Rallying The Team: Suicide Squad vs. Guardians of the Galaxy
Pop song montages, quirky anti-heroes, and neon colours — if this style was all that was needed to make a movie enjoyable then Guardians of the Galaxy and Suicide Squad would have been equally enjoyable experiences.
Unfortunately for one of these, more than this is needed.
Guardians of the Galaxy had a raw emotion to it, an empathy for its characters, and an emotional core than was not equaled Suicide Squad. There are many different reasons why Guardians succeeded where Squad did not (Suicide Squad certainly tried to have these aspects at least), but with this post I am only going to attempt to explain it through one common scene that both movies had: the ‘rallying the team when everyone is at their lowest point’ scene.
During Guardians of the Galaxy this scene comes after they have just lost the infinity stone to Ronan, have been kidnapped by the Ravagers, and Peter Quill needs to convince his four new teammates to act against their usual tendencies to risk death to save a planet they don’t care about.
In Suicide Squad this scene comes after Deadshot has discovered that the Enchantress was a product of the very Government organization that hired them, that they’ve been lied to, and Rick Flag needs to convince a team of bad guys to risk their lives to clean up his own mess.
These scenes are admittedly very similar on the surface level. It starts with no one believing in themselves, a speech is given, and in the end the team decides to take the noble approach when for their lives they would’ve never made this decision. We even get to see them walking in slow motion in triangle formation in the very next scene with people slowing joining from the sides of the shot. However, Guardians left me pumped up for the finale while Suicide Squad left me thinking “wait….why?”. And it all comes down to this simple question:
Why is each character making this decision?
Let’s go through each character in each movie and compare, not only their decision in this scene but also their overall character arc in the movie and how (if at all) this decision fits into it.
Guardians of the Galaxy
Peter “Star Lord” Quill — Star Lord is the one rallying the troops in this scene, so it makes sense that instead of it being a big change for this character that it’s something that is alright inside him and that he has shown throughout the film already. In previous scenes he has already stuck his neck out to save Gamorra from Drax when she is about to be knifed and again when her ship has been blown up and she is lying out in space about to die. He’s the one who told the Ravagers they could save the planet and retrieve the orb so it very much fits within his character that he would again put his neck on the line to try and save people.
Drax the Destroyer — Drax’s arc throughout the story is about going from a over-confident madman hellbent on revenge to someone who finds a new family and something worth living for. In the previous few scenes we have seen Drax literally attempt to take on an entire army by himself in order to get revenge on Ronan. He doesn’t care about dying because he has nothing to live for after his family died and only cares about killing Ronan. Unfortunately he gets that opportunity and gets his ass kicked. He doesn’t even come close to landing a blow. He is left broken, without hope for revenge, and nowhere else to go. The rallying scene is where we first see him viewing the Guardians as his new friends and worthy of dying by. It makes sense for him to risk death because he then believes he will see his family again if he does. In the end he doesn’t die and he finds a new family worth living for. This scene is a very important part of that character arc and makes sense in the logic of his character.
Gamora — Gamora’s arc pertains to what her purpose is as an individual. She was stolen as a child by Thanos and turned into a weapon. She had since lived a life of slavery doing Thanos’ bidding which is essentially to kill. Her decision to betray Ronan starts her arc of breaking out of that purpose and defining herself a less negative role in the world. The attempt to stop Ronan, even if she dies trying, fits into this.
Groot — Less of an arc and more of just what his character is, Groot has always been a team player. He has risked bodily harm to save Rocket, get the battery needed for the prison escape, or bring Drax back to life even though he has just betrayed the team. This continues later in the film when he sacrifices himself for the team, and therefore his decision during the rallying scene is consistent with his character.
Rocket — The last to stand up, Rocket is the most reluctant to go ahead with this idea. It’s a needed element to the scene as everyone else is agreeing and therefore we need someone to be saying no or else this would be a very boring scene. His contrast makes gives weight to the decisions of the others, because he pointing out reasons for them not to go and they are deciding to anyway. We know that the others are conscious of their decision and doing it anyway because of Rocket. Earlier in the movie when Star Lord is late coming out of the prison he advises that they just leave him, and it is consistent with saying they should go to the further part of the universe to avoid Ronan and not confront him. In the end he decides to go along because his best friend is going and because he is out-numbered, but his role and the voice against it is a needed part of this scene. We’ve already seen him compromise in this direction in the previous scene where he is kicking grass so we have been given a hint at his soft spot for the team despite his reluctance. It doesn’t 100% fit with his character if he were acting alone, but it’s not a huge stretch to see him go along with it either.
Suicide Squad
Rick Flag — like Star Lord, he is the one trying to convince everyone to make the dumb decision and therefore doesn’t need to be connected to any type of character arc or change. Throughout the film Rick has had a phone where he is able to kill any one of the other characters if they step out of line. During this scene he breaks that phone, thereby giving the rest of the team a choice if they want to proceed. It’s a necessary part of the scene otherwise there wouldn’t be any decisions to be made, but it also doesn’t fit in with his character at all. He hasn’t learned anything new with the helicopter files being revealed. There hasn’t been any deteriorating relationship between him and Waller that would’ve led to this, and there isn’t much that we would gain by giving them choice when it has so far been successful at getting them to do what he has wanted them to.
Harley Quinn — In the original version of the film there was supposed to be a much more abusive relationship between Harley and the Joker. Harley was the Queen of Gotham and got all the power and fame that went along with it, and she truly loved the Joker, but he constantly hated her and abused her. If that had been kept in, her decision to go with a team that truly likes her and cares about her would be powerful enough to justify her making a bad decision to risk her life to save a world she has not previously cared about. However, the abusive relationship was cut out of the film and there was no little to no aspect of her Suicide Squad friends caring about her. She is never saved by them (because she needs to be badass self-sufficient female character) and she never shares a tender moment with anyone to reveal the true side of herself that the Joker never let her be. As far the movie’s logic goes, she has a powerful loving boyfriend who is going out of her way to come save her, why would she not try to stick with that. Now, the obvious part I’m missing her is that she thinks the Joker is dead, but instead of powerful decision to move on it seems like she is just latching on to whatever else is around, which is must less powerful of a character arc…and I would even argue isn’t even a character arc at all.
Deadshot — There’s a lot of lead up to this decision so it makes more sense than most of the others. He wants his daughter to see him as a good man and this is his opportunity to do it. However, he has just realized that Waller and Flag are the causes of this mess and he must know that he isn’t going to be allowed to take any credit for it if they are successful. He is doing this purely to be a good person, which has seen previously he doesn’t actually want to be a good person he just wants his daughter to love him. It sort of makes sense but it still a bit of a stretch.
El Diablo — This arc makes the most sense of all the characters here. El Diablo led a bad life and when he lost control of his powers he killed the ones he loved. He then went into a period of not trusting his powers and not wanting to use them. In a previous scene we saw him lose control and use it for a bit to help his team. Unlike Deadshot he genuinely has shown throughout the film that he wants to be a better person and not just been seen as being a good person. Therefore, his decision to trust himself and use his powers for something good fits in with the scene and connects to his character arc.
Katana — Katana has been dutiful the whole movie. His emotion is connected only to her dead husband and her sword which his soul is trapped in. Like Drax it makes sense that she wouldn’t care about dying because her loved ones are dead, but because his soul is trapped in her sword it only makes sense if she was risking dying by the sword as well. It would have to be some weird harakiri scene which wouldn’t make sense in the logic of what was happening. For example, in Ant-man when Scott Lang risks going subatomic to save his daughter he is risking death and at the same time his risk connects to him being successful at saving someone. Katana’s death wouldn’t mean anything for her dead husband sub-plot and neither does her decision to not follow her duty.
Killer Croc — Killer Croc has no personality in this film. Like Groot he is just kind of there. Unlike Groot we have not seen him be a team-player who genuinely cares about the team, their well-being, about saving society, or anything else that is connected to him going along with this decision.
Captain Boomerang — Like Rocket we need someone to go along the noble logic and flow of the conversation to give weight to those who do make the noble decision. Boomerang doesn’t even need to say anything, he simply leaves when at the first opportunity to do so. If this was the end of his story it would fit in perfectly with what his character does and would serve the right purpose for what this scene needs. If he leaves and do so easily you then need to ask why the others wouldn’t as well. It leaves me wondering why Killer Croc doesn’t do the same and there’s nothing discovered or learned about Croc that makes me second guess that he should. Unfortunately, this whole thing is ruined when he comes back in the very next scene. It makes sense when Rocket goes along with it because he is still there. The Ravagers aren’t letting them leave easily and Groot is someone he genuinely cares about, and we have been given hints that we is progressing in this direction. With Captain Boomerang we haven’t been given any of these things. The team doesn’t like him and he doesn’t like the team. The fact that he comes back takes any weight away from the decision of the others because it seems like it’s just happening because the plot needs them to and not because it makes sense for any of these characters to do it.
Execution of a Scene
With these big extended universes now, so much of the film is evaluated by how it moves the universe forward. What impact does it have on future films? What impact does it have on who the character is? But at the end of the day you can put a particular scene in a movie but if that scene doesn’t work then we’re not going to care. You probably didn’t ask all these questions about all these characters when you were watching the movies, but your brain knew and your brain was paying attention. You cared more while watching this scene in Guardians of the Galaxy than you did during Suicide Squad and comes down to all these little details about how one decision fits into everything else we’ve seen from these characters so far.
