The misfiring
WITH Batman V Superman: Dawn Of Justice paving the way for a darker take on DC comic characters, enter The Suicide Squad, a motley crew of supervillains hired by the US government to kick their enemies into shape.
Will Smith leads the way as hitman Deadshot, while Margot Robbie (The Wolf Of Wall Street) is the sexy, crazy and uber-violent Harley Quinn, who also just happens to be the girlfriend of The Joker (Jared Leto).
Thrown together with four other psychos with superpowers, they battle a supernatural army created by the Enchantress (supermodel Cara Delevingne). The result is an almost distractingly starry superhero film – showy, action heavy, fun in parts and slow in others.
With so many characters, the set-up takes an age but it turns out to be the most enjoyable part of the movie. The future Suicide Squad members are all holed up in a maximum security prison, where the punishment for talking back tends to involve complicated implements of torture. And these guys talk back a lot.
As Harley Quinn, Robbie is first seen swinging acrobatically from the top of her cage like an exotic, dangerous bird. She certainly gives the part her all, and gets a few laughs out of her one-liners, but she’s saddled with creaky gags later on.
Rounding up all the wrong’uns is Amanda Waller (Viola Davis), the government aide in charge who’s a stern, morally ambiguous God-figure to the Squad.
Her rebellious instincts are kept in check by military officer Rick Flagg (Joel Kinnaman), who has a workplace romance with his charge Dr June Moore (Delevingne), whose body the Enchantress periodically inhabits.
Throw in an Aussie FOLLOWING on from Once, The Commitments and Sing Street, here’s a light-on-its feet, crowd-pleasing musical drama from Ireland.
The songs are strong, the acting impressive and the finale defiantly feelgood.
After being dumped by his fiancée, Amy, for missing their wedding, a Galway musician (Sean Maguire) assembles a band to record a series of songs for his beloved in the hope of getting her back. The trouble is, she’s washed him out of her life and is about to wed an egomaniacal pop star.
Its made for peanuts, dog-eared feel turns out to be quite charming with former Grange Hill star Maguire making for a convincing lead, and no end of chortles springing from the snappy dialogue.