Let me start by saying before going into this movie, I've always been a fan of the DC universe and always loved characters such as Batman, Superman, Wonderwoman etc but also loved The Joker and Harley Quinn. Despite the many flaws that Zack Snyder's Batman Vs Superman film had, I enjoyed the movie as a piece of entertainment although it's clearly obvious that DC has a lot of work to do if they hope to make their universe expand like Marvels. Like many, I was shocked at the hostile negative reviews that Suicide Squad got prior to it's release as I was hoping for it to not only be a massive improvement over Batman Vs Superman but also to reassure any fears that the DC universe is not in any danger of failing. Going into this, I had no real knowledge do the comics for Suicide Squad prior to this and went in wanting to be surprised by all the characters and plot elements, which is also why I refused to read any reviews for the film prior to watching it to form my own opinion of it. Now that I've seen the film and reviewing it now, I can say that while the movie was not a great picture, it is far better than what the critics gave it credit for.
Suicide Squad is a solid and entertaining popcorn blockbuster that gets more crap than it deserves as it delivers on providing the fun despite the film needing a directors cut (especially in the case of Jared Leto's character The Joker). Taking place after the events of Batman Vs Superman, Suicide Squad centers around a secret government agency recruiting a group of imprisoned supervillains in hopes of them completing dangerous black ops missions in exchange for clemency, leading to chaos. Suicide Squad does a good job of juggling it's group of colorful characters giving them all moments to shine with the two best performances coming from Will Smith turning in a likeable yet hilarious performance as Deadshot and Margot Robbie (Perfectly casted) making for a stunning Harley Quinn. The most controversial casting choice in the film which paid off nicely despite the actor only being given a limited amount of screen time in the film is Jared Leto in the films most anticipated role as The Joker. Much has been said about Leto's casting choice prior to the films release and after its opening where audiences first complained about the tattoos and gold teeth his character possesses but now the consensus seems to be he wasn't given enough time to truly develop in the film like Harley Quinn's character. Perhaps the filmmakers are saving Leto's Joker for future films and this was merely a setup for future installments, or maybe the filmmakers chose to make this more of Harley Quinn's movie giving brief glimpses into her relationship with The Joker while leaving much to be desired between the two. The marketing and trailers for the film made it seem like his character would have more significance to the plot than what is revealed in the film but the actor still does a good job with what he's given. It's a shame that the filmmakers chose to cut out large portions of scenes that would've given his character a more pivotal part in the films story. I guess the question on many moviegoers minds is does Leto compare with Heath Ledger's Joker and hold his own given the enormous shoes he had to fill? One should not draw a comparison between the two as the universes are completely different as well as the actors and their performances. Whereas Ledger's Joker will probably go down as being the definitive Joker for a long time, Leto's performance is one that gives hope that we can have a strong Joker character in the DC universe so long as the filmmakers give him more to do next round. Viola Davis turns in a solid performance as the head of the agency that enlisted the squad, with Joel Kinnaman and Jay Hernandez turning in strong supporting roles as well. In terms of the actors performance, everyone in the movie delivers as they bring their A game to the picture, making the chemistry between the team flow naturally and provides a great deal of fun. The whole team looks like they're having a blast here and the audience can clearly see it on the screen.
In regards to the films technical aspects, Suicide Squad's directorial style from David Ayer feels like a mixture of Guy Ritchie with the hip soundtrack giving it a Guardians Of The Galaxy feel to it. Perhaps this was an effort on the filmmakers and studios part to make the movie less dark and serious than what Batman Vs Superman turned out to be. It's well known that the filmmakers chose to do reshoots soon after the success of Deadpool and critical panning of Zack Snyder's movie to make the movie more fun spirited. Maybe the changes they made to the film hurt it's reception with critics as the movie should've probably remained untouched and came out exactly the way it was, maybe it helped make the film more enjoyable as fans can't truly be sure which of the two turned out to be true. The film moves at a fairly decent pacing not being as painful as the ones for Batman Vs Superman and X-Men Apocalypse, but feels like the story wasn't as rushed as many critics made it out to be. Still, one strongly recommends an extended cut of the movie to be released like the 3 hour cut of Batman Vs Superman to clean up some of the movies padding and story issues. Visually the film looks stunning on the big screen with impressive cinematography and art-set decoration. Despite the movie looking great, it often felt like a combination of a videogame mixed with a music video.
Overall, Suicide Squad is a entertaining and ultimately satisfying summer blockbuster flick that doesn't deserve the type of flak it's been getting from the critics, although the film is not without it's flaws. Perhaps there was too many songs thrown into the movie but honestly it doesn't destroy ones experience of watching the movie as ultimately the soundtrack adds to the film making it one of the movies highpoints, even if it feels like they were forcing the Guardians Of The Galaxy tone. If one needs a good reason to go see this movie, it's for Margot Robbie as Harley Quinn and Will Smith as Deadshot, the two work great together. Jared Leto didn't do a bad performance as he was playing his own Joker but the problem is he wasn't given enough time to truly shine as his screen time is greatly limited. Despite the third act of the film being exciting, one can't help but feel that it felt like the filmmakers were ripping off Ghostbusters with how the characters and sequence was set up. One sincerely hopes that the studio decides to release an extended cut of the film down the road to help improve the critical reception the film received as this movie isn't deserving of its criticism despite its flaws. I disagree with the consensus that Suicide Squad has a thin and convulted plot with characters thinly written and directing that's choppy. I felt the characters were developed well given the films running time and provided more humor than the previous DC universe films combined, but one feels that an extended cut would more than clean up some of the films problems. Thumbs up.
7.5/10
P.S. Ben Affleck's cameo in the movie rocks. He's truly an awesome Batman and continues to be a casting choice that ultimately matches and surpasses expectations. One awaits his solo Batman film with great anticipation and interest.
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Thanks for a spoiler-less review for once. I'm seeing it this weekend, at the very least there's Margot Robbie but it sounds like it's better than people say.
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