Suicide Squad Review: 3 Ups And 7 Downs

1. The Squad Members Are Intriguing (Independently)

For the past few months there's been a lot of talk of spin-offs from the film that'll take a closer look at individual members of Task Force X. It sounded a great idea at the time and, while this film's ultimate failure sullies that notion a bit, there's enough interesting about the various characters to still make it an interesting possibility.

Individually, the characterisations of the Squad work well, especially those in more supporting roles, Killer Croc and Captain Boomerang especially. Whereas the main group can get stuck in the purgatory between lead and secondary, these guys have the freedom to just relish in their parts unencumbered. Jai Courtney's hammy as hell as the fool-ish Boomerang, but even though it's a bit obvious he's a fun (and funny) enough presence. Likewise, Adewale Akinnuoye-Agbaje goes all in for Croc, owning the hunched demeanor, brutish movement and snarling delivery (which makes it a shame not given more to do).

The others are a mixed bag, which is down to "The Will Smith Effect"; trying to make these characters more relatable than they have any reason to be. The actors all put in a fair show (Margot Robbie's Harley Quinn is nicely unpredictable, although the accent is a bit iffy and pre-transformation is a caricature), but they're somewhat hampered by having to be interchangeably despicable and lovely with very basic arcs.