Suicide Squad – Review

Suicide Squad has been both dreaded and eagerly awaited by fans. Interesting characters and an even more interesting premise, one would think director David Ayer could hit this one out of the park, especially after the success of such a dark release as Deadpool. Poor writing, however, was the downfall here that plagues so many of the action/hero films that have released lately.

From director David Ayer (“Fury,” “End of Watch”) comes “Suicide Squad,” starring Oscar nominee Will Smith (“Ali,” “The Pursuit of Happyness”), Oscar winner Jared Leto (“Dallas Buyers Club”), Margot Robbie (“The Wolf of Wall Street,” “Focus”), Joel Kinnaman (Netflix’s “House of Cards”) and Oscar nominee Viola Davis (“The Help,” “Doubt”).

It feels good to be bad… Assemble a team of the world’s most dangerous, incarcerated Super Villains, provide them with the most powerful arsenal at the government’s disposal, and send them off on a mission to defeat an enigmatic, insuperable entity. U.S. intelligence officer Amanda Waller has determined only a secretly convened group of disparate, despicable individuals with next to nothing to lose will do. However, once they realize they weren’t picked to succeed but chosen for their patent culpability when they inevitably fail, will the Suicide Squad resolve to die trying, or decide it’s every man for himself? ~ Warner Bros. Pictures

The idea behind forming a group of villains to fight other meta-humans revolves around the idea that if our DC heroes ever turned on us and lost control or tried to take over the world, we would need our own team of meta-humans to fight back. Recruiting villains to do the job seems a little crazy, but you’d have to be crazy to take on super powered people. This being said, Suicide Squad shied away from getting too deep, taking a light-hearted, PG-13 approach to a story that could truly have satisfied fans with R-rated content.  Understandably, that would have made it hard to incorporate this storyline into future movies with our new Batman, Superman, and Justice League related movies coming up, and if Suicide Squad was anything, it was a set-up movie. The ending was laid wide open for a sequel and a segue into DC’s future hero movies. There were plot holes all over the place concerning back story and motive, and many times we were asked to just accept the strange string of events without much convincing.

The acting was average across the board, and I attribute most of that to the script and the lines our actors were given. Many people were not impressed with Leto’s Joker, but I found that when he was on screen he really stole the show. The version of the Joker he was portraying is very different than the ones we’ve seen in the past, and he pulled this crazy gang-lord off to a tee. The dynamic between Harley and the Joker was interesting, and there was chemistry and a sinister form of love between them that felt relatively genuine. Harley Quinn on her own, however, was rather annoying.

Overall the action scenes were fun, the fights were exciting, and the characters were humorous. This isn’t Deadpool by any means, but it doesn’t have to be. Suicide Squad isn’t a fantastic movie, but it isn’t bad either. If you are looking for a reason to go to the movies and just want to have a good time, Suicide Squad has your number.