Suicide Squad

The third offering in the DC extended universe, Suicide Squad, was released a few days ago.  It begins shortly after Batman vs. Superman's ending.  The world has accepted that powerful beings- called 'meta-humans'- live among us.  And, as is typical with humanity, we seek to control the situation.  Amanda Waller has an idea in this vein . . . what if the 'worst of the worst' can be persuaded to do the government's bidding?  To that end, she finds leverage over a band of 'super-criminals' and unleashes them to protect the populace from a grave menace.  But can bad guys ever be trusted?

This movie was panned- I knew that going in- and I see why.  It was poorly executed.  The plot development was abysmal, the character development uneven,* and the story confusing.  It kept changing gears- this movie just didn't know what it was supposed to be.  It oscillated between 'fun' (in the vein of Deadpool or Guardians of the Galaxy), epic action/suspense, and even detoured briefly into philosophical discussion.  Good movies can blend these well; this movie did not.  There was potential there, certainly- and a choice few scenes, characters, or lines showed what could have been- but nothing was developed adequately, and the result was a mystifying mess.

The two themes touched on that I would have loved to see explored more here:
- Control.  We yearn to control that which is greater than us, and the DC extended universe has focused on this so far.  Here, control is attempted through leverage and threats.  Is that effective?  The ultimate motivation is relationship and love, which is touched on but not developed.
- Redemption.  "Inside we're ugly," says one of the baddies in the philosophical aside.  Another confesses horrific crimes and talks of redemption.  An excellent topic, yet under-explored and thus robbed of its potency.

There were some fun cameos, it clearly links to past and future movies, and there were glimpses of promise.  But in the end, this one can be avoided unless they release an extended cut with 30-60 minutes of additional development.

Rating: C-

*Amanda Waller, Harley Quinn, Deadpool, and Diablo had some character development- and each held tremendous (but unrealized) promise.  Killer Croc, Kitana, and Captain Boomerang could have been left out entirely with no loss.  Enchantress was in the middle, and perhaps the most mystifying.