One of the most enjoyable comic book movies in recent years.

Rating: 4/10 (6 August 2016)

Suicide Squad is directed by David Ayer and stars Will Smith, Margot Robbie, Jay Hernandez, Adewale Akinnuoye-Agbaje, Joel Kinnaman, Jai Courtney, Cara Delevingne, Viola Davis, Karen Fukuhara and Jared Leto.
Following the events of Batman V Superman, a secret government agency recruits a group of extremely high-profile super-villain prisoners to execute black ops missions in exchange for clemency.
First off, this was hugely superior in contrast to Batman V Superman and ultimately worked a hell of a lot better. Margot Robbie is energetic and crazy as Harley Quinn, delivering one of my favourite performances of the movie. Will Smith is awesome as Deadshot, I loved his character. We get to see a little more of his back story than others, and at times I felt I could really side with his decisions. It's great to see Smith back at his best and looking like he's having the time of his life. Hernandez, Akinnuoye-Agbaje, Courtney and Davis were all casted well and gave us realistic performances throughout. Fukuhara takes her first movie role in style with a kick-ass persona and tightly choreographed action sequences. Delevingne was fairly average as Enchantress, often being great and other times not so much. However, she is still new to the acting world, and therefore needs time to settle. Overall, she was a beautiful and interesting character. Jared Leto's take on the Joker is very different to what we've seen before, and one of the most anticipated portrayals this year. Leto settles into the role brilliantly with his bright green hair and broken teeth, giving his unique take on the famous character. Although I enjoyed his scenes, he simply didn't get enough screen time to allow me to fully judge his portrayal. I can't comment on his story or overall characteristics other than the fact that he's a hard thinker and at times unpredictable. I look forward to seeing him in a bigger role, either in Harley's solo movie, or somewhere else in the DC universe. All of these characters have great chemistry with each other and share some genuinely touching moments, most notably Deadshot and Harley Quinn.
The visuals are vibrant and eye-popping, especially during the introduction to the characters within the first 20 minutes. Ayer has taken this movie in a direction I wasn't quite expecting, but it was a really cool direction. The writing felt very consistent throughout, and although some of the characters failed to grab my attention, it seemed a lot more grounded than BvS was.
The story was handled almost perfectly, I loved that the characters were introduced quickly and there wasn't a reliable origin story to fall back on whenever you needed to feel for a character. There were simply a few scenes tied together that essentially did the same thing an origin would have, but in less time. The pacing is constantly fast and rarely halts for a breath, which is exactly what you need with a movie such as this. The only thing I didn't really like was the main antagonist, which I won't spoil for you, but it felt a little overkill for me. However, with characters such as these facing the threat, it didn't really take away from the entertainment.
Steven Price pairs up with Ayer again with another intricate and dramatic score that feeds through the story suitably well. In between this, you have a collection of tracks that are attached to certain key moments, mostly the introductory sequence at the beginning, which feels like it was greatly inspired by Guardians of the Galaxy. There's a moment where 'Spirit in the Sky' is used and this took me out of the experience for a moment, as I'm used to hearing that in Guardians. But apart from that, the soundtrack and score are really nicely weaved into this story and it serves as one of the most memorable things about the movie.
Overall, I'm very pleased with how all this turned out. I could wish for more Joker screen time, but that was never majorly promoted, so why dwell on something so little? I think everyone involved has done a wonderful job bringing the world back to life after the disappointing BvS a few months ago.
My verdict; Suicide Squad is one of the most enjoyable comic book movies in recent years and David Ayer has delivered a truly unique experience for all to see. Highlighting Will Smith and Margot Robbie's performances, this is an awesome, fun and colourful look into some of the best characters in the DC universe.
Suicide Squad, 8/10.