Review: Suicide Squad (2016)

Well. We may as well do this thing. The most anticipated movie in a long time. The first major appearance of The Joker since Heath Ledger in 2007. Suicide Squad: DC’s defining moment or just another let-down? Is the 27% rating on Rotten Tomatoes justified?

After disappointing us with the chaos that was Batman v Superman: Dawn of Justice, we hoped after all the build-up and the backstage stories, that DC would finally have a movie to compete with Marvel. Unfortunately not.

Going to the cinema, knowing the reviews for the film were bad, I didn’t hold much hope, but I tried to have an open mind. The movie started the way you would expect, trying to create back-stories for the major characters: Harley Quinn (Margot Robbie), Deadshot (Will Smith), The Joker (Jared Leto) and The Enchantress (Cara Delevigne). Along with secondary characters El Diablo, Captain Boomerang, Killer Croc, Slipknot, and Katana.

The Enchantress is the most powerful ‘metahuman’ (that’s the name the government has for the anti-heroes), as she is able to move to specific places quickly. Unfortunately, she does not want to be controlled, but when Amanda Wallace (Viola Davis) has your supernatural heart in her possession, you are hers.

When The Enchantress releases her brother from his slumber, all hell breaks loose in Midway City, and the government looks to the squad to save the day, but they have to save Wallace first, who is at the top of a skyscraper.

The squad has their motivations for accepting the mission, but Quinn has an ulterior motive in play. Somehow she procures a phone from her high-security cell and plans to be rescued by her love, The Joker. They stay in contact while on the mission.

Now, enough of the plot, basically Delevigne wants to destroy the world (because a world without Instagram is not worth living in, one assumes), and it is down to the squad to stop her.

The film itself is very disappointing. It had so much potential, with the cast and characters. Robbie is brilliant as Harley Quinn and deserves the recently announced lone movie. But unfortunately Leto is just not very good as The Joker (I know that will divide opinions). He just doesn’t really do anything; he just walks into rooms his minions have broken into and then talks to someone. He isn’t very menacing, just a bit derailed. It is going back to the comic book version but he just doesn’t do it justice. This may not be his fault, as a lot of his scenes were either trimmed or cut altogether. We will have to see what he can do in his future appearances as the clown prince of crime.

Again with DC, the movie is slightly muddled, as was the case with DOJ; the film tries to fit too many components of the story in 123 minutes. They try to have some origin story, the disruption to the norm, the out-played mission and showdown, then the aftermath.

Maybe they should have had a few lone movies before bringing them all together, rather than the other way around.

Overall, not a bad movie, but not as good as the hype warranted. The soundtrack was the only real saving grace, with songs from Black Sabbath, Queen, and Creedence Clearwater Revival included.

It will no doubt do well at the box office, but DC need to step it up and stop being a slightly worse version of Marvel.