SUICIDE SQUAD REVIEW

*MAY CONTAIN SPOILERS*

Trailers can be very deceiving as they're used to make a film look good by showing the highlights and getting its audience hyped. However, this leads to people having high expectations and being disappointed when they watch the film. This might be the case with Suicide Squad.

In my opinion, Suicide Squad isn't a bad film. I think it's worth watching for the performances and the action/fight sequences. Yes, the plot is a little muddled but the main characters made this a compelling watch because of their unique and over-the-top personalities. 

A secret government agency, led by the ruthless, high-ranking official Amanda Waller (Viola Davis), recruits some of the most dangerous, incarcerated villains on the planet to execute dangerous black ops missions and save the world from a potentially apocalyptic threat from a mysterious, supernatural entity. If anything goes wrong on this mission, the government will not be liable but rather can place the blame on the villains, who are inherently evil people. A small bomb is implanted in each member of the squad's neck with the capability of detonating any time one of the members tries to rebel or escape. It will be up to this assembled team of villains to prevail over the seemingly impossible events that will unfold before them, in what many deem to be a "suicide mission".

This film links to the events of Batman V Superman: Dawn Of Justice. I think one of the reasons I found this a little confusing is because I didn't watch that film due to all of the negative reviews it got. I do regret this now as I think, by watching BvS, I would have probably understood the film better. This film, like BvS, received a lot of bad reviews which made me hesitant to watch it. Should I bother? But I saw the trailer several times at the cinema and I thought it looked really good. While Suicide Squad isn't as good as the trailer made it out to be, it's still worth a watch, especially if you enjoyed BvS and are a fan of the comic books.

If there's something to praise about this film, it's the performances. There's not a bad act to be found. Will Smith has portrayed a lot of likable characters in the past. He is great as Deadshot, who has two sides to him: the bad-ass assassin and the father. We see how much he cares about his daughter who is his motivation to get out of prison. Like most of Smith's past characters, he has a lot of witty one liners to make him a more likable protagonist.
Margot Robbie brings Harley Quinn to life, I don't think anyone can criticise her performance. Like Deadshot, Harley says most of the one liners and brings comic relief to this action-fuelled film. She has come a long way since her role as Leonardo DiCaprio's love interest in the Oscar-nominated film 'The Wolf Of Wall Street'. She has since then worked alongside Smith in the comedy/thriller 'Focus' and as Jane in the adventurous 'The Legend Of Tarzan'. 
Jared Leto doesn't just play the Joker, he becomes the Joker. He is only in a handful of scenes but hopefully we'll see more of him in an potential sequel. The Joker and Harley are in a relationship and it's not hard to see their chemistry. Harley is just as crazy as the Joker which is why they work so well together. 

Each character is given a background, which is important in a film like this as we understand them more. We learn about each character in the beginning of the film and we learn that Batman is the reason they're in prison. We also get a blink-and-you'll-miss-it appearance from the Flash who caught Captain Boomerang (Jai Courtney), another member of the squad.

Making an adaptation of one of comic book's most iconic group of characters was always going to be a difficult challenge but director David Ayer gives it a worthy shot. It may not be as great as everyone was hoping but that doesn't make it a terrible film. Hopefully, there'll be some improvements in a sequel, if there is one.

7/10