Suicide Squad is an action film based on the characters from DC Comics. It was released in late 2016 and is comprised of an all-star cast. The film was written and directed by David Ayer. 

You may remember him from writing/directing such films as Training Day (2001) and Fury (2014). He has also done several other major Hollywood films. 

Some of the cast includes:

• Will Smith
• Jared leto
• Margot Robbie
• Joel Kinnaman
• Viola Davis
• Jai Courtney
• Jay Hernandez
• Ike Barinholtz
• Scott Eastwood
• Cara Delevinge

As well as special cameo appearances by:

• Ben Affleck
• Ezra Miller

Plot:

The film starts out introducing us to the main characters. There are several. These characters all find themselves in prison for various reasons. Each one of them has something extraordinary about them that makes them unique and dangerous, or valuable depending upon your perspective. 

A new government program is developed that would like to take advantage of their unique talents in times of crisis. The advantage being that they are already serving life sentences so that if they die/fail during their mission, it doesn't matter all that much as they were never going to be released anyways. In exchange for joining this special government program each member is guaranteed a reduced prison sentence. 

This group of extraordinary and expendable soldiers would be known as "The Suicide Squad".

Everything looks like it is going according to plan for the program's creator Amanda Waller, until one of her recruits (Enchantress) turns on the team and decides she is going to take over the world and eradicate mankind. Now the team must go about stopping her.

Enchantress converts humans to zombie-like soldiers pitting them against mankind and The Suicide Squad. The team goes about fighting them working their way to her as they try to figure out a way to stop Enchantress and save humanity. 

I won't go into any more of the plot here so I don't spoil the film for anyone looking to see it...

Reception:

The film has received mixed reviews since it's release. Critics have given it mostly negative reviews while viewers have given it slightly positive reviews. Critics say the plot, characters, directing, and overall story line are just not very good, while Margot Robbie (Harley Quinn) is the lone exception. 

Rotten Tomatoes gave the film a 26% approval rating.

IMDB rated the film as 6.4/10.

Rolling Stone writes: "DC comics tries something different with Suicide Squad, an all-star collection of crime fighting villians... and the end result is anything but super."

Overall I would say the critics responses were pretty negative. However, that hasn't stopped the film from being overwhelmingly financially successful. 

With a budget of $175 million the film has grossed close to $750 million to date. Making it one of the top 10 highest grossing films of 2016, and it has only been out for a couple months. 

Will there be a Sequel?

It was announced early in 2016 that a sequel is in the works that will begin shooting in 2017. Will Smith and director David Ayer are both being brought back. The rest of the cast is unknown at this time. There is interest in making the sequel an R-rated film by the director.

It was also announced in September that there is going to be an independent film released that focuses on the character of Harley Quinn. Margot Robbie is attached to the project and expected to reprise her starring role. 

That one sounds interesting!

My Review:

Overall I thought the film was decent. I had high hopes for the film when I first heard about it almost 2 years ago. I thought "what an interesting idea with an all star cast, could be an awesome film!" However, after hearing all the negative critic reviews before I actually saw the film, my expectations plummeted to a level that allowed me to enjoy the film a little more than I would have originally. It is kind of one of those things where if you have low expectations, something not that bad can exceed them. However, if you had high expectations it would fall massively short. 

The film had all the right tools to be a great movie, but it just failed to really develop the characters (outside of Quinn) and the plot itself just wasn't very good. Numerous plot holes. To me it seemed like the film could have been a lot better with the tools they had to work with. 

That being said, I overwhelmingly agree with the critics that Harley Quinn (Margot Robbie) was the most entertaining aspect of the film. She played the character very well and the character in general offered something different and unique that most of the other super hero films just don't have. To me she was almost on the same level as The Joker from "The Dark Knight"; a new and different take on an old character. Without her, the movie would have been a massive flop. 

My overall rating would be about a 6/10. 

It was worth watching, but nothing mind blowing. The best way I can think of to describe it matches up perfectly with a description I heard on the news regarding the film: 

"Suicide Squad is not as bad as the critics would have you believe but it is also not as good as you might have hoped".

So there you have it. A film that is worthy of a Redbox rental, but definitely won't be winning any awards. What did you guys think, did you like the film? Anything that you loved/hated about the film? Let me know in the comments section below.

Live well my friends!

Sources:

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Suicide_Squad_(film)

http://www.imdb.com/title/tt1386697/

Image Sources:

http://www.imdb.com/title/tt1386697/mediaindex?ref_=ttmi_ref_mi

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