Another mess from DC/WB

Rating: 4/10 (6 August 2016)

I don't know what it is with DC, but they haven't had a superhero film with a well-developed story since Nolan left the scene. Their latest movie, Suicide Squad, has too many characters, too many flashbacks, and a poorly written action plot, resulting in a pretty boring movie.
Suicide Squad starts shortly after Batman v. Superman. Superman's death influenced ARGUS chief Amanda Waller (Viola Davis) to assemble a team of super powered villains to fight against meta-human threats. Don't ask me why she doesn't just ask Batman, the Flash, and Wonder Woman.
The team members consist of Deadshot (Will Smith), the best hit-man in the world; Harley Quinn (Margot Robbie), the Joker's deranged girlfriend and former psychiatrist; Diablo (Jay Hernandez), a super-villain who controls fire; Captain Boomerang, who literally just throws boomerangs really well; Killer Croc, (Adewale Akinnuoye Agbaje) a super strong villain who is part man and part crocodile; and Slipknot, (Adam Beach), who can climb walls.
The team is assembled to take out the super villainess Enchantress, a witch who wants to destroy the world. But the team is kept in the dark about the true nature of their mission, and they are just told to basically point and shoot at whatever they come across, until they learn the truth at the end. During the mission, the Joker (Jared Leto) intervenes to take Harley Quinn back, causing trouble for everyone.
Developing all of these characters and delivering a good action movie seemed to be beyond the ability of the filmmakers. Deadshot, Harley Quinn, and Amanda Waller are the only characters who really stand out. Will Smith gives a good performance – his trademark personality doesn't overwhelm the character, which I was worried about. Margot Robbie nails it as Harley Quinn, her mannerisms, her humor, everything. Viola Davis is just chilling as Amanda Waller.
The rest of the cast might as well have not been there. Jai Courtney is funny when he has something to say. Slipknot, Killer Croc, and Diablo disappear at times during the movie and you don't miss them. Slip Knot and Killer Croc in particular are given little to no character development. There's also a bodyguard named Katana whose only development comes from a few throwaway lines. These are some of the least memorable characters you'll meet in a blockbuster action film.
Flashbacks are the primary mechanism for developing the characters and I just think that that's pretty lazy. It works well enough for Dead Shot and Harley, but it would have been better if we had seen these characters develop relationships with each other on screen in real time instead of diverting so much time from the plot at hand. By the end of the movie they're this big happy family and it doesn't feel convincing.
As for Jared Leto's heavily promoted Joker performance, all I can say is "meh". I didn't think he was scary or funny and most of his scenes could have been cut. In fact they probably should have been cut to develop other characters better.
So while the supporting characters are pretty forgettable, the plot is pretty forgettable too. The team just wanders around a city without much direction until they find Enchantress. The story is not well served by mediocre action scenes either. When Star Trek Beyond has better action scenes than a superhero (or in this case, a super-villain movie), that's pretty bad.
All in all, this was a pretty dull movie, only marginally better than WB's previous outing (although I haven't seen the ultimate cut of BvS yet). This project seems to have suffered from a classic case of too many hands in the pot - studio micromanagers may have changed the movie so much that it didn't resemble Director David Ayer's original vision. WB employed the company that cut the trailer to make the movie funnier apparently. I've never heard of a major studio using a trailer company to recut their film. Plus, I heard the script was written in six weeks (not smart). Maybe we'll see a better cut on home video, but DC can't keep relying on director's cuts to save their projects. They have to shape up soon, or they will see disappointing box office returns.