Film review: Suicide Squad (15)

Few movies in 2016 have been as hotly-anticipted as DC’s Suicide Squad.

Perhaps only Batman v Superman (BvS) – another DC offering – arrived at the cinema with as much fanfare, but that (unfairly in my opinion) didn’t go down too well with the critics.

Suicide Squad always looked like being a lot of fun and, in the grand scheme of things, the film that really gets the DC extended universe up and running.

I mean, who wasn’t excited by the excellent Bohemian Rhapsody-fuelled trailer showcasing The Joker (Jared Leto), Harley Quinn (Margot Robbie), Deadshot (Will Smith) and co? I know I was.

Sadly, the trailer is actually more exciting than this David Ayer-directed offering, which fails to build on an incredibly stylish and promising first act.

There’s no messing around here, with a host of DC’s top comic book villains given a brilliant introduction.

The basic premise is that black ops bigwig Amanda Waller (Viola Davis) is feeling a little under-equipped in a world that has just been rocked by the events of BvS.

She wants to assemble a team of the worst criminals and use them to fight threats that are too extreme for the average human.

We’re then treated to the best part of the film, with Waller flicking through her classified folder and introducing her preferred team members (who are all holed up in a maximum security blacksite) to the government.

Smith’s Deadshot, who is the probably the best character, is a lethal contract killer, while Robbie’s mentally unstable Quinn is a beautiful lunatic who has massive streetcred (and steals plenty of scenes).

Also courted by Waller are thief Captain Boomerang (Jai Courtney), enhanced pyromaniac El Diablo (Jay Hernandez), the mutated Killer Croc (Adewale Akinnuoye-Agbaje) and Slipknot (Adam Beach).

CRAZY CHICK: Margot Robbie is great as Harley Quinn.

She wants decorated soldier Rick Flag (Joel Kinnaman) to lead the team, with Katana (Karen Fukuhara) and his girlfriend June Moone (Cara Delevingne) having his back. The catch being that Moone is haunted by the mysterious Enchantress.

As you can expect, the team aren’t all that enamoured about taking on missions that will almost certainly lead to their death – but Waller gives them no option in typical Argus manner.

That part of the film is really strong, with Robbie and Smith oozing charisma as the team takes shape.

The problems arrive when the Suicide Squad are given their mission – putting an end to a catastrophic event in Midway City.

We’re never really too sure what their objective is and it turns into a bit of an aimless plot, especially with the bad guys being largely bland.

The X-factor here is Leto’s Joker, who has a sub-plot running alongside proceedings. I’ll not go into that too much, but I was left pretty unsatisfied by his limited presence in the film.

It felt like he was being saved for another outing (Justice League or the new Batman, perhaps) but his scenes with Harley Quinn did at least hit their mark.

Overall, Suicide Squad just feels like good fun – which is a little way below what I was hoping for. The characters are largely sound, but the chief villain and plot are both incredibly generic – while the twists are easy to telegraph.

It feels like a big chance missed for DC, who had all of the ingredients to do something similar to what Marvel managed with the excellent (and very funny) Guardians Of The Galaxy.

One of my big bugbears in the crowded (and very enjoyable) superhero genre is a villain with no real motive or personality – and sadly Suicide Squad falls foul of that despite having a host of them at its disposal.

That being said, it’s far from a failure in the grand scheme of things.

While the jury is still out on Leto’s Joker (I wish they’d done more with him), I’m excited to see how Deadshot, Harley Quinn and co fit into the grander plan for DC’s extended universe.

Davis’ Waller is also brilliantly ruthless and should develop into a bigger presence in the wider plot.

The soundtrack is great too, while the characters all look exactly how I’d hoped.

While it’s not the classic DC needed it to be, Suicide Squad isn’t a bad film.

It loses its way after a great opening, but introduces some brilliant characters that will (hopefully) be utilised well in (hopefully) better films over the coming years.

Voice Verdict: 7/10 (reviewed at Boston’s West End Cinema)
+ Great, stylish opening act
+ Smith and Robbie
– Joker is badly under-used
– Generic villain/plot