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A review by jonwesleyhuff
Suicide Squad: Behind the Scenes with the Worst Heroes Ever by Signe Bergstrom
3.0
The movie itself has certainly divided critics and audiences, but I am unashamedly fond of it. Warts and all, I thought the aesthetic was fresh, and just had a really fun time with it. This tie-in book certainly speaks of a lot effort and time spent to try to make the movie something special. Even if some of those efforts seems a little overwrought (like Leto's method acting) so many of them bear fruit in the final movie in a way that makes the utter dismissal of the movie in some corners seem simplistic, if nothing else.
It's clear that the aesthetics and attitude, which seemed to turn off some (notably often older) audiences was certainly intentional and thought out. The book is much more focused on art and photography than text. There are some interesting insights into the making of the movie, the philosophy behind it, and the techniques they used. But that's smattered amongst a lot of material that you'd find in your typical press release-type material. There are some fun extras in the book that you normally get with a "vault" type book. Little replicas of documents. A playing card. Some tattoos. It's all a lot of fun, though some of them (like the post-card like photos smattered throughout) seem like a little less effort went into them than others.
But, the book really benefits from the overall look and feel of the film and it's marketing campaign, which it mimics. It's nicely laid out and lively. It rises above the making of books of the other DCEU films on that score.
It's clear that the aesthetics and attitude, which seemed to turn off some (notably often older) audiences was certainly intentional and thought out. The book is much more focused on art and photography than text. There are some interesting insights into the making of the movie, the philosophy behind it, and the techniques they used. But that's smattered amongst a lot of material that you'd find in your typical press release-type material. There are some fun extras in the book that you normally get with a "vault" type book. Little replicas of documents. A playing card. Some tattoos. It's all a lot of fun, though some of them (like the post-card like photos smattered throughout) seem like a little less effort went into them than others.
But, the book really benefits from the overall look and feel of the film and it's marketing campaign, which it mimics. It's nicely laid out and lively. It rises above the making of books of the other DCEU films on that score.