Stale Squad

Rating: 6/10 (4 August 2016)

When I saw the first teaser-trailer and promo images for this movie, I was largely unimpressed. As the marketing campaign unfolded, though, Suicide Squad managed to create some serious hype that I found myself unable not to join. The result, however, is mixed, for the trailers advertise another, better, funkier and more audacious kind of movie.
Story-wise, things are very simple and bland here - first we get around half an hour worth of character introduction (understandable, since there are so many of them), which goes at a rapid pace and with lots of different licensed background music, almost like an advertisement or a music video. Then, with everyone onboard, the Squad arrives to some city devastated by a colorful CG Aztec-looking big dude. What happens next is some of the more disappointingly stale stuff: instead of an explosive chemistry and wit-filled spectacle we get some uninventive action scenes involving shooting and beating lots of mindless drones (a-la Avengers 1&2), the supposedly "bad to the bone" protagonists implausibly bonding and becoming friends (they say that they're friends now, like, 5 times) and overcoming a lame bland CG-villain (who, despite all his powers and menacing looks goes down from a regular medium-sized bomb, yeah).
Now the simplistic plot could have been saved by character interactions, but that doesn't really happen here. I'll just go ahead and list all the members with brief descriptions:
Deadshot - Will Smith playing Will Smith. Nothing new, but it turns out I still like that guy.
Harley - Margot Robbie is pretty and has a fine butt, but all the quirks and grimaces and the overall childlike demeanor at times feels out of place.
Joker - This is a definite miss for me. Leto is overacting hard and is bringing nothing new to the table - he is just a mob boss who has a tendency towards ridiculousness.
El Diablo - Surprisingly robust. The drama in his backstory didn't work for me, but overall he is fairly charismatic.
Boomerang - Jai Courtney does not annoy the hell out of me in this movie, so that's some progress. Other than that, his presence is minimal and he mostly serves as a semi-successful comedic relief.
Enchantress - From what I gather, Cara Delevigne is only somewhat famous because of her wealthy parents. Let's just say I wish this was not the case.
Rick Flag and Amanda Waller - they play their respective parts well. Can't really add much.
Killer Croc - He's alright, but I've got a feeling that nothing would've changed if he was not in this movie altogether.
Katana - Read the paragraph above.
Slipknot - Who?
So, some of the chemistry between characters works, some of it doesn't. All of the drama in this movie is unconvincing and redundant. The Justice League cameos are pretty cool. The heavily-promoted soundtrack is underused, with the best songs just playing during the credits or muffled in the background (yeah, Purple Lamborghini).
Overall I can't say it's a bad movie, but it's not a good one, either. It's just a tad bit above average, and it is sad, as this is yet another missed opportunity for the DCEU to get a solid hit on their hands.