Suicide Squad (2016)

Rating: 2/10 (29 January 2020)

Directed by David Ayer. Starring Will Smith, Margot Robbie, Joel Kinnaman, Viola Davis, Jay Hernandez, Jared Leto, Cara Delevingne, Jai Courtney, Adewale Akinnuoye-Agbaje, Ike Barinholtz, Scott Eastwood, Karen Fukuhara, Adam Beach. (PG-13)
Deadshot (Smith), Harley Quinn (Robbie), and a bunch of other nasties with no more than one or two provided character traits are assembled to take down an even nastier entity, an archaeologist (Delevingne) possessed by an evil sorceress; no bets will be taken over whether or not there's a sky-beam during the climax. Ignoring the illogical premise of a team of supervillains being used for dangerous black ops missions, this overstuffed movie can't decide on just about anything: its tone, its visual style, its narrative direction, its very reason for existing. A soundtrack full of pop songs, a series of incoherent fights, and the occasional "cool guy pose" and wisecrack does not a good film make. Limp storytelling and erratic action filmmaking is (sadly) almost expected for an enterprise like this, but it's also atrociously conceived and constructed, a blare of chaotic sound mixing and spastic scene transitions that confuses frothing freneticism with heart-pounding excitement. Aside from Robbie, who is just unpredictably zany enough to really wish she and her character were transplanted to a different project, the cast is either completely wasted (Smith, Davis, etc.) or completely misconceived (Leto, Delevingne, etc.). Won an Academy Award for its makeup, which means it has one more Oscar than "12 Angry Men" does. Includes a few cameos from actors in their "Justice League" roles.
23/100