Someday in the future, if I would be asked to list the movies that I have regretted watching in a movie theater, I'll make sure of mentioning Suicide Squad among them. The regret isn't because the movie is boring - it is for some spells though - but rather because as its events advance, you come to realize that you have been somehow tricked into spending two worthless hours of cartoonish chaos and ineptitude.
Honestly, I expected to at least enjoy the movie, even when I was already sure that it won't ever match the heights of Christopher Nolan's The Dark Knight trilogy (the best comic-book movies ever produced), but the film was so utterly ridiculous, particularly in its second half, that I felt self-embarrassed for even daring to expect entertainment.
Many elements in the story written by David Ayer, who previously penned the popular Training Day (2001) and Fury (2014) are irrational. First of all, with all due respect, and with definitely no racism intended, it is almost impossible for a black woman to persuade the U.S. government into unleashing the most violent and mentally disturbed criminals to defend the country (and the whole world) against any potential higher-power future threats. Viola Davis looks completely out of her skin in the role of Amanda Waller, an officer who controls the villains she assembled together through a silly mobile application that blows off their heads in case they thought of running away. The second major issue that defies logic, is the filmmakers' tried-and-failed attempt for the viewers to sympathize with the bad guys: Will Smith's generally good acting is not enough to convince us that Deadshot's sole weakness is his daughter from his divorced wife, the romance between Harley Quinn and the Joker is just as freakish and odd as the two famous characters are, and the Diablo's repent after accidentally setting his house and family on fire is too cliche.
The whole process of assembling the squad members and trying to fit them all in the storyline is nothing short of foolish. The video-games-like graphical bio of each character (depicted in countless movies before) is followed by a flashback to the incident during which they got captured (usually by Batman), the presence of the likes of Boomerang and Killer Croc is just there to add to the sum, and the super-power monster threatening humanity is a disgustingly annoying cave-witch that speaks gibberish and transforms people into unidentifiable killing zombies.
The return of the Joker was certainly the most anticipated subject during the production of the film. Personally, I consider Jared Leto to be among the best supporting actors in Hollywood lately, but his portrayal of Gotham's most wicked culprit is by all means disappointing. I can't blame Leto completely for this messy and pointless performance though; the character was badly written in the first place and barely affects the movie's proceedings. The efforts of both Christopher Nolan and Heath Ledger to create a haunting and adorable freak of a criminal will probably remain untouchable forever.
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| Leto's Joker may Attract the Eyes but Surely not the Minds nor the Hearts |
But perhaps the only light that shines throughout all of this gloominess is the stunning Margot Robbie. Aside from her character's frivolous relationship with the Joker, Harley Quinn is undoubtedly the most charming badass in the whole film. Whenever she's on screen, a smile is guaranteed. This performance further enhances the Australian actress's reputation as one of the best rising stars in the business at just 26 years of age.
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| Daddy's Lil Monster: Margot Robbie as Harley Quinn is Irresistibly Charming |
So, with two dissatisfying installments so far, DC Comics is currently on the losing side in the battle with Marvel for producing highly-entertaining yet plausible comic-book-based motion pictures. All the witty one-liners, the catchy soundtracks, the class-A actors/actresses and the action-packed, slow-motion fighting sequences in the world can't save Suicide Squad from being another Hollywood blockbuster failure. You've been warned.
My Rating: 4/10
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