March 19, 2024

SPOILER ALERT: You are now aware this review contains spoilers. So, if you do not like spoilers, do not read this review. Duh.


By now, we know that DC and Warner Bros. Suicide Squad has been trashed by critics. More and more movies have relied on their rating from Rotten Tomatoes to advertise and Sucide Squad ranks pretty low, at 27% from critics. Fans rank it slightly better at 69%. As for those of you who haven’t seen it, I recommend you do.

Suicide Squad is by no means a stellar movie. It isn’t so awful it will induce spontaneous bleeding from the eyes either. It is somewhere in between. Just slight bleeding from the eyes. I promise. If you caught our episode of Space Time Talko on the subject, you know there were actually more things we liked about this film than hated. Personally, I ranked it at the top out of the three new DC movies and I stand by that. Suicide Squad is a movie worth a watch, despite the critics.

Suicide Squad begins with a simple premise. Amanda Waller plays the games of politics and espionage very well to bring together some of the world’s most dangerous and notorious criminals to handle superhuman and supernatural threats. Deadshot, Harley Quinn, Killer Croc, Capain Boomerang, Katana, Rick Flag, and others fill out the team. Viewers are treated to brief intros of each, and the plot begins to unfold. We learn that the Joker has plans to free Harley from Waller’s clutches which Suicide Squad does an initial job of convincing us is the main plot. This later falls apart as, unfortunately, the Joker becomes a weaker and less significant character and Enchantress is transformed into the main villain.

Rick Flag is rope in by Amanda Waller through June Moone, Flag’s love interest and the host body of Enchantress, and ancient witch. Waller holds Enchatress’ heart, the key to controlling and killing her. Enchantress, of course, wants this back. During a botched mission, Flag leads June to a site to deal with a threat, where Enchantress frees her brother and seeks to take revenge on humans by building a massive death machine.

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The best part of this movie is the attention to character development. Not all get equal treatment, but none feel left behind. Deadshot and Harley Quinn remain front and center. One trying to prove he has more honor than people give him credit for. The other trying to prove she’s more than capable of doing things on her own. El Diablo comes in a close third, trying to stay out of the fight as much as possible but finally displaying his awesome power near the end of the film. After that I would place Killer Croc, Katana, and Captain Boomerang in no particular order. Finally comes Rick Flag and Amanda Waller. Somewhat entertaining but ultimately one dimensional characters.

The action is just as enjoyable. Several scenes stick out from the others. Deadshot making perfect shots with a variety of weapons, El Diablo torching a whole building’s worth of bad guys, and Harley displaying her acrobatic talent and prowess with a baseball bat are among the best. If you’re into action movies and want to skip on the drama, Suicide Squad has you covered.

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Now for the cons. First of all, the movie could have done entirely without the Joker subplot. His entire rescue plan comes to fruition only for him to be “killed off” in mere minutes. Why build up a character in a film only to have them killed off by a rocket launcher? Next, the movie has an unnecessarily edgy tone. DC has been trying to appeal to what it considers an adult audience and this strategy just isn’t working. The whole movie seems like it was filmed behind a blue or grey filter. Finally, I’m not sure if it was the theater I was in but the audio levels were awful. Music was deafening while dialogue anything short of a shout you could barely make out.

Suicide Squad is not an amazing movie by any stretch. It is simply a good one worth watching. I recommend the skeptics and naysayers give it a chance.