We need to talk about this official Suicide Squad music video.
So, when I say that this music video is “uncomfortable,” I don’t mean that anything disturbing happens in it. If anything, it’s just the opposite. Unless it’s disturbing that no one in this video looks like they want to be there.
Seriously, I’ve seen fan-made cosplay music videos with more excited participants than the people in this video. Everyone looks so unhappy here. Which is weird! Because this is the Joker we’re talking about! Shouldn’t he be smiling?
Okay, okay, I’ll backtrack. So, this is an official new music video to accompany this song made by Skrillex and Rick Ross for Suicide Squad. The movie just came out, and I haven’t seen yet, but at this point my own morbid curiosity will probably propel me into the theatre. If this music video is any indication about what Jared Leto’s version of the Joker is like, though, then I can understand why so many of his scenes got cut from the movie.
I mean, admittedly, Leto is barely in this music video either—but when he is there, his awkwardness is palpable. He looks physically uncomfortable wearing a tuxedo and carrying a cane, which is a bad look for the freaking Joker, who ordinarily lives in that type of outfit and should wear it like a second skin.
Even more baffling, Leto spends the majority of this video not smiling. That’s okay, in theory—I get that he’s doing a different take on the character. But… is his take “looking sad and uncomfortable”? Because that seems like… a really weird take. He’s creeping me out in this video, and not in the usual way that the Joker creeps me out. More in a “why did this guy come to the nightclub if he’s just going to sit in the corner while staring at people and sulking” type of way. But maybe that’s the vibe this nightclub is going for, since everyone else in the video is also standing around and sulking, looking like extras waiting for someone to shout “action.” But apparently standing around is what they’re all supposed to be doing? Like, that’s the direction they got, here.
Meanwhile, the song itself is a let-down, at least to me. The lyrics use a simplistic AABB rhyme scheme that doesn’t stand out much and is mostly full of very cliche lines, plus occasional character names from the movie. It’s kinda too bad that Rick Ross didn’t tap Will Smith to do a verse, just as a throwback to the days when he used to record songs for all of his movies. Like, honestly, that would’ve been more fun than what they did here. This song desperately needs a sense of fun.
The weirdest part? There’s no hook. Ross repeats the phrase “Purple Lamborghini” occasionally, which is nominally the chorus (and, of course, it’s the title of the song), but… there’s no melodic hook to go along with that in the instrumentation. Skrillex’s arrangement is lacking its usual gusto. I know people make fun of him a lot for not being a great songwriter, but I think some of his songs do interesting stuff on occasion. Not so, here! It’s basically just some stylized sirens, with very little to change the pace or, again, add any sense of fun. There’s nothing memorable here; it could never get stuck in your head, which is a bad sign.
Did these guys write this song and film this video under duress? Were they in a big hurry or something? That could also explain why, at no point in the entire video, does an actual purple Lamborghini show up. At all. There’s not even a purple car. There’s some other cars! But not a purple one!
Anyway, this YouTube link has a ton of “Likes,” so maybe I’m the one who’s “damaged” (to quote the new Joker’s face tattoo). What do you think? Did you enjoy this video? Or did it just make you feel weird and sad?
(via ComicBook.com)
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