Suicide Squad

A rather aggressively unwatchable comic-book adaptation, Suicide Squad follows several criminals (including Will Smith’s Deadshot, Jai Courtney’s Captain Boomerang, Adam Beach’s Slipknot, and Margot Robbie’s Harley Quinn) as they’re recruited by Viola Davis’ Amanda Waller to stop a vengeful witch (Cara Delevingne’s Enchantress) from destroying the world. It’s worth noting that, despite its eventual spiral into absolute tedium, Suicide Squad actually fares surprisingly well in its opening stretch, as writer/director David Ayer offers up an energetic and almost impossibly fast-paced first act devoted entirely to the introduction of the story’s many, many characters – with the unexpectedly watchable vibe heightened by a series of strong performances and a refreshing lack of over-the-top action sequences. (Those come later.) The movie’s momentum takes a palpable and disastrous hit once the narrative proper comes into play, with the sharp-left turn into an Escape from New York-inspired second half triggering Suicide Squad‘s transformation into a distressingly misbegotten endeavor. It’s not terribly difficult to pinpoint where Ayer goes wrong, as the hit-and-miss filmmaker delivers a midsection rife with dimly-lit and virtually incoherent action sequences – with the proliferation of such moments, coupled with a terminally overlong running time, paving the way for a repetitive, interminable final hour. By the time the typically overblown, special-effects-heavy climax rolls around, Suicide Squad has confirmed itself as one of the more memorably horrendous comic-book flicks to come around in quite some time. (It seems impossible but the movie fares worse than the reprehensible Batman V Superman: Dawn of Justice!)

*1/2 out of ****