Rating: A-
Suicide Squad, directed by David Ayer, follows a group of supervillains from the DC Comics universe as they are captured and forced to save the world in return for shortened sentences. It boasts an all-star cast lead by Will Smith as Deadshot, Jared Leto as the Joker, Margot Robbie as Harley Quinn, Viola Davis as Amanda Waller, Joel Kinnaman as Rick Flag, Jai Courtney as Captain Boomerang, Cara Delevingne as the Enchantress, Adewale Akinnuoye-Agbaje as Killer Croc and Jay Hernandez as El Diablo.
All of those involved in this film give stellar performances, most notably Smith, Robbie and of course Leto. However, due to the size of the cast, not everyone gets as much screen time as they should. Smith is arguably given the most screen time, a likely result of the studio wanting his star power at the forefront of production.
What did bother me was the fact that two of the other characters that got the most attention were Rick Flag and Amanda Waller. Being two of the ‘human’ characters, it seemed folly to use them the most when you have a literal walking crocodile at your disposal. Another character heavily underused was Leto’s Joker, with Leto saying that many of his scenes were cut from the theatrical release. It was a major letdown for me as the Joker is one of my favourite characters, and to see so little was a shame.
Despite this, Robbie brought the first live action version of Harley Quinn to life spectacularly (especially her relationship with the Joker), as did the rest of the cast with their respective characters. The action was epic and fun, with the stunts providing a look into each character’s fighting style/abilities. The Squad’s first mission isn’t the best but the journey to the climax is still wild and entertaining, as all comic book movies about a bunch of insane villains should be. While not perfect, a second viewing beckons in order to view it without the shock factor following two years of hype.