Bad guys have all the fun

Rating: 8/10 (11 August 2016)

'Suicide Squad' is one of those films that's surrounded by 'filmic politics' before you ever enter the theatre. You have the fact that it's based on a comic therefore there is an army of fans who are ready to pick apart how their favourite bad-guys are portrayed on screen. Plus it's part of DC Comics' attempt at playing catch-up to Marvel by creating their own shared universe. Then you have it as a – loose – sequel to Batman vs Superman, which is a film that has totally divided the entire world right down the middle as to its quality. And it seems that Suicide Squad is going to go down that route.
It doesn't have Superman in and Batman is merely a cameo. Many will at least expect the Joker to be a major player, but his appearances amount to little more than an extended cameo. Plus you have people who will berate Jarred Leto's performance before they've seen it because a 'new Joker' is still a little too close to Heath Ledger's Oscar-winning portrayal of the 'Clown Prince of Crime.' What we have here is a superhero film about the villains. And, again, that is a difficult premise to sell. Marvel's universe was based on heroes and gave each their own movie to set them up before bringing them all together for the Avengers movies. Here, we're introduced to characters who all but the most ardent of comic book fans, will never have heard of.
Anyway, the premise is simple (if a little far-fetched) – a government agency decides that, in the event of an evil superhero threatening the world (or 'meta-human' as they're called) a task force of 'expendable' soldiers should be assembled in order to combat this. Therefore, all the villains currently in custody are brought together (just in time to combat such a threat!).
You've probably already seen Margot Robbie as Harley Quinn (i.e. the Joker's long-suffering female associate) and, just because you haven't heard of 'Deadshot' you've probably heard of Will Smith, who plays him in the film. These two are basically the stars and will probably go much further in the DC shared universe. Both get the most screen time and for good reason – they're the two who are most fun to watch. Harley Quinn is wonderfully bonkers and Will Smith plays a bad guy who still has enough good in him to save the universe while being bad at the same time.
The action scenes are well done, but not excessive (maybe for budget limitations) and CGI isn't too prevalent, but, sadly, when used does come across as a little blatant. It's hard to say whether anyone will definitely love or hate the film, as – like Batman vs Superman – it seems to completely divide. I enjoyed it. It's harmless fun and does the job. Plus it's probably better than the Batman vs Superman film itself! However, for every person who loves it, someone else despises it. Even die-hard comic book fans won't be guaranteed to embrace it whole-heartedly.
I see it as good, old-fashioned popcorn-munching fun. If I had one complaint I found it a little slow to start, but a film with so many characters needs to find a way to introduce their backstory somehow. If you're unsure of whether to watch it, read as many reviews as you can, or just wait until it appears on Netflix in a couple of year's time.