Suicide Squad: Hell To Pay Review - 7 Ups & 3 Downs

Downs

3. The Totally Pointless Subplots

Though it's a frequent complaint that Warner Bros' DC animated films are too short and insubstantial, Hell to Pay's bloated narrative, clocking in at around 10 minutes longer than a typical Warner Bros. Animation movie, is a testament to the virtue of restraint.

While the core plot, of Amanda Waller (Vanessa Williams) forcing the Suicide Squad to hunt down a Get Out Of Hell Card (yes, really) probably should've been substantial enough to see the movie through, it's instead padded out with numerous subplots that just weigh down an otherwise rock solid film.

The most egregious divergence sees the Squad visit Maxum Steel (Greg Grunberg), a metahuman-turned-stripper who gives the Squad another breadcrumb to follow on their mission, but eats up almost 15 minutes of screen time with his backstory before being suddenly kicked to the curb.

There are also a few scenes devoted to Deadshot (Christian Slater) trying to track down his estranged daughter, but they mostly feel like an arbitrary addition rather than a sincere attempt to flesh his character out.