Severely Disappointing - poor structure, story and editing

Rating: 4/10 (5 August 2016)

Before starting, let it be clear that I'm more of a DC fan (than Marvel). I root for their movies, as I've always preferred their darker, more serious tone and better villains. I had/have very high hopes for their new fleet of titles. But whilst I loved Batman vs Superman, this movie -- Suicide Squad -- is absolutely terrible. Considering its hype, it's one of the worst comic book films ever made.
So, why was it bad? I'll break it down.....

POOR STRUCTURE/STORY: To be honest, I don't think there even was a structure to this movie. After a rushed introduction to each of the characters, a bunch of stuff just happens for them to fight. The story is non-existent. There's no central character to follow, or even a decent villain to understand/appreciate their motives. It's quite clear they changed/re-edited the film AFTER they made it. Everything is so choppy and poorly edited, that you can't help but feel large chunks of it have been left out. Undoubtedly, this is not the movie that they started with.

FORGETTABLE ACTION: Okay, so the plot isn't very good. But as a comic book film, the action can salvage this, right? Wrong. It's not that the action is bad. It's just that there's nothing memorable about it. Batman vs Superman had the amazing first battle (followed up by the amazing Martha Kent rescue ). And Civil War had the incredible airport fight. But Suicide Squad has NOTHING. It tries very hard to create one meaningful/impactful sequence with Deadshot, but it is soooo underwhelming that you begin to feel sorry for them.

JOKER: If you have high hopes for the amazing Jared Leto and the iconic Joker character that's contributed to most of the movie's hype, then prepare for an epic let-down. Firstly, he barely even features throughout the two hours. And secondly, his introduction and the few scenes involving him are rushed and pointless. He has no relevance to the main plot. There was no real insight into him, no progression, and quite frankly, you quickly lose any interest in him because his role is so meaningless. It's remarkable how badly they got this wrong!

UNINTERESTING CHARACTERS: Harley Quinn quickly grows tiresome with her ditsy/crazy demeanour. If you've caught all of the trailers and promotional material beforehand, then you've already seen her best bits. The croc dude is pointless and just growls. The fire guy has a sympathetic backstory but offers very little. Jai Courtney is quite funny as the Australian bloke. And although I was cynical going in, Will Smith as Deadshot was surprisingly good (so props for that).
There are many other things wrong which, at this moment, I don't have the energy to put down. And as a viewer it's becoming increasingly frustrating to not get a good stand-alone comic book movie anymore. The producers are so franchise-focused that they concentrate more on setting up future instalments instead of the current movie they're working on.