I blame HBO

Rating: 8/10 (7 August 2016)

=======this review contains minor spoilers=====
I have seen and thoroughly enjoyed Suicide Squad, and am genuinely mystified by the hatred it is currently generating, especially from film critics. This has got me thinking over why this would be the case and I have come to the conclusion that critics are expecting too much from what is essentially a two hour bit of fun and escapism.
This is why I am blaming HBO for those responses. They have the time and space over five/six years to develop characters to such a level that the simple scene of one character 'holding a door' is brilliant, inventive and gets the viewer to reassess almost six years of development in one scene. A two hour film doesn't have that time or space, and I get the impression that critics often forget this when they point out an underdeveloped character brought in for five minutes with the clear plan to kill them off within that time.
What you get with Suicide Squad is an enjoyable comic book Dirty Dozen ( well not quite that number but you get the drift) where you are never going to get all characters with a full backstory nor an equal number of lines or scenes, but all make their mark as required and I do include Slipknot in that.
Now I'm not suggesting that it's perfect. It suffers from the usual ending of quick cut blowing things up school of filming and the end decisions of the big bad to engage in hand to hand combat is just plain stupid, but on the whole a cracking romp
Go in, settle down and don't try to overthink what's on the screen and you'll enjoy as well
PS....as a little aside I've read comments over the misleading trailers which suggested that Joker would be the protagonist. I often complain about trailers giving too much away. This trailer has served a big red herring and I applaud the makers for this. More of the same please
That said more of Leto's Mr J would be very welcome and I look forward to his involvement in The Batman