LOS ANGELES: This image released by Warner Bros. Pictures shows, from left, Jai Courtney as Boomerang, Margot Robbie as Harley Quinn, Will Smith as Deadshot, Karen Fukuhara as Katana, Joel Kinnaman as Rick Flag, Adewale Akinnuoye-Agbaje as Killer Croc and Jay Hernandez as Diablo, in a scene from “Suicide Squad.” — AP

It's been 8 years since 'Iron Man' and 'The Dark Knight' graced our cinema screens and brought the Summer Movie Season into a new era of Superhero/Comic-book blockbuster films. After almost a decade of being bombarded by Superhero flicks, it's relatively easy to have a certain amount of expectations when going to watch one. If you are a casual movie-goer, you'll be expecting some great action sequences, larger-than-life characters and a bit of social commentary thrown in to make it feel less like mindless entertainment. Hardcore fans on the other hand simply want to see these characters and stories stay true to themselves in some way or the other. So how does the latest 'Suicide Squad' hold up by twisting the narrative to focus on the villains for a change? The only thing that comes to mind is garbage. It was simply atrocious, confusing, cringe-inducing and at times painful garbage.

What happened here?

The concept, the setting and the characters were ripe for something truly unique. A film about a crooked Intelligence officer duping the government to let her control and use some of the country's most dangerous villains is a 'Dirty Dozen' style of plot hard to not get interested in. Throw in the fact that it's also a direct continuation of 'Batman Vs Superman' where (SPOILER ALERT) the world is reeling from the death of Superman along with minor appearances from Batman and a brand new Joker. It's a really interesting setting but what ends up on screen is a confused, mishandled mess that reeks of studio interference.

The film begins quite well. We are first introduced to Amanda Waller, a stone-cold intelligence operative who is eager to get the Army to approve her hand-picked team of criminals that would be tasked in 'protecting the country in future wars'. We never find out what those 'wars' refer to and much like the rest of the film's dialogue, it feels thrown at the audience and quickly forgotten. She narrates the introductions to our 'Suicide Squad'. Deadshot, the world's greatest hit-man; El Diablo, a Mexican gang-runner who can control fire; Captain Boomerang, an Australian super-thief; Killer Croc, a monster that kind of looks like a half-man half-crocodile and the deranged lunatic Harley Quinn. There's also an archaeologist who gets possessed by an Ancient God and high-ranking Army Commander Rick Flag who has the power of being an All American Army man.

These intros are done in the stylized, neon-blazed colors that makes up the crux of this movie's marketing. But just like the film's dialogue, it feels thrown at the audience and quickly forgotten. We see how the squad got sent to the highest-security prison in the country and the life they are facing in jail. But when a super-human entity starts attacking the fictional 'Midday City' (yes that's the name), the army immediately approves the use of these criminals and tasks Waller to lead them into dealing with the threat. And here's where the movie starts quickly collapsing upon itself and leaves the audience with one confusing question - why send these particular individuals at all? They don't have to kill a single target (Deadshot's speciality), infiltrate a highly secure location (Captain Boomerang) or burn everything in a targeted area (El Diablo).They most definitely don't need Killer Croc or Harley Quinn to do whatever it is they do.

None of these problems are addressed or even brought up. When your films entire premise is clearly flawed, forced and down-right idiotic - you start asking yourself what the entire point of this movie is. Unfortunately for everyone involved the answer to that question is a big, fat nothing. There is no point. No symbolic look at the inherent goodness in even the worst of criminals or a jab at the self-righteousness of our government powers. There are miniscule lines of actual character development but they feel so absolutely inconsequential that there is no point in bringing them up.

What about the action you say. You might just want to watch the film to see how the action hold-ups or to see Jared Leto's performance as the iconic Joker. To put it bluntly, both were terrible. When it comes to the action it's hard to expect much in truth. These characters aren't Spider-Man or Wonder Woman. The most they can do is shoot guns really well or swing a baseball bat in Harley's case. Captain Boomerang is really good at throwing Boomerangs and if you're eager to see some bursts of CGI boomerang action then you'll love the action scenes. Deadshot does have one really cool scene of him shooting stuff and at one point El Diablo becomes a massive Fire-demon. But other than that, the action is boring and flat. It would have been exciting if we actually got a chance to care about any of these characters, just like in every good action movie!

Jared Leto as the Joker is simply a Hollywood con-job. Everything from the trailers, the posters and the pre-release interviews teased at a unique, new take on the character. What we end up getting is a poor imitation of Heath Ledger from 'The Dark Knight'. His character appears in both flashbacks and the main-story but apart from setting up Harley Quinn's character, his role is as useless as nipples on the Bat-Suit. You know it's there, you can't take your eyes of it and now the film has the live with this embarrassment until someone edits it out. Behind all the shiny apparel and ludicrous make-up, you cannot for one second envision this Joker has Batman's arch-nemesis. He might appeal to some movie-goers but I cannot imagine fans of the character approving this version.

Ultimately I feel the film will be polarising much like Batman Vs Superman was. But at least that film had a semblance of actual story and was confident in the direction of its characters. In most films, one can argue its merits and like all art it will find its niche crowd and fans. I can't seem to do that for 'Suicide Squad'. Some might find the film entertaining in between all its flaws and horrendous dialogue. Some might like the choice of music which feels ripped from a teenager's iPod from the year 2004 and some might actually like the card-board representations of these characters that might act and look their comic-book counterparts. For me, the film has a whole felt like the dialogue - thrown at the audience and then quickly forgotten.

By Aakash Bakaya