Suicide Squad, attack!!!...

Rating: 8/10 (4 August 2016)

I've only seen Smallville's and Arrow's interpretations of the Suicide Squad previously, but apparently both weren't really accurate representations. I'd only known of Harley Quinn from Batman: The Animated Series (and Mia Sara in Birds of Prey), and hadn't really seen what the big deal was, so I had few expectations of what she 'should' be like in her first big screen live action interpretation. Clearly everyone has their own opinions, and obviously pleasing everyone would've been impossible, but Margot Robbie is the MVP, her nuanced portrayal of psychiatrist, Harleen Quinzel, turned Joker's accomplice, Harley Quinn, without a doubt the scene-stealer of this movie (if it wasn't already immediately apparent from the very first trailers). Out of many different versions of the character, the one we meet here (accompanied by 'You Don't Own Me') uses her gymnastic skills/bed sheets to make a harness and swing upside down inside her cell, which seems in character. Through brief flashbacks, we see glimpses of her as a psychiatrist, where she became infatuated with the Joker (despite, or perhaps *because* of, her seeing him for what he was), strapped to a gurney and being given harsh electroshock "treatment/therapy" by him, which explains her mental instability/how she's as much a victim as a perpetrator.
Those whose opinions of Robbie's Harley depended solely on whether she retained the character's traditional strong New York/New Jersey accent and traditional harlequin costume need not fret, as the former is on full display (she bounces from harder to lighter, though not because she's incapable of holding down a Harley accent, as she clearly pulled it off in The Wolf of Wall Street, but rather to show her moments of clarity) and the latter is acknowledged/paid respect in a brief clip that I'm sure will launch a thousand GIFs. The character's look/attitude is a little different, but that's to be expected when animation is adapted to live action. People needn't get so hung up on such things, as her character shouldn't be *defined* by these traits, and she DOES "have agency" (*choosing* to fall into the vat of chemicals, rather than being pushed), which should alleviate some fans' fears. Robbie knocks it out of the park, ensuring Harley's much more than "just a whole lot of pretty and a whole lot of crazy". For evidence of her perfectly suitable/twisted chemistry with Jared Leto's Joker, look no further than the scene of them riding in the "Jokermobile" together, where she calls him "puddin'"/"Mr J" and Batman "batsy/bats" (Batfleck's featured at the beginning, subduing both Harley and Will Smith's Deadshot, and mid-psychedelic end credits scene with Viola Davis' Waller).
I'm unfamiliar with Leto as an actor, having never seen him in anything else, and some might be disappointed with his amount of screen time, but I think it's for the best that he didn't overshadow the movie. He's used sparingly, but just enough/when the occasion calls for it. The Joker/Harley "relationship" remains intact, and what's shown of it leaves us wanting more. Smith is basically playing himself, though his character has some "human" moments with his daughter, and his best dynamics are with Harley and Joel Kinnaman's Rick Flag (himself having a relationship with Cara Delevingne's June Moone, who is taken over by an entity, the Enchantress, giving her a scary-as-hell makeover). They play well off each other, and you can tell that most of the characters, against their better judgement, have a soft spot for Harley (who can blame them?). Flag's relationship with Moone is engineered by Waller, who it becomes quite clear early on is a manipulative, cold-hearted bitch (who's more of a witch than Delevingne's ACTUAL witch character is) and, in case you missed it, is NOT to be trifled with (which the movie keeps hammering home). There's no "good guys" in this film, as evidenced by the way she treats/manipulates/kills people.
Other characters are surprisingly decent (El Diablo's not only the most powerful member of the Squad, but also one of the films "heroes" at the end...although they ALL pitch in), the voice of reason/most "normal" (Kinnaman's Flag, who thankfully isn't *too* much of a stick-in-the-mud), entertaining/amusing (Jai Courtney perfectly fits the role of Captain Boomerang, the bogan with a pink unicorn fetish, who'll sneakily drink a beer mid-fight), provide arse-kicking sword action/muscle (Katana/Killer Croc), provide the film's "Big Bad" (Delevingne's effective with the creepiness, and I felt sympathy for her regarding how she and Flag were used by Waller) and are cannon fodder (Slipknot may as well have been called "Dead Meat", given how predictably doomed he was).
The movie isn't the "mess" some are making out. It begins seeming more like a series of music videos than anything, with different songs playing as characters are introduced/helpful character attributes displayed on screen, but once the Squad's formed/unleashed upon the enemy, things come together. As we're constantly reminded, they're the BAD GUYS, so things are quite different to what you're probably used to (though at least they have an excuse for being a-holes, unlike certain so-called "good guys/heroes" in other comic book movies). Things might seem slightly confusing on occasion, but it's actually a pretty basic premise. Ayer's directing and co-written script endeavor to keep things from ever getting "boring", which they succeed at achieving more often than not. The overall feeling I got from the movie was a sense of "fun" (so those complaining about BvS's "seriousness" have no one to blame but themselves). There'll be those who'll let the negative reviews sway them, those jumping on the DC hate bandwagon/going into this movie already hating it, those who deem these interpretations of the characters as "not right"/how they think the characters should be...but those looking for a fun time with entertaining characters, and the added bonus of a great soundtrack, should be satisfied. Here's hoping that, despite all the Negative Nellies' criticizing, we still get the "Untitled Harley Quinn Project" that was announced, as Robbie's Suicide Blonde certainly deserves it.