Suicide Squad Review: 3 Ups And 7 Downs

4. The Team Never Feels Like A Team (Until They Just Say They Are)

For all that does work in the team's constituent elements, the ensemble never really gels. There's no believable chemistry between them, which is fine when you consider these guys are criminals forced here against their will, but as things shift in the third act and they're all pals helping each other out (El Diablo even describes the gang, who he's known for two days, as "family"), it feels wholly disingenuous.

There's two essential storytelling mistakes that lead to this. One is that the moments of interplay that establish the potential of a team-up are few and far between, so there's no real chance to see relationships develop; any exchanges are usually a couple of lines at the end of an action beat quickly shared between just two of the characters. You then have how they integrate once they have taken up a sense of honour; there's no synergy - Boomerang might as well not be there - so it's scrappy, and not in a plucky sense.

It really burns in the second act, where the group is suddenly all about working cohesively, rather than out for themselves, yet without the justification of having the final threat to deal with.