Seppuku Squad

Rating: 6/10 (10 August 2016)

Are you tired of those same old superhero movies? Do you want something a little bit different? Yes? So hows about instead of SuperHEROES we have SuperVILLAINS as our protagonists? That may or may not be how a meeting at Warner Brothers went down, but still the proposed idea of villains instead of heroes (helped a hell of a lot by the films fantastic marketing campaign) got millions of people pumped up and made this the film the most anticipated summer blockbuster of 2016... But with so much hype surrounding the film the likelihood of disappointment grows higher, and in this particular case, the film is very disappointing.
I should probably start with what was good about this film, and I think if there is one positive thing we can all agree on, it's that the soundtrack was really good. There are songs from such great musicians like The Rolling Stones, AC/DC, Black Sabbath, Queen, Eminem and Twenty One Pilots just to name a few (Don't even get me started on the number artists on Sucker For Pain). The films opening 10, 20 minutes is literally good song, after good song, after good song for like 5 or 6 songs straight. So regardless of the films quality the soundtrack for this should hopefully sell well.
Another good thing about this film is what the actors do with their characters. Will Smith plays a Will Smith version of Deadshot, Margot Robbie is pretty brilliant as Harley Quinn and Jared Leto does a decent if brief portrayal as the Joker even if his presence is kinda irrelevant (Jared is nothing on Heath though). Although some actors spread there wings and fly with their characters, others are unfortunately never given the opportunity. Aside from those I've mentioned (and Joel Kinnaman's Rick Flag I guess) everyone else is just there for the ride. Killer Croc, Captain Boomarang, Enchantress and Katana are given very little to do (Most notably Killer Croc who is probably one of the only character you knew about before this film happened). I'm not sure if its a case of tow-many-characters-spoil-the-broth but the focus in extremely disproportionate between the members of the squad.
Suicide Squad suffers with some of the same problems as Batman v Superman, most notably the plot and its messy attempt at a unformulaic structure. The first 30 minutes or so simply introduces characters, but it only really introduces Deadshot and Harley and there isn't really much that is actually revealed about them other than Deadshot is the best hit-man ever and has a kid that is his world, and Harley was a doctor who treated and fell for the Joker and went batsh*t crazy. Also the mission they are on is unknown to us as well as the Squad, but you can kind of guess by putting two and two together which some will but some won't. So pretty much all you get for most of the film is thinly layered character introductions who are set on an unknown suicide mission. We knew more than this walking into the cinema screen. Oh I almost forgot about the oddly placed occasional flashback sequences like the Harley jumping into a toxic vat and making gross love with the Joker scene... They happen for some reason.
This film is called Suicide SQUAD and yet the squad never at any point feels like a team. The film fails to form any kind of on screen bond/ chemistry with anyone (except Deadshot and Harley maybe). The film instead seems to have characters make dramatic shifts in their way of thinking for example; Diablo won't fight and get involved with the squad (albiet for a different reason other than not liking them) then suddenly they are his "family" and he, SPOILER ALERT, dies fighting for them. Another extreme out of character good to bad switch is evident in the scene where Amanda Waller leaves her control centre and joins the suicide squad on foot. This character has seemed rather fair thus far in the film... and then she guns down the entire control room, she may not have been all good but this seemed way to far of a leap to the dark side.
Overall Suicide Squad suffers from a messy plot, thin character depth and a lot of underused characters, but at least the actors gave it their all and the soundtrack is dope. The DCEU is off to one hell of a rocky start that I, along with millions of others, must be thinking, the only way is up for batsy and his little band of misfits. Right?