A laughing matter it is not. Suicide Squad has some colorful baddies, but gives little for them to do

Rating: 5/10 (10 August 2016)

Disney seems to have the market down on superhero movies ever since they bought Marvel. With the numerous Iron Man, Captain America, and Avengers movies, mostly all receiving positive phrase from critics and audiences, how is it that the idea of a cinematic universe is so hard to do in another fashion. Disney is about to do the same with the Star Wars stories, and yet Warner Brothers seems to be having trouble with the DC comics' stories. Man of Steel started with a well- intended Superman, but fell due to story issues and regard with simple logic. Batman V Superman made even bigger mistakes when it tried to combine five or six movie ideas into one.
One of the biggest problems is that director Zack Snyder had set up those previous film as so dark and brooding, that they lack much fun. The action scenes are good, but both movies had an identity crisis of it's own by not knowing how take it's dark tone and make it more fun. Warner Brothers was smart enough to understand just how colorful the villains are. Batman, Superman, The Flash, and the rest of the Justice League are full of baddies that have worked with each other in the comics. Suicide Squad seems like a proper step to take to try and give DC fans something different.
Set after the events of Batman V Superman, intelligence operative Amanda Walker (played by Viola Davis) is worried that the next "Superman" being could be a force of evil rather then good. Knowing that most military would not be a match for powerful beings, she proposes a team of villain and criminals to be used as a disposable asset in high risk missions. When an archaeologist Dr. June Moone (played by Cara Delevingne) becomes possessed by a witch called the "Enchantress" and sets on destroying the world, the team is brought out of the prison and into the streets.
This Suicide Squad consists of assassin/marksmen Deadshot (played by Will Smith), crazy Harley Quinn (played by Margot Robbie), mouthy Captain Boomerang (played by Jai Courtney), pacifist but fiery El Diablo (played by Jay Hernandez), cannibalistic Killer Croc (played by Adewale Akinnuoye-Agbaje) and sword wielding Katana (played by Karen Fukuhara). Their all being led by Army officer Rick Flag as they make their way closer into the center of the city to stop the Enchantress. If that wasn't enough, the Joker (played by Jared Leto) is coming in to take Harley Quinn back to Gotham.
The good news is that Suicide Squad is better then Man of Steel and Batman V Superman. The bad news is that it's not by much. I'll say that I'm glad the this DC movie finally tried to evoke more fun into it's universe. That idea shows a lot within it's players. The best here are Will Smith and Margot Robbie who sport out the best one liners and really embrace the insanity that I wanted more of. Jai Courtney actually found a role that works to his advantage. Viola Davis does well with the material given. Jared Leto manages to bring a new and unique Joker, though we see very little of him.
I liked the team and the movie does a fine job setting things up in the first thirty minutes. What Guardians of the Galaxy (Marvel's equivalent to this) got right was they allowed their party members to go nuts and interact with each other. There's not much of that in Suicide Squad as the dialogue between each player is minimal in favor of action scenes that are alright, but nothing to brag about. One of the bigger problems is that the villain is incredibly bland and uninteresting. With the talent available, why couldn't these guys be fighting Joker? The Enchantress gives little more then "I'm Evil!". Warner Brothers may have the bad guys ready to go, but the story doesn't give them a place exciting to go.
I'll give this five Harley Quinn mallets out of ten. If Warner Brothers expects a big cinematic universe with the DC characters, they really need to make some management changes to those behind this creatively. These are good ideas, but they need more madness then what Suicide Squad has to offer. A laughing matter this is not.