Wasted Potential

Rating: 6/10 (22 May 2017)

I'm not sure if this includes spoilers so I clicked that it did, just in case something I say is considered a spoiler, though I will try to avoid any.
The first and biggest problem with this is the writing. The dialogue is often hokey, and humor falls flat, and the story makes little to no sense. I understand the plot is contrived to get these bad guys together to fight a common enemy. But the pacing is all over, and the villain and her/their scheme is never fully explained.
The second big problem is the direction. Some scenes are in dramatic slow motion for no reason and undermine the action and pacing. Other scenes that could have been interesting or exciting are rushed or never even shown. Good direction could have helped cover up a lot of the story's flaws. Instead it exacerbated them.
The third big problem, and I guess this still goes along with the writing and plot but stood out to me as a separate problem, the combination of the characters never makes sense. Okay, we get it. They are meta-humans brought together to fight potential meta-human threats. However, some are obviously much more useful than others. Why was Harley Quinn even there? Deadshot kills everything quickly while her and others have hand-held weapons. It makes little sense. At least the alligator dude gets to use his talent later in the story, but for the most part they could have just taken Deadshot, no need for the whole crew.
There are a few good points that make this movie worth watching.
The actors do the best they can with an inconsistent and disappointing script. Margot Robbie is a believable Harley Quinn unfortunately she's just there for eye candy, contrived emotion, and one-liners that don't land. Will Smith is, well, Will Smith as he is in every movie and does it justice. I have mixed feelings about Jared Leto's joker; on one hand, he is a delightfully psychotic, and somewhat fresh, original twist on the joker. On the other hand his performance is also as inconsistent as the script. Early on, I was digging the character even if it took a minute to get used to after seeing actors like Caesar Romero, Jack Nicholson, and Heath Ledger do him differently. But some of his later scenes seemed forced, like he was trying to hard. He delves into a Christian Bale-like guttural voice at times that seemed unnecessary. Overall the actors do the best they can with the script and deserve credit.
If you can turn off your brain and just enjoy the action and attempts at humor, there is value here. Unfortunately, its potential is wasted by the script as I've said before. A better story, villain, and direction could have made this something special.