SUICIDE SQUAD REVIEW (SLIGHT SPOILERS)


Well after the rather divided response to Batman vs Superman, DC began placing it hopes on Suicide Squad to bring back fans into their good books. DC's marketing for both BVS and Suicide Squad was very strong getting many fans including myself excited for their films.
With harsh criticisms on BVS being too dark with little humor, it was clear that DC was pushing for Suicide Squad to be more upbeat, funny and above all entertaining. The trailers for the film seem to show the film as exactly this however when the film premiered it would seem the trailers may have been exaggerating.

The film starts strong as we are individually shown each member of the squad and what they are infamous for with Amanda Waller talking to military generals about her response to the meta-human crisis, known as "Task Force X"; a rag tag team of super villains who are sent on dangerous off the books missions that if completed will take time off their individual prison sentences.

Very similar to BVS the first chunk of the film shows promise however as the film progresses its flaws start to surface. Its clear that the film has gone through some editing trouble, the pace feels off and some scenes feel tacked on with little purpose. The lack of  multiple environments is very evident with the vast majority of the film taking place in Midwest city where the Squad is being sent; which begins to feel stale very quickly.
There is also some music ques which feel out of place and don't match the scene they're used in. If rumours are to be believed this may be down to both drastic re-shoots and multiple edits of the film with multiple cuts of the film being made.

Moving onto the characters of the film, there are some stand-outs with Will Smith as Dead-shot and Margot Robbie as Harley Quinn. they are very enjoyable, with strong chemistry and I feel will prove clear favourites with critics and audiences. Unfortunately the rest of the squad are not given enough time for the audience to really enjoy their characters and fall rather flat and also there is a sense of having too many characters in one film doesn't help either.
There is also Jared Leto's attempt at the Joker, with the trailers heavily showcasing him, giving the illusion that he will play a key role however the Joker has at most about ten minutes of screen time leaving a lot of fans feel manipulated and lied to. It is hard to give a full review of Leto's Joker given such small screen time, so far I'm not impressed. I understand playing the Joker after Heath Ledger would prove daunting but this doesn't feel like the Joker more a glorified gang lord. I would like to see Jared Leto given more screen time and better dialogue to work with before I write him off.

The main villains also are rather disappointing, there's Enchantress who betrays the squad to help her brother who was the initial target of the Suicide Squad; is transparently easy to see coming. She also become a very cliched, want to rule the world bad guy with a strange twitchy performance and lacks any intimidation.

So this now the third film in DCs cinematic universe and unfortunately Suicide Squad cant pull DC out of this current slump they are in. While Suicide Squad proves a more enjoyable experience than BVS it still suffers from poor editing, poor character development, a pathetic villain and very clear company pressure and meddling. Slightly above average but nothing like what we were promised, with two new trailers for Wonder Woman and Justice League part 1 looking decent but as we have learnt movie trailers are not to be taking as gospel.