It's... an interesting lesson in failing.

Rating: 4/10 (10 August 2016)

After a year's worth of trailers, after months of teasing on the storyline, characters and general vibe and with a heightened sense of expectation after that dog's dinner that was B vs. S, Suicide Squad comes out in the heat of Summer, with a relatively clear August to bust box-office records and run amuck in theaters worldwide.
After that pleasing introduction of the climate in which this movie was released, now comes the verdict: how does it hold up to its premise, and how does it fare in general? Sadly, not that well.
Putting aside the mashup of a plot, which does not really know when to be either serious or funny (something its obvious inspiration, Guardians of the Galaxy, was able to do with a sense of gusto), there is a major problem with the casting and its general layout:
-First and foremost, the Headshot/Will Smith-Harley Quinn/Margot Robbie duo, though with some chemistry, has been placed front and center in the movie, and it is depressing to say that they cannot hold it. Placing Smith in the obligation to play the role of a ruthless assassin cum well meaning but challenged father was a ballsy move, most specifically when the "ruthless assassin" part is skimmed-through and the father part is overplayed to try and get some emotions from the public.
-Robbie, on the other hand, has been given the role of a manic/submissive bomb of debauchery, and needless to say, she nails that role, though with a sense of abandon that can verge on the careless. Oh, and let's thank Warner for reminding us that this duo had their own movie beforehand, a little thing called "Focus".
-And as for the rest of the crew? It is a mixed bag, and no one really gets the glory of a breakout performance. Joel Kinnaman does a decent job as Rick Flagg, although too decent to really make a mark, Jai Courtney can be funny here and there, Viola Davis, as Amanda Weller, could be considered as one of the only really good performances of the movie, but it seems to be done with such boredom that we can only see a sense of it being phoned in. As for the rest of the Squad? Absolutely forgettable. Even El Diablo, though backed-up with an interesting backstory, does not really deliver.
-Last but not least, the two most mesmerizing performances of the movie: Jared Leto as a downtrodden, coked-up, kitschy Joker, with no psychological depth or clearly fleshed-out motives, and no real place in the movie, since he is not the antagonist. Oh no. This is left to the other mesmerizing performance of the movie: Cara Delevingne. Yes, SHE is the villain (something called Enchantress). In the first part of the movie, she goes from your typical shy scientist to summoning the evil spirit she discovered in some lost jungle somewhere and changing into the otherworldly figure (in a half-assed allusion to Jekyll and Hyde). Then, after possessing the heart of the spirit which had been under the possession of Weller (for some reason), she transforms into something that could only be described as a porno version of a Greek goddess, complete with sensual dancing that would do a killing if accompanied with a suitable porn soundtrack, but not in a superhero movie with an epic score. On top of having the ocular expression of a dead fish, she does not manage the shift from shy and quaint to frightening and progressively camps her performance up to becoming simply hilarious.
As for the rest of the movie, nothing can be salvaged. The pacing is wrong, the music is forgettable, some story elements have been shamelessly pumped from other movies (going through a building to save/eliminate elements residing at the top of it? "The Raid" demands an apology) and a general sense of being forced to compromise in order to fast-track the DCEU. In short, a COMPLETE mess.