The film starts out REAL quick, and gives you no warning that it's started. It's not the worst thing, but the actual start seems off, and you know something is wrong from the get-go. After the weird introduction the studio felt were necessary this fast, we're treated with a sickening amount of montages, all set to different music tracks, from bohemian rhapsody to Ballrom Blitz, as if to reassure that you're indeed watching the movie from the trailers. However, it falls flat, and it feels like you're suddenly treated to watching trailers for the damn thing. It doesn't help that said montages are mere seconds apart, and the different cues of music feel jarring, and almost had me walk out of the cinema. Not once, not twice.. You get the idea.
The story feels scrambled together, and from what I've read, there's been a great deal of studio meddling here, which hasn't done the film any favors. Some reviews say it feels like two movies joined at the wrong places, and they're somewhat right; there's a comedy and a drama in there, that don't blend well. There are moments you're supposed to laugh, but at certain points, you simply can't, as they feel very out of place. The plot feels very off in most places, and very rushed; Enchantress is simply suddenly the antagonist, and while her reasons for being so are just, they're rushed to the viewer instead of fleshing it out. Simply put; she's in Waller's grasp, and wants to take over the earth by removing people. It's the bare essentials of the story, but it feels that exact way.
Now, over to the characters. I've not read a lot of SS, but I've read some, and seen "Batman: Assault on Arkham", and read quite a few stories in which some of these characters appear, so I consider myself educated enough on the subject to have a right to complain.
However, most of the characters are pretty spot on.
Harley Quinn is pretty well portrayed, but I was missing some batshit-insane moments, to actually give her some weight. Don't get me wrong, that bitch isn't tame, but she lacks a little more pow, to justify the others referring to her as insane.
Capt. Boomerang is pretty much exactly as expected; fun aussie. He's in it for reward, doesn't care much about anything, until the end, obviously. Character arcs and such.
Killer Croc is smaller than the animated films, but it's not a problem. He's fun.
Deadshot is great. Will smith simply delivers, but struggles with a horrible script.
Katana is not someone I know much about, but she's not much in it.
El Diablo is also an unknown for me, but I like the performance overall.
Enchantress is a ... weirdo. Cara Delevigne performs better than I though a model would, but it doesn't help when she's driven by hatred to take over the world for no REAL reason. (Waller has basically caged her, so that means the entire human race needs to die).
Then, there's the Joker. I loved him. Seriously, Jared Leto brought it. His performance is very, very different. In TDK, Joker is an anarchist. As in "what would happen if all of this actually happened in real life?". In "Batman", The Joker is very much based off of comic books and the old TV series, which also worked out good, but Leto's Joker is a borderline psychopath, and I enjoyed watching him strut his stuff on the screen.
However, the writers fucked it up at one point. The relationship between Mr J and Harley is... complicated, simply put, but I know Joker would never go out of his way to get her out of a tight spot. He's not a hopeless romantic, he's the abusive boyfriend that loves her in his own special way. But the film ends on him busting in to Belle Reeve to rescue her, which irked me.
All in all, I loved the characters, the actors portraying them, but it all fell flat due to some fucked up shit.
Okay, I'm ranting. I hated the film. There's so much damn goodness in it, it's hard to understand how it all went wrong, but I blame studio execs meddling, as per usual. I wish they'd learn from Deadpool. Give the director some fucking trust.(although in deadpool's case, the director got next to no money, and zero trust, but without meddling.) It seems like DC is trying to catch up with Marvel too fast, and crams too much exposure in every film, instead of genuinely building up to the final mashups with great products. Suicide Squad had a lot of potential, and it's clearly in there, but unless there's a director's cut somewhere down the line, I'm done. I have zero trust in DC anymore. Marvel's getting it right, but DC can go suck a fuck.
