SUICIDE SQUAD Review: Not The Masterpiece You Were Hoping For; Not The Disaster You Feared
In the midst of scathing reviews, David Ayer's Suicide Squad makes its way into theaters this weekend. Are the "Worst Heroes Ever" worth your time and money? Click for my spoiler free thoughts.
David Ayer's supervillain ensemble flick, Suicide Squad, has been getting a fair ol' kicking from the majority of critics so far, and on the heels of that we also had reports of a troubled production that may well have led to many of the film's issues. This has to be disappointing for fans who had been hoping Suicide Squad would be some sort of saviour of the DCEU, but the truth is, the movie isn't that bad at all. In fact, it's pretty damn good... for the most part.
We'll get the negatives out of the way first, though. Like Batman V Superman, the biggest problem with the film is that at certain points, it just doesn't flow properly. Though the scenes don't feel as disjointed as they did in Zack Snyder's superhero smackdown, there are some moments that seem to randomly drop into the narrative without any set up, and the use of flashbacks - as entertaining as they are in their own right - also becomes jarring after a while.
The same can be said for the musical choices. The tunes themselves are all fine and they are well chosen for the characters they're associated with, but there's simply too many needle drops. On a couple of occasions, Songs continue to play over scenes in such a way that it sounds as if Ayer forgot to turn his stereo off before yelling action. Used sparingly and in the right context, pop songs can be very effective in these type of movies, but here it's overkill.
Then there's the villain. It's difficult to go into too much detail here without moving into spoiler territory, but let's just say the bad guy is a complete washout, and an unworthy foe for Task Force X - which brings us to the picture's saving grace.
For me, pretty much every member of the team was awesome. Some definitely get the short end of the stick screen-time wise (more of Boomerang and Croc next time please), but most get their moment to shine. The ensemble displays great chemistry, and their interactions prove to be funny, dramatic, and even heartfelt. Will Smith and Margot Robbie are the standouts no doubt, but Viola Davis, Joel Kinnaman and, perhaps most surprisingly given his character's relative lack of promotion, Jay Hernandez give them a run for their money.
Jared Leto's Joker? Definitely a different take on the villain than we're used to seeing and I think he did a very good job, but he's really not in the movie enough to form a proper opinion of his Clown Prince of Crime - and certainly not to compare his take to previous incarnations of Batman's arch nemesis.
However, great characters can only buy so much good will, and we do descend into a bit of a CGI-shitfest of an ending, which also features a couple of inexplicable motivation shifts for some of the team members.
Ayer's film is a strange (sometimes in a good way, sometimes not) mishmash of many different elements that don't always work together, but when they do it's a joy. The cast/characters are all top notch, it's just a shame the movie they're in let them down somewhat.
Suicide Squad isn't as great as we hoped it'd be, so for that reason alone it does have to be considered a disappointment - but that doesn't mean there's no fun to be had. Comic book fans, especially, should find a lot to enjoy.