“What happens if the next Superman is a terrorist?” That’s the rhetorical question intelligence agent Amanda Waller (Viola Davis) poses to persuade her bosses that she needs a band of supervillains to battle the planet’s potential new enemies. She finds an assassin and a psychotic former psychiatrist, among others, and releases them from prison to fight evil with evil.
GoodIt does give humans and supervillains redeeming features. Deadshot practically weeps when he receives letters from his daughter. Harley is wrecked when she thinks she has lost the Joker, or her Pudding as she affectionately calls him. Square squad leader Rick (Joel Kinnaman) loves June so much he will risk the world to release her from Enchantress. With an enhanced voice huskier than Batman’s and a goddess’ slinky wardrobe, Enchantress seems a lot more exciting than meek little June, but in love there’s no accounting for taste.BadFinal ThoughtsWhen comics-based movies work well, as many of the rival Marvel films do, they are smart and slick enough to reach beyond a fan base ready to embrace them on geekiness alone. Captain America: The Winter Soldier used plot twists and duplicitous government officials to add ballast. Suicide Squad merely slaps ideas on its surface.
