Better than expected, but still not a great movie

Rating: 7/10 (19 August 2016)

So, yeah - it's a super hero movie. It doesn't suck the way a lot of people are crowing about, but it's not a masterpiece either the way a lot of other people are shouting.
The good: I thought Margot Robbie's acting, without mentioning her accent, was pretty much spot on for what I would have expected from Harley Quinn. (I came close to naming my Harley Sportster "Harley Quinn" but then this movie started being advertised, so I named her "Binky.") The plot made sense, even if it was a bit of a stretch here and there. Other people have complained about it, but I liked the music. I thought "Spirit in the Sky" was misplaced when it started, but whatever. Viola Davis plays a bad guy pretty well. I thought the actor who played Griggs (Ike Barinholtz) did a great job making us care about him and what happened. Jay Hernandez did a good jobs as Diablo. Most of the SFX didn't suck.
The bad: Well, Margot Robbie's here and then gone again accent. (I could give her a slight break because I know how hard it is to carry an accent throughout a performance. But, OTOH, this wasn't a live show, she could have had an accent coach, and she got paid a lot more than I ever have, so no - no slight break.) For me the show screeched to a halt every time Leto's joker appeared on the screen. Man, I hated that characterization. It simply didn't work for me, even a little bit. Ditto Cara Delevingne - my Lord she is a terrible actress. And IMHO her body might look nice but her face certainly isn't all that. So, with the lack of a trace of acting ability coupled with not being gorgeous - she must be sleeping with someone to be getting these acting gigs. I simply couldn't buy her enchantress except when she was hidden under heavy makeup and CGI. Why the heck was Captain Boomerang in this story? He didn't add anything plot wise. At least Slipknot was there to show us the effectiveness of the "persuasive device" used to make the Suicide Squad go along.
The ho hum: So yeah, once again Will Smith played Will Smith. If you like his "Oh hell no!" plus his "now I'm going to speak slower in a lower register so you can tell I'm a serious and tortured soul" then you will like his 1,000th (a made-up number to emphasize my point) rendering of this character.
All in all, not a failed movie and not a master piece.