Directed by David Ayer
Starring Will Smith, Margot Robbie, Joel Kinnaman and Viola Davis
The third time is definitely not the charm for the DC Extended Universe, as Suicide Squad fails to give the franchise that severe boost of quality it desperately needs. It suffers a lot of the same problems that Batman Vs Superman: Dawn of Justice did. But just like I said with Batman Vs Superman, I say to you here the reviews are being a lot harsher than they need to be, and there is still a little good in this film.
In the wake of Superman's death, director of A.R.G.U.S. Amanda Waller (Davis) moves to assemble a team of extraordinary-yet-expendable individuals to carry out high-risk missions for the government. Said individuals are a bunch of criminals and super villains, including but not limited to hit man Floyd Lawton a.k.a Deadshot (Smith), the twisted Harley Quinn (Robbie), and lowlife theif Captain Boomerang (Jai Courtney, who I can't believe I'm about to say isn't the worst part of this film).
When a deadly, supernatural threat in the form of The Enchantress (Cara Delevigne) threatens to rip the world apart, Waller assembles the Task Force X, led by Colonel Rick Flagg (Kinnaman) to quite simply save the world. Meanwhile Harley's beau, the clown prince of crime The Joker (Jared Leto) is on a rampage to reunite with his beloved.
If there was a script for this film most of it got thrown out when the footage was being edited. There's a big lack of character development, some actions and movements from scene to scene make little sense. With the exception of Deadshot and Harley, most of the team stays pretty two-dimensional. There's a romantic angle between Flagg and Dr. June Moore (the woman The Enchantress has possessed) but its so unnecessary and these characters aren't given their proper due so we can't get invested in it.
The final battle is so blatantly ripping off the final act of The Avengers it's not even funny, except with The Avengers it was with characters we had grown to love, and we actually cared what was going to happen. You could almost forgive that, if the action wasn't completely generic. Also I'm sorry, but it just makes zero sense why the US government would send common street criminals, to fight a thousand-year-old witch with unholy powers. Captain America wouldn't be sent to fight The Dark Elves. Batman wouldn't be called to fight General Zod…actually they both would still do those things and win because they're awesome. Anyway!
Well I told you that this film wasn't as bad as they were making it out to be, and I've probably proven myself wrong by now…or have I?!?…I don't know. The cast is the film's saving grace. Will Smith is giving his best as Deadshot, and Margot Robbie is an absolute perfect Harley Quinn. I can't believe I'm going to say this but I enjoyed Jai Courtney as Captain Boomerang. Joel Kinnaman plays Rick Flagg as a solid straight man to the Squad, but you can tell that there was supposed to be more to his character, that was either cut or he can't bring it. Viola Davis is Viola Davis as Amanda Waller. I could comment on Cara Delevigne as The Enchantress, if I thought it was actually her on the screen and not mostly CGI effects and a voice over artist. She's not really a villain or a character. More of a plot device sadly. Everyone else is sadly either sidelined or misused.
Ask for Jared Leto as our newest screen-adaptation of The Joker? Well the marketing lied to us. He's not in this film as much as we were led to believe. He does good work, but we need to see more of him before we can get a full taste of what this new Joker is like.
Finally the music in the film is top notch. Not the score itself, I honestly couldn't identify the instrumentals of this film to save my life, but the song choices. The variation of song choices is all over the place, but they're carefully selected and match the setting and tone of the film.
So how I can I still even recommend Suicide Squad to you? Well if you lower your expectations enough, you could end up enjoying this film to a degree. It's not going to be something a lot of people will rewatch over and over, but it is not unwatchable. There's still some pieces worth checking out, like the performances, the soundtrack, and there are some cool scenes that build up the DCEU, some including Leto's Joker and the return of Affleck's Batman. If you skip this film, it probably won't hurt you going forward in the franchise. If you do see it, great. There are worse ways to spend two-and-a-half hours, and you'll be introduced to some interesting characters you're likely to see more of.
Let's all keep in mind that this film was practically in the can before the Batman Vs Superman fiasco and Warner Bros. changed the regime overseeing the DCEU. So hopefully the worst is behind us, maybe the fourth time's the charm with Wonder Woman, and these characters/performances get better treatment going forward. Even the "Worst Heroes Ever" deserve something more.
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