Too Much Chaos, Too Little Plot

Rating: 8/10 (30 January 2017)

I liked it but...
There was too much detracting from what could've been a good story. Perhaps too many characters. When there's a large cast, it's difficult to give each player enough screen time so much of it had to be condensed into a few moments voice-over and a brief scene of his/her origin.
They say you can't tell the layers without a program but in this one, even with the explanation of who everyone is, it's never clear why they're doing what they're doing. This is a movie in which the bad guys are bad and the good guys badder, but the so-called villains have their own set of morals while the good guys have none. (Naturally the ruthless are the ones in power.) While I liked the characters, the plot...was there really one? Since this was supposed to (apparently) be after the story in which Superman is killed, these characters are "recruited" to take his place. Having nowhere seen or heard of a movie about that event--did I miss it? Does it exist?--the viewers are subjected to a brief shot of a funeral cortege as explanation, and that's all.
The plot is confusing. Muddled would be a kind way to describe it. It seems to go in one direction, then abruptly switch to another. The "mission" is said to be one thing, it quickly deteriorates into something else, though exactly what isn't clear, except that the Witch is involved. Adding to the confusion, there are flashbacks inserted in such a way they seem part of the action until they dissolve back into the present. Frankly, I'd liked to have seen more of the Joker. He seemed the most "sane" part of the story, and that's saying an ironic lot.
While the various members of the suicide squad are good and the brief explanations of their backstories helpful, though Deadshot's is the only one explored in true depth, this movie was a disappointment because it seemed aimless, merely an excuse for explosive special effects and merely introducing characters, as if a "trial run" to see how audiences accepted them, perhaps in preparation for a movie with a true plot in which they again star.
Score 8 stars for characterization; it would've been 10 if there had been some reason in all this chaos.
This movie was viewed as a rental DVD and no remuneration was involved in the writing of this review.