Suicide Squad (2016)

When Warner Bros. and DC Films announced Suicide Squad in 2014, the project generated a particular kind of excitement, the promise of something genuinely different within the superhero landscape. Rather than another origin story built around a noble protagonist, this was a film centred on convicted supervillains, pressed into government service for black-ops missions in exchange for reduced sentences. The concept had been kicking around DC Comics since the late 1950s, though the modern iteration most people recognise was shaped largely by writer John Ostrander's run beginning in 1987. On paper, at least, it offered something a bit more morally ambiguous and unpredictable than the competition.

David Ayer, the writer and director behind End of Watch and Fury, was brought on to helm the project for Warner Bros. and RatPac Entertainment. Ayer is a filmmaker with a genuine affinity for gritty ensemble pieces and characters operating in grey areas, which made him a reasonable choice on the surface. The production, however, became something of a cautionary tale about the pressures of big-studio franchise filmmaking. Reports of extensive reshoots and editorial interference circulated widely, and the finished film that arrived in cinemas in August 2016, running at 122 minutes, bore clear signs of a complicated journey to the screen. The marketing campaign, which leaned heavily on a jukebox soundtrack and vivid neon aesthetics, created expectations the film itself would struggle to meet. It's worth noting that Suicide Squad arrived during a period when DC Films was working hard to establish its own cinematic universe, and the pressure to deliver something crowd-pleasing coloured virtually every decision made around the picture.

The cast assembled here is, on paper, genuinely impressive. Will Smith, no stranger to carrying big-budget action fare (as anyone who has read my thoughts on I Am Legend or Men in Black 3 will know), takes on Floyd Lawton, the expert marksman known as Deadshot. Margot Robbie, then still a relatively fresh face in Hollywood productions of this scale, plays Harley Quinn, the Joker's unhinged, acrobatic accomplice. Jared Leto fills the role of the Joker himself, following in the considerable shadow of Heath Ledger's celebrated portrayal. Viola Davis brings her considerable screen authority to Amanda Waller, the government operative who assembles the squad, and Joel Kinnaman plays Rick Flag, the military handler tasked with keeping them in line. It is a polished but, in several respects, unremarkable ensemble, in the sense that the material doesn't always give each of them equal room to breathe.

Suicide Squad (2016) is a film held together almost entirely by Margot Robbie's magnetic, scene-stealing turn as Harley Quinn. She doesn't just play the character, she is Harley: chaotic, vulnerable, darkly comic, and utterly compelling. Without her anarchic charm and genuine pathos, this would be a far more forgettable affair. Jared Leto's Joker, meanwhile, deserves a reappraisal, he's certainly divisive, but there's a wiry, unpredictable menace to his performance that fits the character's mythos, even if the script gives him little to do beyond posturing and purple-lit brooding. Beyond Robbie, however, the film unravels quickly. The plot (a ragtag team of villains forced into black-ops missions) is undermined by studio-mandated reshoots that leave the pacing choppy and the tone wildly inconsistent. One moment it's trying to be Guardians of the Galaxy, the next a grim DC slog, with Will Smith's Deadshot caught awkwardly between. The villain Enchantress is a CGI afterthought, the action sequences feel weightless, and the much-hyped squad chemistry rarely gels. It's a film that mistakes needle drops and graffiti aesthetics for personality. A deeply flawed, tonally confused mess that survives solely on Robbie's brilliance. She carries it hard, but even she can't salvage a film that feels less directed than assembled in committee. Watch for Harley; endure the rest.

I'll admit, coming away from this one, it's Robbie who stays with me longest, and that says something both about her and about the film's fundamental problems. When a single performance is doing that much heavy lifting, you're watching something that should have been so much more. For all the visual noise and the needle-drop swagger, there's a hollow feeling at the centre of it that no amount of graffiti fonts can disguise. If you're after an action film from around this era that actually earns its style, I'd point you toward my write-up of Mad Max: Fury Road, a film that manages tone and momentum in ways Suicide Squad can only gesture at. Robbie's Harley deserved better. They all did, really.

Rating: ★★½  | Year: 2016  | Watched: 2026-04-01

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Trailer

▶ Watch the official trailer for Suicide Squad (2016) on YouTube

Where to watch

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