9 for style, 1 for substance, so 5

Rating: 5/10 (5 December 2018)

After the death of Superman and the realisation that the next 'meta human' could be malevolent, hard-case bureaucrat Amanda Waller (Viola Davis) assembles a crew of differentially-powered villains who, under the threat of having their heads exploded, agree to team up and defend 'truth, justice and the American way', and just in time, as Earth is facing yet another God-like existential threat. The whole premise of the film is ridiculous: in case a virtually indestructible, flying, superhuman threat appears, Waller assembles a team that includes a crack shot, a guy that throws bladed boomerangs, a person with good rope skills, a swordswomen, and an acrobatic women whose weapon of choice is a baseball bat. These mere mortals are then immediately drawn into a battle with some kind of demigod who can demolish armoured vehicles with a wave of his hand, his heavily armed and nearly indestructible minions, and his sister who can dematerialise at will. Unfortunately, this one-sided battle is resolved by having all of the villains' hench-things decide to have a punch-up with the heroes rather than simply shoot them, the appearance of a Satanus-ex-machina, and the hitherto indestructible villain becoming inexplicably, but conveniently, fragile. Leading up to this unsatisfying climax is endless style-drenched slow motion shots of the Squad, limp bromances, strained quips, and the contrived backstories of the anti-heroic ensemble, most of which are not that interesting. The cast is generally good (considering the material) but even Margot Robbie, whose Harley Quinn character is easily the most interesting part of the movie, starts to get tiresome. Will Smith's Deadshot is pretty much the same as every other Will Smith character, so the world's most deadly assassin becomes an unmenacing wise-guy whose principal concern is being a loving dad. Jared Leto is initially good as the Joker, but then goes so 'over the top' that the character becomes more silly than threatening. Despite the imagination that went into the details, 'Suicide Squad' ends up looking like every other big-budget CGI hero-fest. The film is watchable for what it is, but in the end, it is not very memorable, considering the time and money that went into its production (which is my general conclusion for most of the Marvel/DC genre these days).