'Suicide Squad' Review

Image from Warner Bros.

By Diego Coya

            Suicide Squad is the highly anticipated comic book film that is written and directed by David Ayer (End of Watch, Fury). It has a huge talented cast that stars Will Smith, Margot Robbie, Jared Leto, Joel Kinnaman, Viola Davis, Jai Courtney, and Jay Hernandez. Suicide Squad revolves around a group of supervillains who are recruited by a secret government to go on a top secret mission. They are armed with government weapons, and these evil inmates learn how to work with each other. They become known as Task Force X, and while they are fighting this mysterious villain, the Joker has an agenda of his own.

            Suicide Squad was not only my most anticipated movie of the summer, it was my most anticipated movie of the entire year. The trailers were so excellent and the potential this movie had was more than great. After watching the movie last night and processing my thoughts, I can say that it is a fun movie, but not a great one. Even though it is not the train wreck that critics are saying that it is, there are some serious problems in Suicide Squad that prevent it from being a great film. Further on in this review, I will go over my flaws in the film.

            There are definitely positive aspects to the film; the strongest aspect of the film is the performances. Will Smith as Deadshot was terrific, his character was likeable, funny, and really cool. I especially liked the humanity that was given to his character; he is by far the character that is given the most characterization. Margot Robbie as Harley Quinn is a scene-stealer. She was truly fantastic and I thought she really pulled off the role. Will Smith and Margot Robbie had wonderful chemistry, and I hope to see them in future DC films portraying these characters.

            There has been a lot of mystery and excitement surrounding Jared Leto’s performance. Before going to the movie, audiences should know he is not in the film that much. Even though he is given only a limited amount of screen time, Leto is quite good as the Joker. I just really wished that he was in the film longer. Jai Courtney, who is an actor that I thought had no talent whatsoever, does a pretty good job in Suicide Squad. And Viola Davis is not getting enough for her performance; she was very menacing as her character. The performances all around are really solid, however, the story isn’t.

            Suicide Squad is a mess when it comes to the writing and storytelling. There are many aspects of the film that feel really choppy, and there are undeniably a lot of scenes that were cut out of the film. Suicide Squad also has a premise that has so much potential but it never reaches because unfortunately, Suicide Squad genuinely felt like a movie that the studio intervened with. Without getting into spoilers, there are some scenes that were noticeably reshot. Additionally, the movie is so sloppily put together; the present day scenes and the flashbacks do not always flow naturally. And while the movie never bored me, I am having a hard time remembering a memorable scene.

            The action scenes are just there, not once did I feel like the squad was in danger. The worst aspect of the film is the villain. There is a villain in the film, and there is a reason why the villain was not marketed in the trailers. The villain is so atrocious and the third act revolves heavily on this character. I am so disappointed that the villain was so incredibly weak, and even though I did not hate the movie, there is a lot of improvement that could have been used. I do not blame David Ayer, because Suicide Squad is a movie with studio interference. Which is a huge problem with some superhero films, but that is another discussion for another day.

            Suicide Squad does have fun aspects and there are great performances. But as a whole, it is very disappointing. If there is a director’s cut, I would really love to see it. While it is not as bad as critics are saying, the film should have been better.

Rating: 6/10