Suicide Squad

Well, here we are...a few months after Batman v Superman and we're at the next installment in the DCEU: Suicide Squad. It's fascinating, actually...this is kind of like DC's Guardians of the Galaxy. I don't know if anyone really expected this to be good or not because the odds were stacked against it. Maybe I'm wrong though.

To be honest, I still like Batman v Superman to this day. The theatrical cut was a bit of a mess, but it had moments, and the Ultimate Edition is just downright amazing. So I had some small hope that maybe DC could wow me again, and especially after the critic reviews came in, stating that it was apparently just as bad as the former. Now I was really interested, considering how much I disagreed on BvS. There was only one way to find out...

Suicide Squad follows the story of six criminals from the DC Universe, Harley Quinn, Deadshot, Killer Croc, El Diablo, Slipknot, and Boomerang. As the world starts reeling in the depth of the situation post-Superman's death, they begin an idea to take these six meta-human criminals, bring them out of prison, and use them to fight the unknown forces greater than they. The criminals are eventually put to the test, however, when a massive force of evil appears threatening to destroy mankind, and the six all find trust in each other along the way.

I'm going to be frank.

Suicide Squad is a bit of a mess.

Positives first as always. It does indeed have a very good, albeit basic story. Member of the Squad turns evil and the rest have to stop them while dealing with all the negatives of the government. It's all good and fine. The casting department must be heralded for this because all of these actors do a fantastic job at bringing their characters off the comic book pages, especially Will Smith, Margot Robbie, and yes, even Jared Leto as the joker, even with his short screen time. Also, the visuals and soundtrack are a win, a definite win, and anyone who likes good eye candy and good music will love this movie.

But at the same time, I felt that it suffered a lot in the department of pacing. You get thrust into the movie with a bunch of exposition as to who the characters are, and then boom, if you aren't paying attention, the whole plot and conflict are thrust upon you. By thirty minutes into the movie, you are at the point which it took something like The Avengers an hour and thirty to get to, or BvS two hours to get to. Maybe there's something better that they thought they were doing, but I don't see it...I like a little bit of slow pace. Then there's the fact that it slows down in the middle, especially after they've blown their action wad already twice...it slows down and we start seeing into these characters...which isn't criminal, per se, but it's something we could have just had in the expositional backstories earlier on. Not to mention the fact that I feel like stuff is missing...Suicide Squad Ultimate Edition when?

Honestly, Suicide Squad is a fulfilling movie that provides people with what they want, good visuals, good fights, humor, and colorful characters. But, where it falls short is storytelling and pacing, and while I enjoyed what it had going for it, it still gets a middle grade of 5.9/10 for me. Nonetheless, I strongly support the fact that the DCEU is getting off the ground, and I am very much pumped for the Justice League and Wonder Woman coming soon...hopefully the third time's the charm?