The deadliest alliance of criminals align to rid the world of a mysterious aura, in a kill or be killed top secret mission. The “Suicide Squad” is a secret government project constructed by the relentlessly devious Amanda Waller (Viola Davis), a government official who recruits imprisoned supervillains to execute dangerous black ops missions in exchange for clemency and saving the world from an unknown but powerful threat. Among the very polarizing soldiers, Deadshot (Will Smith), Harley Quinn (Margot Robbie), Boomerang (Jai Courtney), El Diablo (Jay Hernandez), Killer Croc (Adewale Akinnuoye-Agbaje), and Katana (Karen Fukuhara). Not all is fun and games however, as a no-nonsense field agent named Rick Flag (Joel Kinnaman) is tasked with keeping the demented personalities in order to get the job done. During the mission, the criminals question the very word and offer by their higher-up, setting them on a crossroad of doing right by their peers or indulging in the voices in their heads. “Suicide Squad” is directed by David Ayer, and is rated PG-13 for sequences of violence and action throughout, disturbing behavior, suggestive content and language.

“Suicide Squad” has gotten a mostly negative rating from its critical audience, and after sitting through this one, I can understand a lot of the technical problems from this film. It certainly has its problems, especially during a third act which would’ve been better shot on a Sony Handy cam. However, the overall rude reception of this being one of the biggest negatively panned films of the year is a bit ridiculous. I honestly had a mostly pretty fun time watching this movie, and if you give in to the very chaos and anarchy going on within this film, it’s a roller-coaster ride of devastating destruction. From the mostly charming charismatic cast, as well as a couple of surprises thrown in during the dry periods, David Ayer brings a modern dose of devilish comedy that toes the lines of moral integrity for any villain past or present.

This is definitely a movie that had been through a re-edit, promoting it now as a black comedy, instead of the original borderline R-rated action film that it was originally promoted as. Everything from the pandering musical soundtrack (Surprisingly with a lot of Top 40 radio), to the overabundance of comedic material, has this movie often times feeling like two different films that are fused together to make a Frankenstein project. Like that green-faced monster, it somehow works itself straight, and the comedy is a welcome tension breaker between some dialogue that can be a little cringe-worthy.

With a budget of 175 million dollars, the film does lack some visual equality when compared to such an imposing figure, but the action sequences and visual graphic effects on-screen puts this movie in a different category creatively from what we are used to with the straight-forward approach on superhero movies. The cinematography isn’t perfect, quite often invoking the “Batman Vs Superman” law of giving this world a darkened tint to every scene that is shot. I also hated the editing in this film. There are a lot of scenes that definitely feel shortened, and as a result characters end up in positions that don’t sync up with the continuity of where they last landed or reacted. The film did surprise me with a lot of still-frame shots of actual mechanical effects on the ground for this destructed city. The production team here certainly spare zero expense to relate the kinds of devastation that its citizens are in for. The costume designs are also vast and colorful among the many multiple personalities they don. Harley Quinn gets an upgrade that at first bothered me, but makes a lot of sense when you consider the trends in fashion for 2016. Deadshot’s jumpsuit is brilliantly lifted from the pages, and never substitute style for comfort. Joker’s visual look is probably the only problem that I had visually with any of these characters, as it feels very forced and a little too stylish for a character focused on anarchy. It doesn’t feel believable to me that a man so deadly needs a tattoo that says “JOKER” or “HAHAHA”. Despite his silly looks in the past, Joker has always been a dangerous force, and nothing here delves into that essence, which brings me to the performances for the movie.

Surprisingly, I enjoyed most of what the cast had to bring for their respective roles. This is a movie primarily focused on Deadshot and Harley Quinn, and if you’re here for anyone else, you might be disappointed. Jai Courtney is actually very likeable for once, as the brutish Captain Boomerang. He makes the most out of what little time he is given. Will Smith worried me for the first half of the movie, as I thought once again that this was going to be the Will Smith show where his zany one-liners take over and distract you from the actual character. Surprisingly, Smith dazzles with enough heart and leadership that really makes you root for his character, despite not having the most noble of intentions always. Margot Robbie gives the first live action performance for Quinn, and she’s an energetic delight. Her very maniacal facial reactions pay homage to the classic Quinn novelizations, but it’s her light-hearted humor that make her a sweet treat that looks great but is bad enough for your well-being. Robbie breaths empathy for her character during a second act that opens her eyes to the very family that this unlikely group of anti-heroes have become. That’s the film’s strongest point; when they start working together as a team and put every other trouble in their lives behind them. These are criminals being given the freedom to do what they do best, and it’s a thing of beauty to watch them work. The very best work of the movie for me was Viola Davis as the crafty Amanda Waller. The film does a solid job of communicating how the real evil is the ones pulling the strings, and Davis’s Waller is poetic in the way she puppeteers without ever showing any facial emotion. Not even in the face of death does this woman worry or shake, and Davis is not only the best casting decision for this role, she’s the only one.

As for performances I didn’t enjoy, Delevigne’s Enchantress was the single most boring aspect of the movie for me. Her villain has very little interesting about her, she is supported by these zombie henchmen who are possibly the easiest villains in comic history to defeat, and the movie hits a flow-killing brick wall every time she is brought back to the screen. I mentioned earlier how the movie does little in the distribution of even storytelling within its characters, and Enchantress is sadly one of those casualties. We rarely find out what makes her special to go up against the deadliest group of criminals. The film smartly keeps her off screen for most of the movie, but then brings her back needing to wrap up the weakly written conflicts that she casts within the movie. I also HATED Jared Leto’s Joker. This makes me sad because Leto is one of my favorite actors going today. He’s a method actor who never shakes when given a character. But his performance here leaves much to be desired. Joker has been turned into what I can only describe as a drug-dealing, club boss who lacks any kind of menace or imposing nature. Mostly, I laughed at him instead of with him when he was on-screen, and the movie just kind of brings him in during the many slow spots littered through the first half of the movie. His voice work feels long-winded, and I couldn’t wait to hear him stop talking. Something no Joker should ever entail.

The third act and finale gives us the final showdown that we have waited two hours for, and it’s kind of 50/50 with how it’s presented. We do start to see that unity within this group for how much they have grown after having multiple brushes with death in the film, but the visual presentation leaves a lot more to be desired. Ayer trades in his dark shading on the film’s picture for a smoky, rain-filled conclusion that offers very little definition for what is going on. The fact that this was given a pass on the editing floor is ridiculous, and I don’t think I can point to a single time when a scene in a comic movie has ever been so ugly. With The Enchantress fighting as many as six different people, it’s all very tightly shot and too fast-paced to really register the beauty of its many angles, and it’s a reminder of the movie shooting itself in the foot on more than one occasion.

Overall, “Suicide Squad” isn’t quite the short-fused Summer bomb that the critical world would have you believe. Does it have problems? Most definitely. But the delights are aplenty for a comic fan who just wants big-budget thrills with cheap throw-away one-liners by the dozen. It’s a twisted B-style comic tale, that pulls itself from the ashes of what was “Batman Vs Superman”. Not great, but fun.

6/10