Entertaining comic book action film, well worth watching!

Rating: 8/10 (9 August 2016)

Going into this film I was already aware of the Suicide Squad. I've had brief glimpses of some of the old and the new squads, and have also seen the animated version (which is definitely worth checking out by the way).
So, onto the film. I felt that the pacing was good, as at no point during the film did I feel bored. The story, such as it was, progressed at a good pace and never really gave me a chance to stop and think, which may have been a good thing as it was not overly deep or original. However, this is a comic book film, so I wasn't exactly expecting a highbrow masterpiece in terms of story, but the action scenes were enjoyable and kept the film moving along.
The characters were introduced through exposition, which would normally be written off as lazy, but was appropriate in this film in the context it was used. I'm not going to talk about the individual changes to characters compared to the comics as there are always going to be differences; I'll leave that to the fans to bicker about.
In my opinion, you were given enough information about each character to get a sense of their motivations and capabilities (very similar amounts to characters in films like The Magnificent Seven and The Dirty Dozen, and you never hear complaints about them). Some people may complain about the number of characters, but those same people won't question the amount in Game of Thrones
The two main characters, Harley Quinn and Deadshot, were both portrayed well by Margot Robbie and Will Smith respectively. You'll probably hear a lot about how little of Jared Leto's Joker was in the film, which people are chalking up as a negative, however, I'd be disinclined to agree. The Joker should never be a main character in a film where Batman is not also the main character, and in this film, Ben Affleck's Batman was hardly present (again, not a negative thing).
This film is about Amanda Waller's Task Force X (the Suicide Squad), who was played very well by Viola Davis (Waller is definitely not someone to be messed with), and this film establishes them as 'The Other Guys'; the ones you call when the Justice League are too busy, and the ones that the government has near total control over.
If you enjoy films like The Magnificent Seven or The Dirty Dozen, and also happen to like comic book films, then I really think you'll enjoy this. People are far too quick to compare this to Marvel's misfit offering, Guardians of the Galaxy (which is an excellent film by the way, you should watch it!), when better comparisons are to the two films I just mentioned. Don't get sucked into the Marvel vs DC debate; it's OK to like both!
(Review from my blog: whingewood.wordpress.com)