A wasted opportunity that ends up as a damp squib.......

Rating: 3/10 (18 August 2016)

Any pre-showing excitement we had built up at being entertained by a fast paced, visually outstanding or witty film dissipated within the first half hour. Recent superhero or comic book based films have offered so much more. From the sharp, dark, deadpan humour of Deadpool or even the all round family appeal of Guardians of the Galaxy. Instead here we have a confused plot, painting by numbers editing and flat bland dialogue that amounts to a tedious mess. What a wasted opportunity from such good potential?
The editing was bizarre and disjointed. Some opening scenes were lengthy, introducing a few main characters in detail and then the remaining characters were dropped in, almost as extras. As if they ran out of time because they didn't plan the structure of the film properly.
It felt like entire scenes were cut when we jumped from the Enchantress being contained to suddenly releasing her brother. No explanation or reason as to how or why this chain of events could suddenly happen. The scriptwriters use the Enchantress and her brother as a Hitchcockian McGuffin. They simply become a plot device to enable the Suicide Squad to bond together to fight them. But without any narrative explanation, the viewer is left being unable to identify with any of the characters and has no one to will on to win the fight. Therefore the film lacked any tension.
The only worthwhile elements in the entire film are the superb costumes and the casting for Harley Quinn and the Joker. Without the pair I would have walked out before the end so bored was I with the dull way the film plodded along. Jared Leto and Margot Robbie have found their niche. However it is disappointing that neither were given any amusing dialogue and no effort was made to use their anarchic characters to develop the plot.
Once again we were treated to the true misogyny of the Hollywood film industry. The sexy and fearless Harley Quinn came to existence as a result of her crazed passion for the Joker. An already dysfunctional character prior to meeting the Joker she then has her true self unleashed upon meeting of her soul mate( Bonne and Clyde style ). It's a tortured love affair that's complex and brutal. Yet in this version she is shown as a respectable character corrupted by a love spell cast by the Joker. He is then shown to create her madness with electric shock therapy . The violent and insane nature of the male characters isn't offered a similar treatment. They are accepted for their violence and anarchic streaks and their life choices. Why is it so hard for Hollywood and male film directors to show a woman being naturally dangerous or driven insane with desires? Then we follow up later in the film with a scene that showed Harley Quinn's true desire to be wanting to conform and have the picket fence suburban family. This is a complete betrayal of the original character. As if we can only offer redemption and embrace her madness because deep down she just wants to be married and have a baby. Did we drop back into the fifties here?
The film continues its treatment of woman as only bad ass characters because of the influence of men. Katana is a top class martial arts killer but only because she is redeeming the death of her husband. It is shown that a female can only be in a position of authority if she is as cold and brutal as any killer. I can't recall many male protagonists in charge of similar teams in other films shooting their own staff for no genuine reason other than sheer ruthlessness. Tired and clichéd sexist nonsense.
The plot was formulaic and then became confused and jumped about all over the place. The Enchantress's army looked like extras with bad acne straight from a 1950's b movie and not the least bit scary. And as for the climatic ending, had someone just watched the original Ghostbusters and thought ' "Hey that's a great plot line"?
I don't know which is more depressing the thought that this is the type of film a modern day audience expects to view or the fact that executives think this is the type of film that we should be viewing. Doesn't hold much hope for a brighter film industry. Less suicide squad and more damp squib.