Suicide Squad has mostly been on the wrong end of movie reviews, with critics slamming the film's confusing plot and inconsistencies.
Director David Ayer recently responded to the negative reviews, stating through a tweet that he loves the movie and that he believes in it.
"Made it for the fans. Best experience of my life," Ayer added.
Suicide Squad offers a good number of highlights to go against the negative points of the film. While the high expectations may have not been met, it is still a great ride for fans of the DC universe.
Here's a spoiler-free review of Suicide Squad.
Colorful Cast Of Characters
No, we are not simply referring to the hair colors of Harley Quinn and the Joker.
Suicide Squad is largely driven by the performance of Margot Robbie as Harley Quinn, the Joker's partner in crime. Robbie lights up every scene she is in, whether that is by her crazy character or by the shots (both literally and figuratively) that she fires.
Deadpool creator Robert Liefield largely agrees with us here, claiming among a series of tweets in his review of Suicide Squad that she owned the entire film.
Marksman and assassin-for-hire Deadshot, played by Will Smith, was also represented well in the film, and personified the trials that the whole squad were going through as the movie progressed.
Viola Davis meanwhile almost stole the show, playing the cruel, cunning and calculated Amanda Waller, who formed the ragtag team of villains.
The film was able to provide a good peek into the troubled past of Diablo, played by Jay Hernandez, but it fell short in providing good character development for the rest of the squad.
As for Joker, who was one of the main selling points of the film, Jared Leto mixes a bit of the portrayals by each of the past actors who took on the role, but ultimately comes out with a unique and rather terrifying version of the villain. The verdict is still not out on how Leto's Joker would rank among all others though, partly because a lot of his scenes have been taken out of the final version of Suicide Squad.
Chaos Unbound
Much of the negative reviews against Suicide Squad focus on the movie's chaotic plot, with disjointed scenes and a confusing array of characters. The editing of the film seemed too jumpy at times, with plot holes here and there.
But then again, this is a movie that breaks the mold of superhero films from the beginning, with villains taking up the screen. With that in mind, perhaps it would be best to think of the chaos as the whole point of the movie. If that would be the case, then Suicide Squad delivers.
Watching the film made us feel like we were reading an animated graphic novel, with the scene shifts similar to flipping pages and the story not being fully revealed to viewers, giving them the burden of piecing it all together themselves. We still found that enjoyable.
Fun Action Scenes
While the action scenes in Suicide Squad suffer from the same problem of repetitiveness as seen in other superhero movies, they are probably among the most fun scenes to hit the big screen. In some scenes, the teamwork that the villains show rivals, and even exceeds, the teamwork displayed by the Avengers!
Setting Up For Justice League
Suicide Squad greatly sets up the Justice League movie that is set to be released late next year, but that is not its only goal. The film is meant to be a break from the mostly somber mood of the gladiator battle that is Batman v Superman: Dawn of Justice, and it does that with guns blazing.
What we would love to see now would be a movie with the Joker and Harley Quinn playing much bigger roles, as Leto and Robbie had great chemistry onscreen as Gotham's king and queen of crime.
Is Suicide Squad a recommendable movie? We believe it remains so, but as Ayer noted, DC universe fans would likely appreciate the film more than most other moviegoers.
Oh, and yes, there is a post-credits scene. Stick around for that.
