Director: David Ayer.
Starring: Will Smith, Jared Leto, Margot Robbie, Viola Davis, Joel Kinnaman, Jay Hernandez, Jai Courtney, Adewale Akinnuoye-Agbaje, Ike Barinholtz, David Harbour, Cara Delevinge, Ezra Miller, Common, Scott Eastwood, Ben Affleck, Stephen Dunlevy.
David Ayer is fast becoming the 'hit or miss' director for me, releasing instant classics like End of Watch (2012) and Fury (2014) but also great disappointments like Sabotage (2014) and now this. But wait two minutes while I retort myself and say there are some amazing parts and a lot of good things to say about this movie however it's poorly put together; Ayer had some incredible scenes but wasn't able to join them all up in any good way.
The story, also written by Ayer was a surprising twist to what was expected, with the trailers not really giving anything away I was assuming it was going to be the squad Vs the Joker as the trailer might suggest, but far from it and it loosely centers around the Enchantress going rogue, I suppose the right term would be, going from bad to worse. It's certainly comic book fashion
Super villains are forcibly recruited to carry out do-or-die missions by way of Wedlock, and whilst some of the plot seems to focus on Will Smith's Deadshot and Margot Robbie's Harley Quinn, the rest of the characters feel very rushed, like they ran out of time. It's a clever attempt at having several subplots, linking the recent DCuniverse in, but to go lovey-dovey takes away the nastiness resulting it in becoming cheesy and clichéd towards the end (it's always about a girl.)
Cara Delevinge plays the enchantress who manages to part company, revives her godlike brother, create a legion of grotesque mutants and goes Gozer on Gotham with only the remains of the squad to try stop her. I'm undecided about Joel Kinnaman, wasn't too keen on the new Robocop but loved him in Run All Night. Jay Hernandez made an explosive Diablo, Adewale Akinnuoye-Agbaje's Killer Croc wasn't quite believable to me, parts looking a lot like body paint, but I think Jai Courtney's Boomerang worked best for me, if Bane was cocky and was from Australia. Batfleck is in the film, but obviously off hero hunting whilst his city turns into a scene from Ghostbusters.
Margot Robbie is probably the best thing about this film, bringing Harley Quinn to life in such a beautiful manner, raising sarcasm to a whole new level of cuteness and downright sinister. There isn't enough of Jared Leto's Joker, who is good, but just doesn't take the lead from Heath Ledger. This one is definitely more the comic book/animated joker and his dress sense is fabulous, but he's more of a tease than an actual character in the film.
There's some amazing scenes like Deadshot going trigger happy and Ayer has some incredible vision like The Joker and Harley Quinn going toxic. The finale is actually beautifully shot, it's just badly filled with smaller, weaker scenes that taint the film overall. The action is good enough, and again, some impressive camera work and great use of colour giving it that vibrant videogame feel yet still dark and gritty. One particular scene actually reminded me of Aliens, especially when Deadshot goes Chuck Norris on the horde of mutants.
Steven Price reunites from Fury to do an unnoticeable score or could it be it got played out by the awesome explicit soundtrack with tracks like Panic! At The Disco's Bohemian Rhapsody, Eminem's Without Me and songs like Sucker For Pain, You Don't Own Me and an uncredited Sympathy For The Devil which was also used with Will Smith in Focus.
I'm was trying to decide if I was ultimately let down by the hype or the actual film, but it's unfortunately both. Some great potential but not of the right consistency throughout and this might have something to do with the Warner Bros cut twenty plus minutes from the final film, who knows? Maybe it'll make the director's cut and all will be saved, such a beautiful shame.
Running Time: 8
The Cast: 8
Performance: 8
Direction: 6
Story: 4
Script: 4
Creativity: 7
Soundtrack: 8
Job Description: 5
The Extra Bonus Point: 10 for Margot Robbie's Harley Quinn.
68% 7/10
