JUMPING ON THE BANDWAGON: "Suicide Squad", as bad as everyone says?...

(Because they lovingly don't allow you to embed the trailer on Blogspot.)

With "Suicide Squad", there's no denying it ain't good. But what the real question is: is it deserving of all of the negative attention that it is currently getting? Is it really on par with the equally infamous, albeit ridiculously titled "Fant4stic" reboot?

God no, as it stands it will never extend beyond mediocre, at least in its current theatrical cut. It's by-the-numbers, confused as to what it actually wants to be, mixing some bizarre and irrelevant sequences which serve the sole purpose of being 'edgy' with the Marvel-esque banter between characters. It's disjointed, but as its happens, there's still some entertaining aspects to enjoy. Will Smith as Deadshot was somewhat surprising, standing as one of the few likeable characters of the squad. The material he's handed isn't exactly gold, especially the obligatory eye-rolling line of reference to the film's title, but his own charm shines through what would have been utterly forgettable if it were handled by another actor, rather than just simply bland.

Referring back in the mean time to the awkward structure, the rumours of the theatrical cut being handled by the house responsible for the film's trailers is very much believable. At times it felt as if I paid to see a feature-length music video, the montages and use of licensed tracks got that out of hand. The whole film is stuffed with licensed tracks, ranging from The Animals' "House of the Rising Sun" to Kanye West's "Black Skinhead". Now, there's no issue with licensing tracks to create a specific tone or believability within a film, but this is ridiculous, perfectly showcasing how this film perceives its audience. Any moment of silence is sure to bore, there has to be music playing at a constant to keep their attention grasped! The use of silence or lack of sound can have a powerful effect, be it either a chance to grab a breather or ratchet up the tension, it would ultimately cause these outbursts of music to be much more impactful and not become just another montage. An exercise of restraint places faith into the audience to have even the slightest amount of intelligence, but instead it opts for stupidity and excess.

The holes to be found in the plot are certainly plentiful as the first act scrambles to get the characters formed before it throws them against the next giant blue beam in the sky. This time in the form of an enchantress attempting to take over the planet. I've never heard of that one before. It's wackiness in the beginning seems entertaining enough initially before it eventually just goes in one ear and out the other. By the time it changes gears, the damage has already been made. It falls into place with so many other superhero movies, the squad team up and face a climactic fight against the evil force responsible for the film's conflict. It gets the job done, but utterly forgettable. Passable, that is, if you play devil's advocate and choose not to pick it apart. (But why should you really?)

The cast is the main reason there was any semblance of fun to be had with this film, in addition to Will Smith's charm there is Margot Robbie as Harley Quinn. She does a pretty great job embodying the character, fitting the role pretty perfectly. (A reason to look forward to a Harley Quinn spin-off in the hopefully near future.) Joel Kinnaman is your generic army man and Jai Courtney, bless him, has been swept off to the side, simply there to provide some completely unnecessary and often ham-fisted comic relief. That's because an Australian handy with a boomerang is good enough to take down an ungodly supernatural force capable of destroying human-kind. Maybe one day he can finally happen. They really should have stopped after "Terminator: Genisys", to be perfectly honest.

Now, there are plenty of issues to be found in "Suicide Squad" to continue to babble on about and it is most certainly a product of excessive studio meddling, contrary to what director David Ayer has been saying. Pulling a Josh Trank can only cause your career to go downhill and frankly, who can blame him? All we can hope is for the inevitable 'extended cut' to come along and hopefully restore some clarity. Or to prove that this film may have and forever will be a bit of a turkey. It's mediocre. Yes. On par with "Pixels"? I'll let you be the judge.