Few comic book movies have ever matched the sheer divisiveness of David Ayer's Suicide Squad. Despite a strong financial performance, the film definitely floundered with its critical audience. With that in mind, many were looking to the Extended Cut to redeem the Task Force X movie. In the same way that Batman V Superman's Ultimate Edition added new layers of depth to the World's Finest showdown, hopes remained high that the addition of new Suicide Squad footage would improve upon the film's perceived shortfalls.
Sadly, that's simply not the case. We have officially seen the Extended Cut of Suicide Squad, and we regret to inform you that it's actually worse than the theatrical release. To make sense of it all, we've compiled a list of reasons why the Extended Cut falls so short of expectations. Check out our arguments and give us your thoughts in the comments section below. Now let's get started with the simple fact that the Extended Cut actually exacerbates one of Suicide Squad's biggest issues.
The Added Footage Creates Real Pacing Problems
Let's get one thing out of the way before anything else: Suicide Squad suffers from some serious pacing issues. The exposition-heavy first act is followed swiftly by a meandering second act, and the film caps off with an incredibly rushed climax -- and the Extended Cut does nothing to help that problem. The added footage only serves to further bloat the film's opening half hour, and the extended scenes of the team walking through Midway City really slow the whole thing down. It's obviously fun to watch these characters interact with one another in a dynamic way, but the Extended Cut of Suicide Squad does so at the expense of the overall narrative's pace.
The Extended Cut Adds Nothing Of Interest To the Story
If you were hoping that the Extended Cut of Suicide Squad would add new layers of depth to the film, then you're in for a rude awakening. While the film certainly adds extra footage, none of the added sequences are of any real value. Unlike Batman V Superman's Ultimate Edition release -- which added legitimately new subplots and meaningful new sequences -- the Extended Cut of Suicide Squad mostly just features extended versions of existing scenes. These include a brief (but inconsequential) cameo from David Ayer, an extra shot of Deadshot lamenting his time in prison, and an ever so slightly extended version of the bar scene - just to name a few. There's admittedly a bit more of Jared Leto's Joker compared to the theatrical cut, but not enough to really sway opinions one way or the other regarding the quality of his performance; he's still underused.
There's STILL a Ton of Footage Left On The Cutting Room Floor
There's absolutely no denying that the Extended Cut of Suicide Squad features more footage than the theatrical version of the film. That's objectively true. That being said, even with the extended run time, the film still doesn't feature some of the most interesting scenes that we saw in the trailers. Just to name a couple examples: we still don't know why Killer Croc originally attacked Katana in the train station scene, and The Joker's "buh bye" scene after his helicopter crash is still missing. Such a fuss was made about the sheer amount of footage missing from the theatrical cut of the Task Force X solo movie, but the longer version of the film still left quite a few seemingly vital on the cutting room floor. What's the point of an Extended Cut if you're still going to omit the most interesting content?
