One Step Forward, Two Steps Back

Rating: 2/10 (11 August 2016)

Suicide Squad sets out to be different from any other "superhero" movie before it, with the obvious difference being that this really isn't a superhero movie at all. A team of villains brought together for exactly what their name implies, and it's a new and interesting take on comic book films, setting a brand new dynamic for story. characters and more; one step forward. However, while the premise is enticing, SS falls short in bringing these new dynamics to a high level, faltering in many aspects; two steps back.
The beginnings of the film are done wonderfully, we're introduced to Amanda Waller, the creator of Task Force X (or the Suicide Squad) right away and get right into introducing the soon-to-be squad, providing great backstory to some of the characters, something the DCEU is desperate for. The mood of the film at the start is slick and bad- ass, and I quickly became anxious to see the whole team assembled. But that's basically where the film starts to fall apart, when the gang actually gets together. The pacing of the plot is set up to succeed, but then falls into a horrible pattern of repetition, loaded with some funny, but mostly unfunny one-liners and too many clichés to mention. It seemed as though director and writer David Ayer was scared to continue exploring the blank canvas he had in front of him, and opted to play it safe in the second half, going into unbearably played out "portal over the city to rule the world" villain plot instead of having the squad execute a more grounded task, which could have provided a much more engaging experience for what this team can do and what they stand for. Overall, the script became bland. The interaction between characters was strong and the continued backstory development was vital, but the absolute lack of continued originality (including the mid-credits scene) and terrible pacing leave Suicide Squad's story as another to be forgotten.
There's plenty of action to talk about, both good and bad. There's some awesome action sequences highlighted by Will Smith's spectacularly played Deadshot, and we even get a couple cool moments from Batman himself in the form of flashbacks, especially when it involves the Joker. There's not an overuse of CGI, and each character's individual powers and traits are fun to watch. My beef with the film's action, is not that there was too much or too little, but how it was executed. Going back to my point earlier, the action was at its best at the gritty street levels, not a bunch of misfits taking down god-like beings. Marvel has a leg up on DC largely because of how closely their characters resemble their comic book roots, and are balanced accordingly during action scenes. But with DC, we have Harley Quinn and Captain Boomerang taking down an all-powerful entity like its nothing. The choreography needs lots of work, most hand-to-hand action was dull and lifeless, and the camera zoomed in heavily to try and offset the lack of said choreography. Casual fans might be thrilled with the action, but any true comic book fan should know that this isn't what SS action should look like.
While the script falls short on many counts, the cast and their characters are the best part of an otherwise mediocre film. The aforementioned Will Smith is easily recognizable as the only Oscar- level actor in the cast, and his performance shows why. Margot Robbie was good, but not great as Harley Quinn. She was definitely fun, sexy and, especially in scenes involving the Joker, displayed that crazy Harley everyone knows. Then there's the unfortunate over- sexualization of her character, to almost extreme amounts. I almost couldn't enjoy the character because I had to get a booty shot every 5 minutes. Harley's backstory is fleshed out better than any other character, and for what Robbie was given, she performed well. Everyone else in the gang has promise, but the likes of Boomerang, El Diablo, Killer Croc and more just couldn't get enough screen time to develop into more fleshed out characters. They're enjoyable on their own levels, but it's hard to invest in a character when there's nothing to invest in.
Then there's the big guy. The Joker finally made his big screen return following Heath Ledger's legendary performance in 2008. Now played by Jared Leto, I am very much on the fence about him. This Joker is a completely brand new take on the character and Leto's very strange portrayal is both intriguing and yet underwhelming at the same time. The character's difference was good yes, but in some ways, Joker's more thug-like treatment and subsequent deliverance from Leto made him almost less intimidating, less of what I expect from the Joker, but again, this is not your traditional Joker. Leto didn't have nearly enough screen time to make a realistic judgment, but there was some great backstory provided in the film, and although I was not overall a fan of this Joker's personality or laugh, Leto's new take and his strong connection with Harley was enough not to make me hate this iteration.
Without question, DC and Warner Bros. are still a very long way away from anything Marvel. SS shows a step in the right direction for DC, in that they're willing to try something new, that character arcs need to be built upon heavily, and that every casting into the DCEU continues to flourish. But SS, much like BvS, takes two steps back with a horribly constructed script, an awful slew of clichés, zero story originality, deficient pacing, unmeaningful action and more. Suicide Squad delivers some good fun, humor characters and action, but make no mistake; expectations were not met at all in this film, and with two critical failures in a row, DC better have some moves fast that can help the DCEU climb out of its current state, a state of uncertainty.
3.5/10