Suicide Squad (2016)

Margot Robbie saves this film. Not partially, not in patches. She saves it completely, repeatedly, and almost single-handedly. Every time Suicide Squad threatens to collapse under the weight of its own mess, she bounces back into frame as Harley Quinn and you remember why you bothered buying a ticket. She doesn't just play the character, she is Harley: chaotic, vulnerable, darkly comic, and utterly compelling in a way that feels effortless even when you can tell the film around her is straining. That's a rare, remarkable thing.

The rest of it, though. The rest of it is a genuine struggle.

The premise has real potential. A ragtag bunch of DC villains dragged into a black-ops mission they didn't volunteer for, forced to work together under threat of death. There's something genuinely fun buried in that idea, and you can occasionally glimpse it. But what ended up on screen bears all the hallmarks of a film pulled apart and reassembled in post-production, reshaped by committee after the darker cut apparently didn't test the way the studio hoped. The pacing lurches. The tone shifts violently from scene to scene. One minute it's reaching for the irreverent, poppy energy of Mad Max: Fury Road without any of that film's iron-willed direction, the next it's plodding through grim DC murk like it forgot it was meant to be having fun.

Will Smith, a genuinely charismatic screen presence and someone I've enjoyed watching go back years, feels stranded here as Deadshot. He's likeable enough, but the script can't decide whether he's the emotional anchor or the comic relief, and so he ends up being neither with any conviction. And then there's Jared Leto's Joker, who I'd actually argue deserves a bit more credit than he typically gets. He's divisive, absolutely, and the character is sidelined to the point of irrelevance by the plot. But there's a wiry, unpredictable menace to what Leto does that at least feels like a genuine creative choice, even if the material gives him nothing to work with beyond purple-lit brooding and a lot of posturing.

The villain of the piece, Enchantress, is where things fall apart most visibly. She's a CGI construction rather than a character, gyrating through the third act while the squad we're meant to care about punch faceless goons in what are supposed to be thrilling action sequences. They're not thrilling. They're weightless and repetitive, and no amount of needle drops or neon graffiti aesthetics can manufacture the personality the film so desperately wants.

What frustrates me most is that the squad chemistry, the whole point of this kind of ensemble piece, rarely gels. You get flickers of it. A moment here or there. But it never builds into something you can lean into, because the film keeps interrupting itself, reshuffling its priorities, and mistaking a killer soundtrack cue for genuine character work.

Two and a half stars, and both of those halves belong almost entirely to Robbie. Watch it for Harley Quinn, genuinely one of the better comic book character introductions of recent memory, and be prepared to endure the rest. It's not without pleasure, but it's a deeply flawed, tonally confused thing that feels less like a directed film and more like something that was negotiated into existence. The ambition was there. The follow-through wasn't.

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

View on Letterboxd →

Where to watch

Watch in the UK
Stream: Netflix · HBO Max Amazon Channel · Now TV Cinema · Netflix Standard with Ads
Rent: Apple TV Store · Rakuten TV · Amazon Video · Google Play Movies
Buy: Apple TV Store · Rakuten TV · Amazon Video · Google Play Movies
Physical: Amazon UK · Zavvi

Watch in the US
Stream: HBO Max Amazon Channel · HBO Max
Rent: Amazon Video · Apple TV Store · Google Play Movies · YouTube
Buy: Amazon Video · Apple TV Store · Google Play Movies · YouTube
Physical: Amazon US

Affiliate disclosure: Movies With Macca may earn a small commission on purchases or subscriptions started via these links. It costs you nothing extra.

Related on Movies With Macca

More with Will Smith: Shark Tale (2004) · I Am Legend (2007) · Men in Black 3 (2012) · Men in Black II (2002)
More from the 2010s: Wonder (2017) · Beautiful Boy (2018) · The Witch (2015) · What We Do in the Shadows (2014)
More action: A Better Tomorrow (1986) · The General (1926) · Hand of Death (1976) · Daredevil (2003)
More adventure: Alice in Wonderland (1951) · The Eagle (1925) · Louisiana Story (1948) · The General (1926)