Recently we posted the debut trailer for ‘Suicide Squad,’ and we have to say, it’s absolutely jam-packed with creepy and sadistic content. We see Harley Quinn (Margot Robbie) twirling about in a maximum security cage, various villains toting weaponry, some guy in a panda costume shooting a gun, and of course, the Joker (Jared Leto) closing things out with the gleeful threat of inflicting severe pain upon whomever he’s talking to (maybe just the viewer?).
Frankly, it all looked great. A film like ‘Suicide Squad,’ based on the idea of DC Comics’ most infamous villains being turned into some sort of special ops unit, needs to embrace the dark side. If this first trailer is any indication, the film will likely do just that. What remains to be seen is just how dark it gets, and what inventive schemes our beloved villains come up with to creep us out. And as lifelong cinephiles with a particular love of great villains, one thing we can’t help but keep thinking about is that this is a great opportunity for the movie industry to finally have an iconic Russian roulette moment.
For those who might not be familiar with the specifics of Russian roulette, it’s a deadly contest in which a single bullet is loaded into a revolver with a spinning chamber. That chamber (typically capable of holding six bullets) is spun and clicked shut. The player then holds the revolver to his own head and pulls the trigger, with a one-in-six chance of certain death. The game is named after the popular casino game roulette, though the odds of “winning” (or at least, hitting the target so to speak) are significantly better than in the average roulette game. In real roulette, there are 38 potential landing spots on a wheel for a single marble to land in. According to Intercasino’s details on the game, the European edition of the game (not to be confused with “Russian” of course) has 37 spots. In American roulette, there are two zeros on the wheel, while only one exists in the European brand. But either way, Russian roulette is really based only in name on these games – there’s just no comparison between one-in-six and one-in-37 (or 38).
And this, really, is what makes Russian roulette so horrifically, sadistically fascinating. It just feels like the sort of activity the Joker or some of the other nefarious ‘Suicide Squad’ villains would inflict upon their victims. And including this sort of scene would give ‘Suicide Squad’ a chance to claim the honor of having the defining Russian roulette scene in cinematic history.
Really, there are only a few noteworthy examples of the deadly game’s inclusion in major film…
In ‘Léon: The Professoinal,’ an incredible 1994 film about an assassin who winds up with a young girl in his care, we saw Natalie Portman (who plays the role of the young Mathilda) use Russian roulette as a means of trying to convince Léon (Jean Reno) to take her in as a sort of assassin protégé. You can watch the scene here.
In ‘The Deer Hunter,’ we saw what’s currently the most intense example of Russian roulette in film, as the vietcong held Robert de Niro and Christopher Walken’s characters at gunpoint and forced them to take turns pulling the trigger in a horrifying, classic portrayal of the game. You can watch how that one turned out here.
And in the Robert Downey, Jr. black comedy ‘Kiss Kiss Bang Bang’ we got a more comedic take on the game.
But really, these are the only three mainstream examples that come to mind. There are a few other instances of Russian roulette in film, and Female First put together a nice list of some of the scenarios that have come up. Yet, while ‘The Deer Hunter’ showed off the raw intensity of the game, and ‘Léon’ showed its persuasive power, there’s still no scene that stands tall as the sort of lasting, bone-chilling exhibition that Russian roulette is capable of producing.
It’s just an idea, but maybe ‘Suicide Squad’ will bring us something of the like!
