Suicide Squad Review: 3 Ups And 7 Downs

2. There's Nice Moments Of Flashy Style

David Ayer is a director known for his distinct, gritty style, and the trailers for Suicide Squad suggested that would be present and correct with a slight infusion of comic book neon here. In the film itself, however, things are much less exciting, although that doesn't mean none of the style makes it through.

The opening of the film sees Amanda Waller pitching Task Force X by introducing us to each member of the Squad, providing little vignettes of the inmates' origins, complete with low-down stats cards that set-up a few chucklesome in-jokes later on (Boomerang's secret fetish is Pink Unicorns). It's a rather jarring idea and feels somewhat like a run of character trailers, but there's something intriguingly bonkers about it, with a frantic coverage and bright, dream-like visuals that promise an interesting film.

At points the film delivers on that promise, like when the music is treated with respect and used to actually guide the edit, or the delightfully crass sexual references lead to completely out of place jokes. Those parts are sadly few and far between, and aren't prominent enough to influence the overall feel of the movie, but there's good stuff hidden in there (to begin with at least - I'll get to that in Downs).