More is a lot less in Suicide Squad mess
What’s made it to the screen as Suicide Squad could not have happened without Marvel.
This DC property has prior super-pics all over it as it strives to achieve similar results.
At its core, there’s a Dirty Dozen cannon-fodder mission movie, and a focus on villains that hasn’t been explored elsewhere. Sadly the whiff of Marvelwannabe desperation means one can just about see the notes in the margins – needs more Guardians of the Galaxy music cues here; funny, tonally inconsistent Deadpool graphics in this bit; Avengers banter, more Avengers banter.
Sadly, everything Suicide Squad does in constantly trying to buy your adulation – literally, the music budget must have been insane – takes it further and further away from the film it could have been. Or even a halfdecent one.
But enough focusing on what it could have been. What made it to the screen is a mess that struggles to accommodate both DC universe-building and an anarchic sensibility.
Ben Affleck shows up here and there as Batman/bruce Wayne, and 100 per cent does not belong in this movie anywhere. His presence is nearly as jarring as that of Margot Robbie’s posterior, which seems to get over an hour of screen time, subjected to dozens upon dozens of leery camera moves that prove disturbing, not least of all because she plays an abuse victim styled in kinderwhore/suicide Girl fashion.
Robbie, the actress as opposed to the sex doll, is actually pretty great at getting as much as possible from her character. Ditto Will Smith, who is a welcome presence here. But those are the only high points from the cast, with Jared Leto flat out sucking as The Joker, his minimal screen time leaving me dreading his films to come... Overthought, yet very, very dumb, Suicide Squad is a huge, aggravating misfire. Suicide Squad (M) Directed by David Ayer Starring Will Smith, Margot Robbie, Viola Davis, Jared Leto 123 mins