Written by: David Ayer
Starring: Will Smith, Jared Leto, Margot Robbie, Joel Kinnaman, Viola Davis, Jai Courtney
Rating: [1.5/5]
Tactics of coercion in order to force someone to do a difficult task don’t get much more direct than putting a microchip in their head and threatening to blow it up if they disregard orders. Something quite deranged but ultimately becomes the reason why each of these characters come together for a common mission of survival. Just a shame we did not get a good or entertaining film out of it.
Following the death of Superman, Amanda Waller (Viola Davis) has decided to assemble Task Force X, which will comprise supervillain characters forced to participate in missions in exchange for reducing their sentences. Running under the leadership of Rick Flag (Joel Kinnaman), they must face off against Enchantress (Cara Delevingne) and her brother, who have some devious plans.
Wow, does this feature represent nothing but a giant mess, which many argue comes down to studio interference. Whatever the reasons and whoever bears the responsibility, the final result released to the masses more than just does not work, it feels like a complete shambles. Much like the preceding films of this series based on DC characters, this studio proved they had no idea what they wanted to accomplish through these films. They evidently wanted to copy the formula made popular by the Marvel Cinematic Universe but did none of the legwork to get there. This leaves Suicide Squad to work as the equivalent of Guardians of the Galaxy where a ragtag group of individuals gather together for one common goal. But this feature has none of the humor nor the cohesion necessary in introducing these characters and steering them towards their upcoming mission.
With each character introduction, we learn about who will join this squad with some having more notoriety than others. Of them all, Harley Quinn (Margot Robbie) certainly stands out when compared to the more obscure members. Each of them essentially gets a music video for an introduction with some of the most generic and overused songs in film that made each one such a drag to get through and once we get to the collaboration we have to endure the dialogue trying to craft some banter between them, which did not land well at all. You have poor Margot Robbie, who gets saddled with some putrid lines and she ultimately tries her best while serving as the best part of this feature. She certainly did not get the opportunity to fully embrace all of the intricacies of this character in this feature because of the limited character work, which makes me so pleased she had the opportunity to continue as Harley in both Birds of Prey and the far superior The Suicide Squad.
With a group of villains serving as the heroes of the day, there needs to be a larger villain worthy of them gathering to take out and none of it works. Utilizing Enchantress and her brother brings absolutely no intrigue as to their motives and why they represent such a threat except for throwing up a big laser to the sky, which became another overused idea within this feature. This villain had no juice whatsoever, they had to throw in the worst interpretation of Joker to date by Jared Leto, who makes a few appearances throughout the feature and each scene he appears in only aggravated me more. Certainly, an interesting approach to the character in theory where he operates more so as a gangster, but the execution of it sparked anger and laughter to think this version of the Joker accomplished something meaningful. One wild decision after another pretty much sums up this feature in the way it takes these swings and misses so bad the backswing hits them right in the face to a hilarious degree.
A complete misfire by all involved, other than Margot Robbie, of course, Suicide Squad serves as a great how-not-to when crafting a film with a whole host of obscure characters and wrapping them into a story with weak villains and not much chemistry. It contains some fairly putrid dialogue and does not give these characters the opportunity to breathe in these circumstances and actually have us care for them. Not enjoyable in the slightest and so bad everyone wants to point the finger of who bears the responsibility for how the final product turned out.
Films with Josh 
