Suicide Squad

Why was this movie not what it was cracked up--pun intended--to be? The fatal flaw in its underlying logic. No matter how much viewers may appreciate the entertainment value of the villains in superhero movies, they are ultimately rooting for the good guys. Hence, you have a problem when there really aren't any good guys--such as with this piece of work. It also doesn't help that there are other problems here: too many characters of at least some consequence (a few of whom are relatively unidentifiable, or identifiable only to the nerdiest comic book readers); confusing action sequences that don't seem to really move things along; and even recycled visual motifs from earlier DC movies that make this one look unimaginative in comparison. So the MEOW is dangerously close to a HISS; why then a mediocre review instead of a just plain thrashing? Well, this flick does score points for Margot Robbie, who does solid stuff with the character of Harley Quinn. But overall, this is about as bad as you can do with such a simple template; a few more of these and the comic book movie trend may at last see its death knell arrive.