26% on Rotten Tomatoes
Chloe's thoughts: It's alright; Watch it in cinemas (for the action, but if you can't be bothered paying, then don't worry you're not missing out on much)
Watch it if you: Want to watch a fun, enjoyable, and light-hearted movie; Like the DC universe; Like the concept of this film; Aren't taking it too seriously
The government, concerned with the possibility of having an 'evil' Superman show up to terrorise the world, gathers a group of villains to do their dirty work. This expendable 'suicide squad' becomes a puppet for the intelligence operative Amanda Waller, who is ready to kill them and/or chuck them under the bus if need be.
So despite what Rotten Tomatoes is saying, I thought this movie was fun and enjoyable, and I would rewatch it if I was in the mood for something that was just that: fun and enjoyable. It's by no means anything spectacular, it's not even great, it's just decent. And that's completely fine, I didn't go in expecting a spectacular film. I was hoping for a fun film, and it met that criteria.
And I feel like I also need to explain how Rotten Tomatoes works. Remember that Rotten Tomatoes is not like IMDb. So while IMDb's scores is the average of all users (not just critics), Rotten Tomatoes is the percentage of critics who have rated the movie above a 6/10. In this case, 26% of critics thought the movie was at least a 6/10. The average of Rotten Tomatoes critics actually rated it a 4.7/10 (right underneath the big "26%"). So while it's still not a great score, it's still better than a 2.6/10. So you can theoretically have a movie with 100% on Rotten Tomatoes but with all the scores being 6/10. You can also have a movie with 0% on Rotten Tomatoes with all scores being 5/10. Also, Rotten Tomatoes critics are CRITICS. They have a distinct taste, and they also don't really include younger critics, so naturally the films they like would be different.
And no, there's no conspiracy of Rotten Tomatoes buying off critics to give bad reviews to DC films. In fact, Warner Bros (the studio behind these DCEU movies), actually owned Rotten Tomatoes up until February, and they still hold a stake in the website. So no, there's no conspiracy happening.
Back to the film.
I think the opening was the strongest part of the film. The way it was edited made it really upbeat and fast-paced, and it was really entertaining. During the start of the film I was thinking, "Yes. This is the film I wanted to see. The critics will be wrong. It will be a good movie."
Unfortunately, once they get into the actual plot, that's when the holes start to appear. Firstly, the dialogue is terrible. I was concerned with the trailer, I was uncomfortable at the start of the film, and by the end of the film I just hated the scriptwriters. Most of the lines were so cringeworthy because you could tell that they were trying to be either really funny, or really epic, and it just ended up being cheesy. The script was also pretty immature. Do they not realise that you don't need to constantly say "bitch", "shit", and "balls" (among other similar terms) to have good, fun and dark dialogue? It's almost as if the script was written by a 12 year old who just realised he could make his calculator spell out '8008135'.
The plot was quite weak too. They had many minor plot holes, plus a major one. No spoilers here, but some of it just didn't make sense. I didn't mind though, because as I said, I didn't expect a perfect film. In fact, most films have major plot holes anyway, but they can still be fun. However, it was a bit of a disappointment when the end battle was resolved way too quickly and with little thought or sense to it.
Another thing that I didn't like was how they tried to let a plot hole slide by making us laugh. Again, it comes down to writing, but you cannot just push aside a plot hole by having someone say, "How are you not dead yet?!" I mean, we as the audience laugh, but seriously... how? And then they move on as if nothing ever happened.
This may be due to the editing though, because after the first part of the movie, the editing becomes really sloppy, there's a lot of things cut out from the movie, and that results in it just not making sense. Everything becomes clumsy and disjointed, and I think there would be a director's cut that adds maybe 30 more minutes to the film to try and explain what's going on.
Also because of this editing, sometimes the tone of the film would suddenly change, from happy to suspenseful to epic to happy again, and that makes for a really jarring and unsettling experience. Sometimes this was due to the score of the film, but most of the time it was the editing.
The music, for the most part, was very entertaining and enjoyable. They included popular songs, and some were even included in the trailers. Some may not like the extensive use of pop songs, but I actually enjoyed it, it added character to the scenes that the actual dialogue couldn't provide for us.
I will have a side rant though, that there was a teenage girl sitting next to me who sang along to every. single. song. Seriously, she was so annoying, she would keep saying out her feelings, like, "Oh I like her, she's cool", or "Oh wow, that's so cool", "Is that the Joker? I think that's the Joker", and two seconds later, "Yeh that's the Joker." The worst part was when she told her friend, who must have whispered something to her although I couldn't hear her at all, she told her friend, "STOP TALKING!" really loudly, despite no one being able to hear her friend, and her herself being ten times louder and a hypocrite.
Please, if anyone I know does this, then please stop, or you will be dead to me.
As for the characters, I thought they were fun, but sometimes there were a few things I could nitpick.
Firstly, Will Smith as Deadshot was amazing; you can really see how great of an actor he is in this, and the character of Deadshot himself is really really cool. I can see why there's quite a lot of focus on him, as you get to understand his past and his situation and you really feel for him. He also feels like the only sane person in the entire cast (not just in the Suicide Squad itself), and he was the best part of the film for me.
Margot Robbie as Harley Quinn started off great, but by the end she got way too annoying. Every line she said just grated against me and I was so sick of her. Once again this comes down to the writing, but I do feel like she was over-acting just a tiny bit. Of course, I really do love the concept of Harley Quinn and some parts were a bit heartbreaking, but in the end, her crappy dialogue was too embarrassing.
Jared Leto's performance as the Joker was THE WORST THING EVER. I absolutely hated him in this, and compared to him there's no way you would think Margot Robbie was over-acting. Every single movement, syllable and noise this guy made was way too overdone and I hated him from the get go. I definitely had my reservations about him from the first pictures released, and this just confirmed them. Also, he seemed pretty useless. If you go in thinking that he is going to have a major part in this film, then be prepared because he doesn't do much at all. I'm pretty sure he was there just to set up the next film, since a lot of his scenes seemed to have just been shot for the trailer, and actually add nothing to the actual film. Which then begs the question, What on earth is Harley Quinn doing on the Suicide Squad if she's not there to try and get the Joker?! You realise that it makes absolutely zero sense for her to be there. Her weapon of choice is a freaking baseball bat for crying out loud! And she's on the same team as Deadshot, the guy who never misses! It makes zero sense.
As for the other characters, I'll just make some brief points:
Overall, I would watch this again if someone wants to have a stupid fun time. It's definitely enjoyable, and if you're not expecting a perfect film, then you should be fine. It has plot holes, but it also has (some) interesting characters, fun action, and some good chuckles throughout. I definitely would rewatch this over Jason Bourne.
A few side notes:
CONTAINS ~SPOILERS!~
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