Why Suicide Squad extended cut beats the original – and Joker’s not the reason

The extended cut of Suicide Squad, now available for purchase digitally, is the version of the movie that should have debuted in cinemas back in August.

Unlike the R-rated edition of Batman v Superman: Dawn of Justice , which didn’t add much to the film’s PG-13 cinematic release, Suicide Squad’s extended cut is a better movie than the original.

There is no extra action. What you saw in the cinematic release of Suicide Squad in terms of bat swings, gun blasts and boomerangs is what you get here. Action rarely gets left on the editing room floor in superhero (or in this case supervillain) movies. When studios are looking to make cuts, it’s usually a conversational scene. That’s the case with Suicide Squad. Surprisingly enough, though, those conversations between Squad members give these characters a little more depth.

Jared Leto was vocal that Warners left a lot of his Joker performance out of the movie, so many assumed that would make up most of the 13 extra minutes. Instead, the character to benefit most from the extended cut is Harley Quinn.

The cinematic release gave us the crazy Harley Quinn that those who grew up watching Batman: The Animated Series already knew would be there. In the extended cut, we get to see Harley trying to figure out what brought each of her squad-mates to their current bad-guy destinies. It’s a reminder that Harley, even after her transformation into a supervillain/anti-hero, is indeed still a doctor and one of the squad’s brightest minds – which wasn’t as apparent in the cinema version.