Extremely Hyped Up

Rating: 5/10 (10 August 2016)

Since the announcement of the cast of Suicide Squad last summer, there has been nothing but excitement for this film. A star-studded cast that included my favourite actor Jared Leto, as the Joker alongside, Will Smith and Margot Robbie only rendered a movie that was to bound to impress. I had eagerly been anticipating the film for the past year however, my standards were soon crushed almost 20 minutes into the movie.
I am not a huge comic book fan however, I do enjoy DC Comics and Marvel blockbusters, and this movie did not reach my expectations. The best part about Suicide Squad was the very many trailers that were released throughout the year. The trailers showed each of the characters that were to be portrayed and left fans questioning what the story-line would entail. The fact that there was such little known about the story-line was something I found to be extremely enticing as it brought up the hype even more.
However, upon viewing the movie, I realised exactly why the emphasis was completely on the actors and their character portrayal and not the story-line. This was because the film literally had no story-line. The director David Ayers put all his focus into what A-list Hollywood actors he could get to star in his movie in order to grab the audiences attention rather than writing a good plot for a movie that had so much potential.
The one positive aspect of Suicide Squad was the acting and I thoroughly enjoyed the performances of both Margot Robbie as Harley Quinn and Jared Leto as the Joker. In my opinion, this sub-plot carried the entire movie and it was easy to pick up on the emotional and physical abusive relationship deeply rooted between the two. It was disappointing that the Joker did not play a bigger part as it would have been interesting to see how far Jared Leto could take the character.
It felt as if there was no build up to the final 'fight scene' and it all just happened at once with no breaks or relief in between. The plot development would have made the movie more realistic and empathetic if the turn of events did not take place all in one night and it was clear from the beginning what exactly the suicide squad were being rallied up for. From my understanding, Enchantress was also going to be part of the elite squad to take down evil terrorists, Amanda Waller continuously harked on about. However, Enchantress ended up becoming said terrorist alongside her brother, which I felt was a plot-hole. Did Waller know this was going to happen all along? Who were the original terrorists if Enchantress did not take over June Moon's body?
Overall, Suicide Squad was a big disappointment mainly due to the story-line. With such a talented cast of some of the biggest names in Hollywood at the moment, it was obvious the movie was going to set itself up for failure if it did not reach the expectations of fans. The main reason I gave the movie 5 stars was solely based on the characters Harley Quinn, the Joker and the sub-plot of their relationship that was portrayed.