They're the bad guys. Well, kind of bad

Rating: 4/10 (12 August 2016)

On paper Suicide Squad seemed like it should have been DC's golden child. It had a stellar cast that included Oscar winner Jarred Leto and rising star Margot Robbie, it was being helmed by director David Ayer who's written great villainous leads in the past such as Alonzo Harris in Training Day and the trailers made it look like we were going to get everything that we'd want from a Suicide Squad movie. But somewhere along the line all this potential got wasted and Suicide Squad has ended up being the biggest misfire from DC Entertainment since Green Lantern.
The Suicide Squad is based around a group of dangerous meta-humans put together by Amanda Waller (Viola Davis) and led by Rick Flag (Joel Kinnaman). This team includes the most deadly shooter in the world Deadshot (Will Smith), the Jokers girlfriend Harley Quinn (Margot Robbie), an Australian thief called Captain Boomerang (Jai Courtney), a fire conjurer called El Diablo (Jay Hernandez), a human reptile called Killer Croc (Adewale Akinnuoye-Agbaje) and a woman with a sword capable of trapping the souls of its victims named Katana (Karen Kukuhara).
Unfortunately the film seems to glaze through all the character introductions as quickly as I've done in the last paragraph, with Viola Davis presenting each of the characters in the beginning as if she were reading off the background summaries from trading cards. Even Harley Quinn, who has one of the darkest and most interesting backstories of how she entered an abusive relationship with the Joker, has her history summed up in a very brief two minute flashback. Although she still gets more time to be introduced than most, with some characters just showing up out of nowhere to join the team without any explanation whatsoever.
In spite of the core concept of the suicide squad being that they're a task force of dangerous villains, the film makes every member of the squad seem like very noble characters. Whilst the film constantly reminds us that they're "the bad guys", there never seems to be much to differentiate the Suicide Squad from any other superhero team. At one point there's nothing stopping some members of the Squad from simply leaving, but they still stay for no other reason than to save the day. Their characterisation is similar to the crew from the Fast and Furious films. Sure they're criminals, but at the end of the day we're supposed to root for them since they're still going to do the right thing. They just complain more whilst they do it.
Though the films saving grace is that it does have some great performances. Will Smith brings back the charm and quick wit that made him a star in films like Independence Day and Men in Black. Margot Robbie gives Harley Quinn a great live action cinematic debut with an unpredictable, chaotic nature that feels partly like the Joker and partly like the wife from the Honeymooners.
Viola Davies brings a level of cold heartedness and brutality to Amanda Waller in a performance that is probably the most loyal to the comics of any character in the film. The film also boosts a charismatic and loud mouthed performance from Jai Courtney and a surprisingly heartfelt performance by Jay Harnandez, whose fire blasting antihero ends up getting the best story arc of the entire film.
These performances are so good that most of the films best moments are when the film has the characters personalities bounce off one another, like Captain Boomerang teasing other members or Deadshot annoying El Diablo to get him to burn out a room full of enemies. The best scene in the film ends up just being when the squad stops to get some drinks in the bar and just start talking to each other.
It's just a shame that Jared Leto, one of the films strongest cast members, doesn't even get an opportunity to interact with any members of the Suicide Squad other than Harley Quinn. In fact, in spite of Leto's prominent billing in marketing he hardly gets any screen time throughout the entire film. He was great in the short time he got, giving the Joker a young, brutal, mob boss style, so I'm looking forward to seeing him in future DC films. But his talents do not get the chance to shine here.
Supposedly there was a lot cut from the film, including a lot more of the Joker and several cool trailer moments that don't end up appearing in the final film. So just like Dawn of Justice: Ultimate Edition there is probably a better version of the Suicide Squad sitting on a cutting room floor somewhere. But unless that gets released I'd advise just checking out the animated movie Batman: Assault on Arkham. It's does far better justice to the Suicide Squad characters and is everything that this film should have been.