Suicide Squad Review

There was definitely a lot of hype around Suicide Squad, especially coming from the average Batman V Superman and sadly this rag tag squad of villains doesn't deliver. For a universe that's always so dark and gritty it was surprisingly calm considering this is the movie where it's supposed to have that dark mood.

I would have also never felt that this group was villains aside from them saying it constantly or them coming from prison, none of the characters give off that vibe. The plot itself wasn't particularly strong and their enemy sort of just thrown into the mix without any development. The squad is rather large as well and in an attempt to balance everyone there was a rush of flashbacks shown at the start and randomly in the middle of the story. It wasn't so much of a problem with the stronger characters as they got introduced properly, it's just the side ones that got completely thrown away during the action.

The leading members of the squad were definitely Harley Quinn (Margot Robbie) and Deadshot (Will Smith) which both took large chunks of the story whether that was during the action or for many side moments. Harley Quinn was damn awesome being absolutely crazy and a lot of her time was spent to the side with The Joker (Jared Leto) which had a small cameo basically. This Joker in particular wasn't great being more of a club owner type person that was slightly odd. Perhaps it isn't fair to judge that take on the classic character as we didn't see him much, but at this point he didn't stand out. We also have Deadshot where Will Smith is playing himself instead of playing the character of Deadshot. I found his take on Deadshot to be fine, but fans of Deadshot might not be as impressed.





The acting was generally fine from the cast with everyone capturing their roles well. It's just that they didn't do enough with the characters in terms of balancing everyone out as there was just too much to deal with. The costumes for each of the squad were also great with well done designs that felt faithful, yet modern. The setting for the film was alright though the journey wasn't that interesting with a lackluster reveal. Even the general villain for the film that controlled generic zombie creatures didn't really cause any wow. The villain also could had much better potential elsewhere being a fascinating addition, I can only briefly touch on that though.

The CGI for the film was also generally bad, I have no idea how movies and especially ones of this budget can have scenes that don't look real is beyond me. There were many times where I was generally displeased with the look of scenes as they didn't appear real and took away from the action.

The fight scenes were mostly well done when the heroes (sorry, villains) were matched evenly with the enemies they were facing. When the match-up was uneven it was clearly apparent as some of these squad members are just regular people. I mean, Harley Quinn is a crazy lady with a bat which is awesome. It's just when she goes against meta humans that are well beyond her abilities that it becomes sad and this is also apparent with other members of the team as well. As far as characters go that I liked in Suicide Squad I'd say the highlights were Harley Quinn; Deadshot and Katana with everyone else being somewhat forgettable or generally lost in the cluster of the movie. There were also more laughs present in this film compared to other DC entries though still relatively a rarity. With that I also felt that scenes were missing or certain sections were left abruptly in many portions of the film.

The Conclusion

Suicide Squad had a lot of potential with a cast that captures their roles well, it just didn't come together with enough cohesive sense. The story seemed to have random odd details thrown into the mix and many members showing up out of nowhere. The CGI wasn't great for the most part and there was a lot of wasted potential. For villains they kept saying it without ever having anything to show for they dangerous they were supposed to be. Sure they fought with people, but they all just looked like heroes that make a bad mistake somewhere down the line. With all the complaints I have of finding the DC films too dark and gritty this should have been the one to properly showcase that aspect of the universe.

Instead they found some odd ground that falls between and it just didn't work. I was particularly disappointed with this one skipping the after credits as I just didn't care by the end. Hopefully things pick up for the universe as I enjoy super hero movies, but something need to change.

Suicide Squad Review at Theater with standard Viewing
Screening was Provided by Warner Brothers

Rating Overall: 4.5