Suicide Squad | Dir: David Ayer | Rated: M | In Cinemas Now | ★★★
Sometimes it takes more than a super hero to save the day, sometimes it takes a super villain. Or in this case a squad of the most deranged and dangerous bad guys from the DC Comics universe.
The premise is simple enough, Gotham City is under siege from a supernatural threat in the form of a 6000 year old witch (Cara Delevingne) with annihilation on her mind. Since Batman isn’t up to the task of taking her down, the task of saving the world falls at the feet of a band of expendable criminals, The Suicide Squad.
Set in a version of Gotham that appears to be tripping balls after ingesting too much of a bad batch of acid, what could have been a $175 million dollar mess of a movie is redeemed by two things. Margot Robbie and Viola Davis.
Robbie plays the baseball bat wielding Harley Quinn, a dangerously unhinged sociopath who injects some much needed humour into what is pretty dark and twisty story. Her performance is so strong Harley Quinn spin off rumors are already circulating.
As the Ruthless Amanda Waller, the woman charged with assembling and controlling the Suicide Squad, Davis brings gravitas and a powerful screen presence to the role, that anchors some of the more over the top elements.
Speaking of over the top, an honourable mention must go to Jared Leto who stars as the big screen’s latest incarnation of the Joker in sublimely psychotic style.
The film’s main failing (aside from the plot which is ridiculously convoluted) is that it’s riddled with references to other DC movies and characters and relies too heavily on the viewer having an encyclopedic knowledge of the broader DC universe.
Suicide Squad is a psychedelic action flick that should please most fans of the superhero genre.
Clinton Little
