Flashy but lifeless DC Comics adaptation

Rating: 2/10 (1 June 2017)

STAR RATING: ***** Saturday Night **** Friday Night *** Friday Morning ** Sunday Night * Monday Morning
The Earth is under attack from an intergalactic life force that wants to take over. Government agent Amanda Waller (Viola Davis) suggests an unlikely idea: to battle with such a deadly and unfair force, they must assemble a team of super villains who play by their own rules, including assassin Deadshot (Will Smith), super minx Harley Quinn (Margot Robbie) and her lover The Joker (Jared Leto), and release them from prison to take down the threat. This, of course, does not go entirely to plan, and as well as dealing with the force, they must also rescue Doctor Jane Moone (Cara Delevinge) from the clutches of the Enchantress, an evil entity that has taken over her.
While Marvel certainly seems to hold the reigns over the superhero movie franchise, DC Comics are more than capable of flashing their weight, with a number of glossy big screen adaptations of their most popular characters, where their virtuous, emboldened personas are projected into the product to heightened effect. With Suicide Squad, director David Ayer has attempted to flip this on its head, and instead give us a group of anti heroes with attitude and much less moral fibre. It's definitely a colourful, flashy piece, but sadly, the end result is just a complete mess.
It's going for a loud, funky style, yet it's shot in a surprisingly grey and dour manner throughout, like it's trying to capture the spirit of the righteous comic book adaptations it was selling itself as the antidote to. Yet the worst thing is just the complete lack of any discernible, coherent plot to keep you interested. The complete premise seems to be sold on what would happen if a bunch of bad guys were sent to battle a super-threat, but this is not a strong enough foundation on which to set up a film in itself, and it shows.
Performances wise, Smith virtually plays the wise-cracking wise-ass in his sleep, yet he still feels unsuited and misplaced playing an all out villain as opposed to just a maverick good guy, while as one of the main villains, Delevinge is just a terrible actress and should really just go back to the catwalk. Leto's Joker is certainly different, but not much of an impression otherwise. Robbie's sassy Harley Quinn is probably the best thing about it.
Just a big, colourful, garish mess, really, and a wasted opportunity. *