Movie Review – Suicide Squad

Suicide Squad is DCEU’s attempt at a “fun” superhuman movie. It didn’t quite work out that way.

Suicide Squad Synopsis

After the death of Superman in Dawn of Justice, Amanda Waller assembles a team of dangerous criminals as expendable assets for the United States government. The team includes hitman Deadshot and Harley Quinn i.e. girlfriend of the Joker, and is led by US Special Forces Colonel Rick Flag. Before the team achieves any notable successes though, the Enchantress, who resides in Flag’s girlfriend, turns on Waller and besieges Midway City. Trapped and desperate to cover up her fumble, Waller orders the Suicide Squad to retrieve her. This quickly escalates into a direct confrontation between the Squad and the Enchantress.

Snappy Review

I anticipated Suicide Squad with a mixture of excitement and anxiety.

It’s Harley Quinn’s big screen outing. We are also getting another Joker.

On the flipside, so many things could go wrong with a movie that cramps a large group of colourful superhumans into two hours, Think X-Men: The Last Stand (2006), or the villain cohorts in Elektra (2005) and Ghost Rider (2007). Are we going to get all hyped up from the who’s who articles flooding the Internet, only to receive measly five minutes of screen time for each in the actual movie?

And then there’s Will Smith. The great handsome one who has long decided he is only perfect for messianic roles. Now cast as a villain.

It turned out … well, the way I expected it to, although not quite as horrid as I feared it would be.

There are the usual irrelevant sideshow adornments, most tellingly Slipknot and Captain Boomerang. There’s also Jared Leto’s Joker, who is hands-down the most depressing Joker I’ve watched to date.

Thank goodness for Margot Robbie’s Harley Quinn, though, whose sporadic outbursts not only brought the character to life but ultimately salvaged the flow of the movie. It does make me wonder too whether a Harley Quinn origins movie would have worked better, instead of a high-profile messy team-up.

Sorry to say, DCEU still seems a long way from knowing the correct cinematic formula for superhero movies. The Suicide Squad story is just a tad too ambitious for DCEU at the moment.

Click here to view the trailer.

Update 2021: Read my review for The Suicide Squad, James Gunn’s sequel of sorts! (And way, way better)

Check out my other snappy movie reviews!

Summary

The Scribbling Geek

The Scribbling Geek

Review Date

2016-08-04

Reviewed Item

Suicide Squad

Author Rating

2