Suicide Squad (2016)

Directed by: David Ayer

Written by: David Ayer

Starring: Will Smith, Margot Robbie, Jared Leto, Viola Davis, & Cara Delevinge







Despite the bad reviews for this film, I’m pretty neutral about it.  I didn’t think it was bad, but I didn’t think it was amazingly wonderful either.

Negatives:

• The Joker (Leto) is not in the film a whole lot as anticipated by the trailer 
• The villain seems odd, unexpected, and out of place.  The villain also does not have much of a background, which leads to the question of why the villain wants to take over the world.  I mean I understand the villain is “used” to power, but that doesn’t seem like much of reason.
• Clash of who the main star is.  Deadshot (Smith), Harley Quinn (Robbie), and other characters were competing for star power in the film.  It seemed as if the writer did not know who should be the main star.  Like some characters had more screen time than others, but not enough to be the main star.  It makes sense because it’s a “squad,” but it made the film awkward.
• The villain’s henchmen were terribly designed.  I understand that they are supposed to not be comparable to their human lives, but these dead blobs looked like they were just thrown together last minute.  Plus during one of the fight scenes, since the blobs all look alike; I thought that they were coming back to life after being killed.  If they had a distinguishing feature, maybe it wouldn’t have been confusing, or maybe that scene just needed better camera work.
• Dragged a little in the middle.

      Positives:

•       Even though Leto’s version of The Joker is very different than Heath Ledger’s version, it works mostly because of the chemistry between him and Harley Quinn.
•       There were a lot of backstories in play, which took up most of the film.  But I felt that they were needed for future films.  Plus I liked the backstories.
•       All the other stuff: CGI (minus the blobs), locations, character costumes, makeup, set design, and more.
•       Leto and Robbie, to me, made the film, mostly because of their love story.  I thought their acting was great and actually led me to believe they were crazy and crazy for each other.

     High 3, low 4. 4 popcorns.