Critics need to loosen up: We live in a mad world.

Rating: 7/10 (28 September 2016)

Let's call this "Squad 1." 1. "SS" is too Nazi 2. "Suicide" is too Emo 3. "Squad" is representative of the movie's theme. 4. "Skwad" is too much an in-joke for nerds to be fairly used in a regular review. 5. "1" is in anticipation that the DC comics extended universe demands sequels (and reddit rumors back that up)
So, Squad 1 evokes too many things in my little heart and brain to contain in one opinionated recap, so this is a short/sweet overview, and then, as they flesh out, I'll post topic-specific reviews.
Professional reviewers hate it, but the box office speaks for itself -- either nerds are now mainstream, or the main stream is getting nerdier. Squad 1 is enough of a success there will surely be more of them regardless of critical opinion.
Full Disclosure: My opinion is very biased: My wedding registry was full of Suicide Squad and Harley Quinn comics. Even still, I understand a lot of what the professional movie viewers are saying: Squad 1 was not the greatest movie. Story and character motivation ranged from the extreme cliché to unbelievable. While the pacing is pretty smooth, it easily could have been tighter. The plot doesn't have many holes, but it doesn't make the most sense either – that is, If you believe Enchantress and her brother are so powerful, Harley and Deadshot's tricks and grenades shouldn't have worked on her.
Most of the skew-iffy stuff could have easily been fixed with simple one-liners here and there, honing the viewer's experience. I expect better from Considering how much money and talent went into this, there's not a good excuse. At best, David Ayer and his 10 Producers were negligent in writing & planning; at worst, they just don't have a grip on how to direct a comic book movie.
On the other hand, critics expecting a soulful drama are dumb. Just because Ayer also wrote and directed Fury, Sabotage, and End of Watch, does not mean Squad 1 was going to explore PTSD or alcoholism. That's like saying Kenneth Branaugh's Thor should have had the weight of Hamlet. DUMB. I'm looking at you Variety's Peter Debruge. It's an ensemble action hero movie about villains....by design it's unpredictable. But, I get it -- even by action movie standards, this was kind of a directorial mess.
Phenomenal trailers kept all of us rapt the past year. Nerds and critics alike, all bought into these glittering action-trains portraying a full-fledged world, a tongue-in-cheek spray paint darkness, and story-telling without plot-spoiling. These were things of editing beauty. More than quick shots crammed together, they were rhythmically choreographed, and so well executed that the heart of the story was injected right into our eyeballs. So, we were suckered into thinking Squad 1 would be great, not just an action movie with colorful characters, but a thing of creative grace and savage beauty.
This built up two expectations: 1) the execution would be amazing, and 2) there would be a lot of Joker. This first was quickly destroyed by the reasons detailed above, but the second is interesting. The trailers and production rumors make Joker out to be the main baddie, and he ain't. Thus, many viewers were butt hurt. That is good work on the park of Ayer and his 10 producers.
Even without it being a soulful drama (seriously, Debruge, wtf) or as greased-leather-slick as Deadpool, we're all hooked on the potential of Squads 2, 3, and 4 that Ayer -- or whomever -- can go as low-budget and gritty or as high-SFX and glossy as they like -- and we will go see it.
Another point reviewers agree upon is an abundance of sexism and racism. Which may be just as dumb. This ensemble cast is an American diversity wet dream. Half the cast are women. Half the cast is not white. We have leading black, latino, & Asian squad members, plus an host of extras of both dot and feather indians, black, Asian, and latino faces. There is some over-camera-devotion to Margot Robbie's ass (I only found three instances of this) but the comics play up Harley's butt a whole lot so I vote "appropriate to character." If you disagree, you can do some readin' (you won't regret it!)
Beyond all that, Squad 1 is pretty normal What sets this movie apart, stylistically, is the art direction. Brandt Gordon's day-glo palace of gore drenches every minute of digital media with visual joy. From color palette to backdrop to visual details on every character and wall -- this art direction is out of this world. Vanity Fair's Richard Lawson called it "ugly." If you were color blind and live in a Manhattan Ivory Tower, then I empathize, and hope Harley beats you to death in the next movie.
What interests me is that Squad 1 exists at all. Our real world is portrayed by TV and internet news outlets as relentlessly dark -- a patch-work of terror and Corrupt Billionaires Running For President. Unfortunately, I guess art imitates life since we've just be swallowing Zack Snyder's unflinchingly morose Batman saga. It's no wonder that eventually audiences grow attuned to this darker aesthetic.
Further, the DCU started revolving and the Haves and the Have Nots in the Dark Knight Returns. When I watched Bane cut off the island of Manhattan, I rooted for him. He and Talia were onto something like Fight Club -- not just "damn the man," but a plan of how to damn the man. There's a lotta sympathy for that in our post-Occupy Wallstreet era. The characters in Squad 1 are all damned by the man, and it's easy to feel a lot of sympathy for them even though we know they're villains. We are an audience who "need them bad." And that's why Suicide Squad is awesome.