Suicide Squad - Movie Review

The latest Hollywood blockbuster of the summer comes from writer and director David Ayre (Training Day, End of Watch and Fury). This is the DCEU''s (DC Expanded Universe) third film within their cinematic universe in attempted to compete  and catch up to Marvel. Amada Waller (Viola Davis) brings together a group of villains to form the Suicide Squad in order to battle treats like Superman after the events of the early Batman V Superman: Dawn of Justice Film. These DC villains are formed together to take a disastrous event happening in  Midway City.

Audiences are introduced to a group of characters that have not been seen on the big screen before without any prior backstory except a few characters at the beginning. However, it has worked before like in last summer's Guardians of the Galaxy  (directed by James Gun). For me, I felt that the combination of both humour and action is what DC needed to put in their films and this is the one that has kicked off their expanded universe. So far this if the third film within their shared universe and the previous two Man of Steel and Batman V Superman were a bit too dark, but having unwanted or two much humour could also ruin the experience.


The film hits the blend of humor and action really well with the characters being portrayed in the film. Margot Robbie who plays Harly Quin is just as Brilliant, Sexy and just plain nuts. If you were a fan of the original character from the 90's Batman the Animated Series I'm sure you will not be disappointed as she plays Harly really well.

With Will Smith who plays Deadshot, he brings a lot of humanity to his character and also bringing his own take and wit to the character. When he delivers comical elements in certain scenes, it is what that particular scene really needed and what the film needed. Speaking of brief characters even Jai Courtney (Captian Boomerang) was pretty decent in this film. I know for years Hollywood tried to make him happen in a few disappointing and unwanted film sequels (A Good Day To Die Hard and Terminator Genisys). But this time he shows his own likeness and snarkiness which pulls off really well.


If you have previously watched the trailers for this film, you'd notice that most of the advertisement is on the Joker that is portrayed by Jared Letto. Don't get your hopes up has he's only in the film for about 15-20 minutes worth. He isn't a villain in the film, but I would say he is used as more of a wild card and his unpredictability within the story. He's got his own side story in the film but isn't really important other to show Harley Quinn's Backstory and to explore their relationship. His own version of the Joker is very different to what I've seen in other media. Overall I don't mind the mob boss type Joker, but there really inst a stand out moment. Scenes that include his character from the trailers are not even in the finished film as I think they cut them out due to some of the re-shoots a few months prior to the set release.

One of the main elements that the film brings is the heart and getting the audience to fell sympathetic for this group of villains. This film shows a lot of characters with problems they are overcoming or coming to grips with. Such as El Diablo and the bar scene from the trailers turned out to be one of my favourite things about the film. This scene shows great character building.

The film does suffer from pacing issues, on one hand, could be from the re-shoots and critical feedback from the other two films for being too dark. But on the other hand, the film does have to show a lot of character background at the beginning as they are popular villains from DC's rogue calorie. Hense why there is a lot of background and flashback sequences throughout the film, such as Harley Quinn's character she is given a lot of background and flashback scenes with the Joker to show to the audience her origin and abusive relationship.

The last tow issues I personally had with the film was the film's main villain and the films setting. First off the villain was too one dimensional and also too powerful for the squad to take on. And secondly, the environment could have been reduced. Like in Batman; Assult on Arkham the smaller setting in Arkham Asylum, made a more interesting  story because it was set in a smaller location with a smaller team. I think the live action film could have borrowed some elements from the animated feature film that was released in 2014.

Overall Suicide Squad gave me what I was hoping for, aside from a few disappointments I was really pleased with this film. This is by far the best film within DC's universe and as a comic fan It gave me what I wanted to see and hope to see these villains in other expanded films or within a sequel.