Suicide Squad

**Spoiler Alert**

Director: David Ayer/Starring: Margot Robbie, Will Smith, Jared Leto, Viola Davis, Commmon, Jay Hernandez, Adewale Akinnuoye-Agbaje, Cara Delevingne, Jai Courtney, Joel Kinnaman, Adam Beach and Karen Fukuhara

After watching Suicide Squad; director David Ayer's eagerly-awaited (at least in comic-book fandom) super-villain blockbuster, I can't help thinking summer cinema 2016 is one of the worst in the annals of summer movie seasons. I haven't seen one major studio release in May, June, July or August that was worth a dime. When one considers movie-summers past, 2016 is comparatively quite wretched. In the summer of 1980, one had Caddyshack, Airplane!, The Empire Strikes Back, The Shining and The Blues Brothers; all classics in their own right and all major hits. Among the aforementioned cluster, only Lucas' film was a sequel. Very few of the 2016 multiplex offerings have been originals; most cineplex fare have been either franchise installments or reboots. I wish I could say a few jewels stood tall among the leavings but to put it bluntly: everything sucked monumentally.

Along comes Ayer's film and the promise of something a little different. Rather than the standard issue movie with costumed good guys saving the world from total destruction, we have a group of baddies who are coerced into doing the same. It's another comic book movie, to be sure, but at least it proposed a new angle. But although the characters are colorful and fun to watch, they're also stuck in a half-conceived, half-ass story that isn't in much of hurry to go anywhere. In spite of its scant qualities, the movie is really another junk-pile offering and just another product with massive marketing potential.

U.S. government official Amanda Waller (Viola Davis) proposes the formation of a super-villain task force after an evil sorceress from another dimension named the Enchantress, frees herself from government control. Her heart; previously hidden in a temple in Mexico, is subsequently discovered by U.S. agents, thus providing the means by which she is held in check. After the witch manages to return her heart to her own body, she summons her brother, Incubus; a formidably powerful entity whose awesome power also poses a threat to the world. The Enchantress and Incubus set about on an agenda of--what else--world domination. Complicating Waller's mission is the man assigned to lead her band of bad guys; Rick Flag (Joel Kinnman); a Special Forces operative, who is in love with Enchantress' human alter ego, June Moone (Cara Delevingne). Moone, a former archaeologist, uncovered the Enchantress' spirit from a cave during an expedition in Mexico. Moone subsequently became the sorceress' vessel and discovered shortly thereafter she was able to summon the witch at will, before the spirit's aforementioned escape.

The narrative slows long enough for us to meet the so-called bad guys being held in a maximum security prison:

• Deadshot (Will Smith): a former assassin for hire whose marksmanship with a variety of guns is inhumanly accurate at 4,000 yards. Deadshot's weakness is his daughter, who he longs to be with and to whom he must account for his murderous past.

• Harleen Quinzel/Harley Quinn (Margot Robbie): a former psychiatrist, Quinzel fell in love with The Joker during therapy at the Arkham Asylum in Gotham. The Joker transformed Quinzel into the villainess Harley Quinn with shock therapy and a toxic chemical bath, which helped alter her appearance and hair color. She immediately became The Joker's dangerous sidekick and lover.

• Boomerang (Jai Courtney): an Australian bank robber who wields deadly boomerangs (hence the name).
• Killer Croc (Adewale Akinnuoye-Agbaje): a lizard-like brute who, in Waller's words, "evolved backwards."

• Diablo (Jay Hernandez): a repentant former L.A. gangmember with the power to spray lethal jets of flame. Trying to leave his former life behind, Diablo's wife and two children give him some sense of purpose. Atoning for past crimes, Diablo is reluctant to use his power.

Added to the nefarious mix is Rick Flag's bodyguard; a deadly, katana-wielding Japanese woman named Katana, whose sword holds the spirits of those she slays. Joining the group for a brief time on film is Slipknot (Adam Beach); a villain with superior climbing skills. Adding a wrinkle to Waller's plans is the Joker himself, who wants nothing more than to free his lover.

To ensure the squad remains committed to their mission, Waller places an explosive device inside their bodies that can be activated in the event of an attempted escape. For the squad, Waller promises nothing and offers little in the way of compensation.

The movie's pace, which moves unhurriedly toward the showdown with the Enchantress and Incubus, is good and bad. The deliberate pace means we get to know the characters and more about their lives before incarceration but it also means the story plods along. Its torpid pace probably serves the film more effectively because the Suicide Squad itself is much more fun and interesting than the real villains they're assigned to stop.

How the squad interacts with one another and how they respond to Rick Flag's imperious behavior comprise the film's only really entertaining moments. While some of the squad seem misunderstood--Deadshot, Diablo and Killer Croc--the others; Boomerang and Harley Quinn, are hell-bent on mayhem and menacing the public.

The Enchantress sends legions of her faceless (literally) gargoyles to fend off the squad, which they dispatch with little trouble though a boomerang, a baseball bat and guns seem like inadequate weapons against an inter-dimensional being. Nevertheless, the group forges ahead, making their way through a deserted city toward their targets.

The movie's subplot involves the Joker's eventual rescue of Quinn, but his getaway vehicle is destroyed, leaving him dead (presumably). Grief-stricken, Quinn leaves the squad for a spell before returning.

Once we've thoroughly acquainted ourselves with the characters the movie bogs down with its lackluster story line. The big showdown is a dull dud and not very imaginative though the epilogue is quite fun. But by the final credits, I felt bored and eager for the exit.

I liked the concept of evil battling evil but other than Harley Quinn and Deadshot, Waller's bad guys just aren't that amusing or interesting. Nor is the Enchantress, who does little more than sway her hips like a stripper on an altar-like dais; rays of fiery energy emanating from her body. I'm sure Margot Robbie had a lot of fun playing Quinn and she played it well but even her character is under-conceived. I've never been a Will Smith fan but I really enjoyed his performance as Deadshot. Smith found the humor in his role but also a bit of tragedy that made him sympathetic, in spite of his past as an assassin. The character of Diablo could have been developed more but we'll no doubt see him again in future installments. It was painful to see Adam Beach as Slipknot make an early exit, after all; how often do we see a Native American super villain?

I have no natural aversion to super hero movies but one wonders; when will the film industry's fascination with costumed crime fighters--and now costumed villains--end? The answer to that question is simple: when fans stop shelling out dollars for this stuff. With the San Diego Comic-Con's popularity gaining rather than waning, we may never see an end to the genre, or even a moratorium.

Suicide Squad is watchable but not thrilling or bracingly clever. I guess I've learned to be content with splashes of CGI, cool costumes and serviceable plots.

If I'm not mistaken, the film is the last of 2016's mammoth, high-profile, summer blockbusters. It isn't hard to see the squad as the filmmaker's answer to Marvel's Guardians of the Galaxy though it is no match for what was a funny and irreverent film. Now we wait for the more substantial, fall offerings to trickle in, though we still have three more weeks of August. Hollywood, I've seen enough for the summer. Now show me the good stuff.