Suicide Squad
DC’s anti-Avengers are bad company
Originally billed as the movie to rescue DC’s limp assault on cinemas. Is it worthy of the hype? Harley…
Following Batman V Superman: Dawn Of Justice – a film which had its funny bone surgically removed and ground into dust – Suicide Squad was supposed to inject a sense of joy into the DC Extended Universe. But the only pleasure you’ll get from a copy of David Ayer’s bad guy team-up movie is playing Frisbee with the disc.
Welcome to Belle Reve, the supermax slammer where the worst of the worst, including Will Smith’s ace marksman Deadshot, are locked behind bars by ruthless government official Amanda Waller (Viola Davis). Her genius plan: to force supervillains to fight for their country, or in this case battle an ancient gyrating witch. Lurking on the periphery is The Joker (Jared Leto), the ‘gangsta’ clown waiting for an opportune moment to snatch back his psychotic squeeze Harley Quinn (Margot Robbie).
Suicide Squad’s shortcomings are many: muddled storytelling, flat action, bland characters, daft supernatural bad guys, dubious gender politics; but worst of all it fails at entertaining for all but fleeting moments. Behind the scenes turmoil was a patent problem. There are clear victims of overzealous cutting room scissors – most notably narrative coherence, but also Leto’s Joker, who barely makes an impression in little more than ten minutes of screentime.
Smith lands a few laughs, and Davis is hugely charismatic, but even Margot Robbie – the perfect choice for Harley Quinn – is compromised by perfunctory dialogue and baffling behaviour. Criminally bad. Jordan Farley