Suicide Squad was marketed as a real bad-ass movie - a sort of updated version of the 1967 war film The Dirty Dozen where Lee Marvin puts together the toughest and most dangerous group of villains to go on a suicide mission.
But rather than assassinating a group of top Nazi officers, the Suicide Squad are put together by government agent Amanda Waller (Viola Davis, The Help) to defend the earth from any intergalactic threat, therefore taking the place of a missing Superman.
The potential deadly team are let out of their maximum security prison and promised a reduced sentence for agreeing to work for the government.
Waller gives the job of babysitter to America’s top soldier, Colonel Rick Flag (Joel Kinnaman the new Robocop), who keeps the squad in line and has a bodyguard of his own in samurai Katana (Karen Fukuhara).
For each squad member we get a backstory: Deadshot (Will Smith), the world’s most highly paid assassin who never misses his target; Harley Quinn (Margot Robbie), who was The Joker’s (Jared Leto) psychiatrist at Arkham Asylum until she fell in love with him and went unhinged; Captain Boomerang, (Jai Courtney) an Australian bank robber; Diablo (Jay Hernandez), a repentant human torch with a tattooed face and Killer Croc (Adewale Akinnuoye-Agbaje), a scaly ‘thing’.
There is also a witch called The Enchantress who inhabits the body of a certain Dr June Moone (both played by English former model Cara Delevingne). Dr Moone is also the girlfriend of Rick Flag. The Enchantress is controlled by Agent Amanda Waller who keeps the witch’s heart in a box.
Somehow the Enchantress is let loose and fires the essence of her brother into an unsuspecting human turning him into an Egyptian looking giant God shooting lava like fire strands into the city.
This is the chance to set the Suicide Squad on their first and maybe last mission.
Now we get to see the Suicide Squad in action.
But unfortunately it’s all very much style over substance. That’s to say it looks very good but the action is reduced to some long shoot ’em up sequences which become tedious.
The Joker is crowbarred into the movie and has nothing to do with the Suicide Squad except for the fact that he has a perverse love affair with Harley Quinn.
He is not featured nearly enough as the trailers would lead you to believe.
Also Jared Leto had much to live up to, following Jack Nicholson and of course Heath Ledger. Leto’s version is more crazy unpredictable sociopath with no proper game plan.
Oh, and look out for a couple of super hero cameos.
In 3D, only the brilliant opening and closing credit effects came out at me through the screen.
Most characters were expendable, with the exception of Will Smith’s Deadshot. Will Smith always plays Will Smith but that’s why we love him and he never disappoints.
Margot Robbie’s Harley Quinn is likeable though sometimes annoying but she is another strong female role even though the writers have put her persona back a few years in the token eye candy stakes.
The final showdown is something straight out of the original Ghostbusters “Ray, when someone asks you if you're a god, you say ‘YES!’”
I really wanted to like this film plus it’s nice to review a movie that isn’t a remake or reboot. But it was disjointed with dodgy CGI and I confess I’ve seen more bad-ass bad guys in Toy Story. Still, there was a good but safe soundtrack to get the toes tapping.
Out now.
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