A choppy, sprawling effort

Rating: 5/10 (23 September 2018)

SUICIDE SQUAD is a choppy, sprawling effort from the DC Universe from hit-or-miss director David Ayer. The idea is to have all the major villains teaming up to go on their own DIRTY DOZEN-style story in return for a reduction in their jail sentences. Sadly, the end result is choppy and imperfect, mildly entertaining here and there but failing overall. Certain elements, like Jared Leto's Joker, feel extraneous to the main story and have no real reason to be included. And the addition of an embarrassingly awful Cara Delevingne as the villain of the piece - she's no actress and never has been - is the film's nadir. However, it's not all bad. Will Smith is likeable and assured as the lead, given solid support by Joel Kinnaman and Jai Courtney. The film has an absolute ton of action to see it through, so although it's frequently silly, it's never boring, at least. It's a shame it all ends in a generic CGI way, as have pretty much all superhero flicks of the last ten years, but it's not unwatchable.