Warner Bros. may have to start thinking about their DC universe strategy after the big disappointment of Batman V Superman earlier this year, Whilst Suicide Squad certainly outranks this poor show of entertainment it still nowhere lives up to the hype.
Superman is dead to the delight of the US Government and U.S. Intelligence officer Amanda Waller played with a menacing and determined grace by the impeccable Viola Davis ensembles a team of the most notorious and dangerous villains, the most unlikely of misfits, to fight a supernatural entity, after all, the best way to fight evil is with evil right? We spend the first half of Suicide Squad getting to know our dangerous – soon to be heroes – building up their back story’s, finding out their weaknesses and how they ended up behind bars.
Writer and Director David Ayer has taken a whole host of DC characters and thrown them into one pot. Will Smith as Deadshot, a highly skilled Hitman, Margot Robbie as Harley Quinn, once a doctor who fell in love with the Joker which proved to be the making of her craziness. Robbie is most definitely the stand-out as she steals scene after scene from the big boys, not just because of the constant views of her pert backside in her barely there hot pants but because she has some of the best and humorous lines. We have a whole host of others that are mostly forgettable, such as Jai Courtney as Boomerang, Flame throwing Jay Hernandez as Diablo, Adewale Akinnuoye-Agbaje as Killer Croc, Karen Fukuhara as Katana and the awful Cara Delevingne as Enchantress. Most of which seem to be there as a window feature with Smith and Robbie taking center stage.
The biggest disappointment on the character front is the lack of screen time for Jared Leto’s Joker, for such a major character he has just been given a bit part. Leto has some big shoes to fill after the outstanding performance from Heath Ledger in this role and he doesn’t quite hit that sinister feel on the head. If he had more of a storyline maybe he could have succeeded.
It’s the second half where everything just seems to fall apart; the story becomes heavy-handed and convoluted. The injection of humour seems to be inspired from Deadpool, which is by no means a bad thing but everything else just comes across a bit of a rush job as our do good villains fight for their misinformed freedom whilst struggling with their own selfish needs.
It’s not all bad, Suicide Squad is high on entertainment value and CGI that is expected from a film of this class, there certainly is fun to be had. It just fails to keep the momentum going for the full 2 hours. Unfortunately, for Suicide Squad the plot is so thin it’s transparent; lacking creativity, you may be forgiven for thinking it was written by a five-year-old.
Suicide Squad is out NOW.
