WARNING! THE FOLLOWING REVIEW DOES INCLUDE SOME SPOILERS!
For the last ten years or so comic book adaptations have dominated the box office and have brought a whole new generation into the many different fandoms. Having not been interested in comic books to a great degree when I was younger, I consider myself to be a newly recruited fan of the comic book film adaptations. As a result of this, I don't have a vast knowledge of all of the characters and plots from the comics and so my review relies on only knowledge I have got from the odd comic I have read or information I have found online.
For those of you who don't know what it is about (if so where have you been?), the film follows a US intelligence officer, Amanda Waller (Viola Davis), and her plans to form a team of imprisoned super villains to rid the world of evil. Now with the backing of the US government, Deadshot (Will Smith), Harley Quinn (Margot Robbie), Captain Boomerang (Jai Courtney), Killer Croc (Adewale Akinnuoye-Agbaje) and El Diablo (Jay Hernandez) must join forces under their leader Rick Flag (Joel Kinnaman) to defeat a powerful force. As evil forces work against the team, including the Joker (Jared Leto), the bad guys have got to act as the good guys for a change.
Despite the negative reviews, I did enjoy the film. Granted, I have seen better superhero/ comic book style movies (most recently Deadpool and Captain America: Civil War). However, the characterisation combined with a killer soundtrack and great effects actually made the film enjoyable. I loved the characters as individuals, each had unique traits and characteristics that made them loveable in their own right. Margot Robbie as Harley Quinn and Will Smith as Deadshot were incredibly well cast, with both actors adding their own spins to the classic DC characters.
I will say though, the film lacked a main character. The film felt, at times, incredibly disjointed, appearing more as a series of character profiles rather than a whole film. The quick transitions and changes between characters points of view made it feel as if loads of scenes had been cut. After watching the film, I watched a few interviews with the main actors and I wasn't surprised when Margot Robbie said that loads of great scenes between the Joker and Harley Quinn were cut in editing. I think that if a singular main character had been chosen, like Harley Quinn, the film would have felt less disjointed and more like a feature film. But I guess that's what happens when a lot of big names are in one film.
Also, the marketing for the film focused on this notion of bad vs evil, so, I was very excited to see a crazy diabolical evil super villain that made the task force look like superheroes. To be honest, Enchantress (Cara Delevingne) had potential to be super terrifying, especially with the contrast between Enchantress and June. I was quite disappointed. Cara Delevingne was so great at playing both Enchantress and June but, once again, the editing let her down. Not enough time was spent on developing the story behind the power and magic of Enchantress. For a film that's main focus was supposed to be on the natures of bad and evil there was no killer super villain.
Overall, I did enjoy the film. The soundtrack was amazing, even if it was a bit of a bizarre mix of artists, and so were the characters individually. I think what has really divided critics with this film is the style of film that was eventually produced. The disjointed feel of the overall film might have appealed to some but for me there seemed to be missed opportunity to further develop character's back stories and establish a solid plot.
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