a caricature of male fetishism."
That's a strange juxtaposition; of fetishism versus self-claimed parody, and it seems to come down to ownership, as Total Film reiterate:
"Sure, it can be argued that Suicide Squad puts gender issues back by 30 years – its guys are covered, its ladies all but unclad, with Harley squeezed into itsy-bitsy shorts and a tight T emblazoned with ‘Daddy’s lil monster’ – but Robbie at least owns her sexuality enough to make fools out of the gawping guys. Hell, she and her offensive costume are the only real anarchy on display."
Whether it's positive or negative seems to be a point of contention. I suppose it depends on your appreciation of the film.
Robbie Collin at the Telegraph seems less convinced it's a positive political statement - or at least recognises the appeal it will probably find in the Bros-tbusters community:
"While it surely wasn’t Warner Bros’ intention, Suicide Squad often feels like the film equivalent of a crumpled note passed to the anti-Ghostbusters trolls outside detention. "See?" it seems to say. "At least we haven’t forgotten you. We’ve got tube tops and gussets and proud but tormented men, and a scene in which Will Smith (as Deadshot, the world’s greatest marksman) shoots a wide range of deafening projectile weapons to a rousing pop music soundtrack."
That comment alone is probably worth a good few triggers...
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