Suicide Squad

At long last the Marvel juggernaut might finally have had its arch nemesis stand up to fight back. After many faltering starts at launching the DC cinematic universe Suicide Squad has finally found the perfect blend of dark, gritty storytelling with vibrant, psychedelic characters.

Throughout the film the cast of characters introduced maintain their wacky, fun nature as they shoot biting barbs back and forth between each other. This prevents them from getting mired down in the overarching story like we have seen far too often in past DC offerings.

This film is all about Harley Quinn (Margot Robbie), Deadshot (Will Smith) and Enchantress (Cara Delevinge) – with Robbie stealing the show, whilst the remainder of the Squad play supporting roles. Jared Leto’s portrayal of the Joker is very nicely done although extremely limited, fingers crossed we get a more Joker-centric spin-off title.

Action sequences and pacing are once again issues for DC, the action can can become a little too chaotic and hard to decipher, whilst the overall pacing of the film has it starting out really strong as the characters are introduced before losing steam and being left feeling long and padded out.

Overall this is DC’s best outing to date, so hopefully they take these lessons to heart and continue to build their universe around this style.

Handy hint: be sure to hang around during the credit scene for a glimpse into the future of DC. (JA)

★★★1/2