Good to be bad

I believe it's safe to assume by the time this review has been posted, Suicide Squad, much like its' earlier counterpart Batman v Superman: Dawn of Justice, has garnered a gargantuan weekend opening while overcoming a negative thrashing from critics. As such the divide between critics and moviegoers continues to contrast even further but in the case of Suicide Squad, were they right? Well....yes and no. The film isn't an official continuation to the events that took place in Dawn of Justice, but they are referenced to build the plot which takes place sometime (spoiler-alert) after Superman's funeral. The world is now aware of the presence of meta-humans, particularly intelligence operative Amanda Waller (Viola Davis) who goes to high lengths to assemble a task force consisting of the most deranged and dangerous criminals to be utilized in high-risk missions and to battle potential meta-human threats:

She may be smiling but you don't want to know what she's thinking

Deadshot (Will Smith), Killer Croc (Adewale Akinnuoye-Agbaje), Diablo (Jay Hernandez), Captain Boomerang (Jai Courtney), Slipknot (Adam Beach), and Harley Quinn (perfectly played by Margot Robbie). Another candidate Waller tries to recruit is Dr. June Moone (Cara Delevingne), an archaeologist who possesses a witch-goddess called Enchantress. However, June has difficulty keeping the witch in check and is temporarily overthrown by her; allowing her to free her brother Incubus to recuperate his power while wreaking havoc in the city. The crisis behooves Waller allowing her to utilize the new suicide squad to handle the problem but saving the city with this crew is easier said than done. With the brief synopsis out of the way, we can get straight

to the point: is Suicide Squad as terrible as we've heard? No. It isn't perfect but it's nowhere remotely close to the disaster that many critics have labeled it as. It is slightly better than Dawn of Justice but it carries the same issues as that film; specifically the pacing and introducing new characters into the extended DC universe. I get DC is trying to catch up with Marvel in terms of creating a large universe for all these heroes but the fact that they continue to rush this by stuffing too much info into a time frame of two hours causes the movie to suffer, making the film feel forced in some parts especially the appearance of a certain DC hero whose cameo felt a little out of place in this film (and I'm not talking about Batman). As far as my gripes go, those were my least favorite parts; everything else about Suicide Squad I enjoyed. All the actors are casted perfectly and they certainly seem to enjoy portraying their characters, the stand out being Margot Robbie who personifies the sweetness and chaos of Joker's psychotic girlfriend perfectly. Speaking of which, Jared Leto does a respectable and faithful performance as the clown prince. Trying to compare his portrayal to the late Heath Ledger's version is like comparing apples to oranges. Both represent a Joker from a different universe, much like how Michael Keaton's Batman is different from Christian Bale's Batman: one kills, the other doesn't. Overall, the film comes around nicely and delivers a good time to moviegoers despite its' shortcomings. From beginning to end, Suicide Squad is an absolute blast and will keep you smiling like Harley all the way to the credits. ​

​-Reviewed by Razor, 8/8/16