“All my friends are heathens take it slow.  Wait for them to ask you who you know.  Please don’t make any sudden moves.  You don’t know the half of the abuse” – Heathens by Twenty One Pilots (Suicide Squad soundtrack).

Yeah, those lyrics right about sum up this ragtag crew of misfits, weirdos, throwaways and just plain crazy folk.  In fact, the entire soundtrack is a veritable ode to each of the characters.  This film gets the job done.  And by that I mean it’s a perfectly enjoyable action ride at the cinemaplex.  What it’s not, is a fantasticly amazing, story intertwined, bridging of all things in the DC Universe.  And that’s ok, it doesn’t need to be.  I think there’s way too much pressure on comic book film-makers to not just make a good movie, which this is, but somehow weave magic into the story lines and forcibly captivate us into selling our young to get tickets to the next cross over or installment.  How about just a fun and enjoyable ride?  Suicide Squad is that.  B-

Suicide Squad follows Federal agent Amanda Waller (Viola Davis) as she forms a team of villainous anti-heroes akin to some sort of Marvel Avengers type team that can be deployed when, and if, any alien force comes knocking inside the good old US of A.   Luckily for her, one is right around the corner.  Enter our team, a very well cast (albeit some severely underutilized) crew including the insanely boody-ful and gorgeous, yet bat-sh*t crazy Harley Quinn (Margot Robbie).  Deadshot (Will Smith), a marksman and hired assassin with the tools and technology to get the job done, even if he can’t see you.  Diablo (Jay Hernandez), who commands fire at will.  And a brooding favorite I liked, Killer Croc (Adewale Akinnuoye-Agbaje or as I know him, Adabisi! from HBO’s Oz).  And let’s not forget our bad guy here – the mighty Joker (Jared Leto).  He was totally decent, but he did not transcend in the way his predecessors did.  That’s ok, who says he had to?  His take was nice, but I feel like he was limited by the script, not his acting range.   Oddly, the Joker is not the nemesis here, it’s a force that we somehow unleashed ourselves in the form of The Enchantress (Cara Delvigne).  Half archaeologist, half witch from the time before time, she unleashes holy hell in the form of her missing god-like (and sized) brother.  Together they hash a plan to build a machine to enslave mankind (yeah, I know original).  Well whose gonna stop them?  You guessed it, Amanda and her Suicide Squad.  All criminals, who if they fail, can take the fall for any collateral damage, or worse – be killed by a government planted grenade in their bodies.  Plot spoiler, the crew stops them.

The difference makers here are the film soundtrack, which includes the redux of ‘You Don’t Own Me’ by the late Lesley Gore (this time sang by pop star Grace), and Viola Davis’ spin as Amanda.  You always knew Davis could play a dark personality from her TV stint on ‘How To Get Away With Murder,’ but this time she gets to come off the chain.  I loved her!  Fierce, mortifying, conniving, and apparently helicopter resilient, she was fun to watch.  If you want a good night at the cinemaplex and dig action, go check it out.  If you need an immersive story line that connects and crosses all things DC comics, you might want to lower your expectations.  B-