The Suicide Squad

Not to be confused with Suicide Squad (sans The) from 5 years ago, but in the same world. A group of violent criminals is offered the option to go on an important mission in exchange for taking time off their sentence. The mission is impossible (they will likely die) and if they choose not to do it, the explosive implanted in their brain will be triggered. With this premise, I can imagine some super gritty, interesting machinations for a group of highly talented sociopaths. But that is not what we get here. Instead, this is cheeky banter, over the top characters, and absurd scenarios. So much so that I was not engaged and actually disinterested for most of it. As much as Margot Robbie and Idris Elba have to offer, they could not save this movie from itself. For insight into my thinking, the best part of the movie was when the giant starfish started walking across the city. The first few steps were each leg in succession stepping down (like a wheel rotating) emphasizing that there was not a "top" to this creature. I thought (because I had spare brain cycles) that it was a clever way to have this creature walk. But then after a few steps, the thing started just walking on two legs, with two functioning as arms and one as a head. So regular.

2 stars (out of 5)