Suicide Squad is a movie that I have been waiting for every since the first trailer appeared and it looked like we were going to get an action packed movie about the multi talented group of anti heroes. As the trailer and teasers followed it was looking like they could have a cracking movie on their hands but then the rumours began about a dramatic volume of re-shoots and that things were getting messy. Still, I kept my hopes high but unfortunately my expectations were not met.

Let’s start with some positives, there were some good tie ins with the DC universe which has been set up so far. Batman (and another justice league character) appear briefly, it makes sense and it works. Will Smith was excellent as Deadshot, whether he was supposed to or not, his screen presence took over when on screen and was only matched by the films other big plus in Margot Robbies take as Harley Quinn. It felt like she was crazy and the moments where her interaction with the Joker came on screen felt like I expected them to. Jared Leto also looked great as the Joker and particular loved his laugh which was absolutely maniacal but this leads into the first problem. He’s barely in the movie and his appearances felt like they were really only there to build up the Harley Quinn character so the trailers as a little misleading.

Some of the backstory elements were very good El Diablo, Katana, Deadshot and in particular the Harley Quinn/Joker relationship all looked like they had the potential for a stand alone or spin off movie but Katana has very little interaction, plus I don’t understand why she was even part of the plot and El Diablo has a little more involvement but only for brief moments. Jai Courtney was good as Captain Boomerang but along with Killer Croc (Adewale Akinnuoye-Agbaje) he had little to do. The participation of Slipknot (Adam Beach) was pointless and despite opening well the story line for The Enchantress (Cara Delevingne) just didn’t work for me.

Outside of that Rick Flagg (Joel Kinnaman) who is supposed to be the commander of the group, seemed to play second fiddle to Deadshot and never really feels like he is in control of the group. This fact seemed to be covered by placing him in a plot thread giving him some purpose to see the mission through, but which once again didn’t work for me and Amanda Waller (Viola Davis) who puts the squad together, while playing the role very well, would have been a far better villain that the actual protagonist. Lastly, and probably worst of all, there was some great music used in the movie but it never felt right or part of the film and it took over the scenes rather than enhancing them which was very off putting.

The movie starts strongly but once the mission actually begins it slows down somewhat and the missions ending was awful. I can’t say it’s a bad film and I certainly didn’t think it’s as terrible as the general consensus seem to be. I still enjoyed it, it’s a decent action movie but it was a bit of a mess and felt disjointed so while all of the elements were there for what could have been a great film, they got it very wrong and in the end DC have once again failed to deliver on early movie promise. Director David Ayer has written movies such as Training Day and Fury and I cannot believe that he would put together a plot this messy and lazy so there must have been some studio input in fear of further backlash after the Batman Vs Superman debacle.

Despite all this early figures would seem to suggest that this will have a big box office take so in terms of profit margin it may be a hit but they will need to try much harder with the upcoming Wonder Woman and Justice League movies as their characters are being wasted by mediocrity at present.

DJ Speaks Rating: 4.5 out of 10