Suicide Squad Review: 3 Ups And 7 Downs

Downs:

7. The Excessive Use Of Pop Music Just Doesn't Work

At first I thought the music of Suicide Squad was going to be a bonafide Up. Like the trailers, the film has lots of different pop songs, with one track or another playing constantly in the first act, getting you toe-tapping and giving the film a strong tonal grounding.

However, the approach is wholly noncommittal, incredibly basic and winds up irritating after twenty minutes. Amanda Waller is introduced to Sympathy For The Devil (which was oddly also in Focus, the last film with Will Smith and Margot Robbie), because she's the bad guy, geddit? Then, as the team heads to Midway City, Spirit In The Sky plays in almost wilful ignorance that it was Guardians Of The Galaxy that re-popularised retro soundtracks in the first place. As it wears on the choices are even more obvious, and the whole trick is eventually dropped for more generic scoring,

The overall effect isn't one of entertainment, but simply the impression that David Ayer's listened to some classic songs and become so obsessed with them he just had to put them in the movie.