PLEASE NOTE - THE FOLLOWING IS A SPOILER FREE REVIEW. I WILL NOT REVEAL ANY MAJOR PLOT POINTS FROM THE MOVIE. The DC Cinematic Universe….what is there to say? Fans are spilt. Critics are undecided. Some Marvel fanboys are laughing while others are willing DC to knock it out of the park because when Dc wins, we all win. After two divisive entries in the DCU with Man of Steel and Batman vs Superman, attention has turned to the latest offering, Suicide Squad. Featuring an unusual premise, lesser known characters (apart from Harley Quinn and Deadshot) and a killer soundtrack designed to rival Guardians of the Galaxy, will this be the movie that finally brings fans and critics together in a celebration of great and enjoyable cinema?
The story/plotGovernment agent Amanda Waller puts together an unorthodox team to combat unknown extraterrestrial and meta-human threats to the world.
Overall opinionLet me start by saying this movie is very different in tone to MOS and BvS. While still be dark, it is much lighter than those other two movies. And much more enjoyable. The chemistry between the cast is incredible, with some real stand out performances from Will Smith, Margot Robbie and Viola Davies. The soundtrack too is awesome, a vibrant mix of classic and modern rock, pop and old skool RnB/hip-hop. Throw in some amazing visual effects and practical make-up (I'm looking at you Killer Croc) and you have the building blocks for a successful movie. Right?
Unfortunately, the sum of it's parts does not create a satisfying overall film. The main problem with the film is the plot is too unoriginal and generic (big glowy portal thingy in the sky threatens everything unless the team find a way to stop it, after shooting/slicing & dicing/bludgeoning their way through hoards of nameless mind controlled canon fodder. Oooooo!). Some of the editing, especially during the end of the first third/beginning of the second third of the movie was sloppily done and very jarring. However, despite all this, the movie was much more enjoyable to watch than BvS, in my opinion. That was probably because this movie spent a decent amount of time developing some of the characters through creative flashbacks.
The PerformancesWill Smith - DeadshotThe Fresh Prince of Bel Air has come a long way from the days of annoying and perplexing Uncle Phil. He has developed into a bonafide A-list movie star, all charm, charisma and big ears. However, in recent years, his career seemed to have faltered slightly. It happens to every actor, but there were some who questioned whether Will would ever be able to successful distance himself from "Will Smith" and all his "Will Smithinessisms" in a role. He proved it last year with Concussion and does so even more successfully here. Not once did I think i was watching Will Smith. He WAS Deadshot. And to his credit, he really fit in well with the ensemble cast, never over-powering anyone with his persona or acting chops. All in all, a joy a to watch and a welcome addition to the DCU. I cannot wait to see more from this character in future movies.
Margot Robbie - Harley QuinnHarley Quinn. A sidekick character originally created for the awesome 90s animated Batman series that proved so popular she as brought into the comics and has since gone on to become one of the most successful characters in the DC line-up (as well as an inspiration to cosplayers everywhere).
Margot Robbie does a great job of bringing the character to life. Kooky and unpredictable, but underneath it all a sense of vulnerability that leaves you equal parts being scared of her, wanting to hug her and laughing at her comments. There are some whose first exposure to the character came from the extremely successful Arkham video games. Robbie was wise not to try and copy that portrayal (there are some who find Harley in the games really annoying). Personally, I thought she could have done a little moor with her voice, but that's just a personal preference.
Viola Davies - Amanda WallerWithout a doubt the best and most intimidating character in the whole movie. Cold, calculating and not fazed by anything or anyone. She does some things in the movie that leave you saying "Damn, woman. That was cold!". Amazing performance and cannot wait to see where she pops up next in the DCU.
Jai Courtney - Captain BoomerangThere are those who do not like Jai Courtney. There are those who would say he can't act. There are those who said he was awful as John McClane's son in Die Hard 5 and ruined the character of Kyle Reese in Terminator: Genisys. And I agree with those people. However (and I cannot believe I am saying this), Jair Courtney was actually really REALLY good in this movie. Really funny, although he could have been given a little more to do. But he was a joy to watch anytime he was on-screen.
Jay Hernandez - El DiabloTasked with being the "tortured one" of the group, Hernandez gave a really strong performance as a character who wants to atone for an unforgivable crime. I occasionally found the facial tattoos distracting during his dialogue scenes, but all was forgiven once he started to use his powers and kick some ass.
Adewale Akinnuoye-AgbaleYou may know him better as Mr Echo from Lost. The prosthetics and make-up for his character was amazing, although he wasn't given much dialogue during the film and his character wasn't really developed well (and they never explained his condition properly either).
Joel Kinnaman - Rick Flagg"The world's best special forces soldier", as the de facto leader of the squad, Kinnaman is believable enough and suitably imposing as Flagg. He has a "love story" of sorts, but I found it unconvincing.
Jared Leto - Some guy called "The Joker"When Jack Nicholson was first announced at the Joker it was met with pretty much universal acceptance. He went on to give a memorable performance. When Heath Ledger was announced as the Joker, the internet almost melted as keyboards around the world heated up from fanboys typing their derision at the casting choice. And then he gave an Oscar winning transformative performance, hailed by everyone far and wide as THE defining portrayal of the character in live action. Jared Leto had big shoes to fill. Some really big shoes to fill. And to his credit, he was good. However, he was not in the movie enough to give a lasting impression as to whether he would be better than Legder or not. Visually he looked interesting and his mannerisms were dangerously unpredictable. He strayed close to the line of "trying too hard" but never fully crossed it. I am definitely looking forward to seeing him in other movies.
Cara Delevigne - EnchantressAs June Moone (the human host) Delevigne did a great job of portraying the horror of an individual possessed by the spirit of a witch. (Some of) The Enchantress effects looked amazing and eerie. However, she didn't really do much and was never really threatening. At all. It's a sad state of affairs when Amanda Waller, a human character with no powers, is more intimidating than a super powerful witch.
The effectsSome great CGI work, although you can tell the Synder input with the odd slo-mo scene. Also, once you seen once big energy portal vortex thingy, it kind of loses it's wow factor.
The actionSome of the earlier action scenes were really well done, especially those with Deadshot.
Other stuffThere is a mid-credit scene.
Very little score as they decided to use the aforementioned pop/rock/hip-hip songs instead.
Final verdictThis had all the makings of a great movie and could very easily have been as big a hit for DC as Guardians of the Galaxy was for Marvel. However, since the release it has come out that there was a lot of studio interference, as wells David Ayer only having 6 weeks to write the script and it shows in some places.
By constantly using classic and modern rock, pop and old skool RnB/hip-hop, I think they were trying too hard to capture some of that retro GOTG feel good factor. The big difference between that movie and this was the GOTG soundtrack fit the storytelling and pacing of what was on screen at the time and didn't feel forced in there. This soundtrack was almost over-powering at times. I loved the music choices, but it was just always there, all the time.
I really enjoyed this movie, but only because I lowered my expectations after reading a few reviews. I think the critics rating on Rotten Tomatoes is quite harsh. It's not the greatest comic book movie by any stretch of the imagination, but is nowhere near as bad as some people would have you believe.
My Movie rating system
10- Citizen "F*%king" Kane (A+)
9- Bloody Great (A)
8- Really rather good (A-)
7- Pretty decent (B+)
6- Definitely above average (B)
5- Middle of the road average (C)
4- Mediocre (D)
3- Meh (E)
2- Crap (F)
1- Why the hell did I waste my my time and money of this abomination (unrated)
Score - 7.6/10After-thought: Future of the FranchiseIs DC trying to do too much to quickly in order to catch up with Marvel?
Will the poor critics reviews affect the box office and, by extension, the future of the franchise?
Can Wonder Woman be the movie to finally put the DCU on the map?
