Suicide Squad

Following the poorly received Batman v Superman, DC hoped to turn things around with Suicide Squad which sees the government form a team of baddies to get out there and do some good. How can it go wrong and how can DC mess this up? Well it's time to find out.

As stated in other posts, I was never much of a comic-book enthusiast and would occasionally watch the odd episode growing up. These days with the expanded universe I barely recognise most of the names but at least if a studio were to slightly misrepresent a character, I would be blissfully ignorant and happy to carry on watching providing it was any good. When the first trailer of Suicide Squad went up, it looked cool, dark and intriguing boasting a selection of new characters but sadly as the trailers went by the excitement started to fade and was finally killed off when the word 'reshoots' became mentioned. Granted, Rogue One survived extensive reshoots but it seemed DC were in a desperate situation and needed prove that they can take on Marvel.

Despite all of the negative press, I was still willing to go in with an open mind and try to enjoy the film for what it was. We have Will Smith, Margot Robbie, Viola Davis and Jared Leto so the cast looked decent, and with news that Leto had gone all the way in preparation for playing The Joker, there must have been something here to make it worth his time. David Ayer, the man behind Street Kings, End of Watch and who also wrote Training Day was in the directing seat too so surely this could be entertaining. But somehow this really took a nose dive and I was left annoyed and confused at how truly terrible this was.

Right from the beginning, we're beaten over the head with choppy editing, endless songs chosen to spell out a scene and so many introductions to characters we never care for to the point it is just a mess. The main story is ridiculous even for a superhero(villain) film like this and we never truly believe that the Suicide Squad are the right people for the job. One is good at shooting, one can control fire, one has a bat and the other a boomerang, and somehow the writers thought it would be a good idea to pit them against an ancient goddess intent of destroying a city for a reason that doesn't really matter. And then the people behind this thought it would be a good idea to cram a poorly written version of The Joker in somehow for, I guess, marketing purposes.

As with David Ayer's other troubled production Sabotage, there is potential here but it feels DC couldn't cope under the pressure and rushed this one out. Suicide Squad tries to be big and bold when it should have aimed for a much smaller scale in the wake of Batman v Superman. Maybe pitch the squad against The Joker and give the action a more grounded feel which the first trailer promised and we might have had a decent film.

Unfortunately it's hard to recommend this to anyone and the future does not look good for DC if they carry on down this road. The Oscar winning Suicide Squad is ultimately a waste of talent that not even the charismatic Will Smith and Margot Robbie can save. At least I didn't read the comics or I'd be furious right now.