Suicide Squad (2016)

SUICIDE SQUAD  (2016)  ¢ ¢ ¢ 1/2
    D: David Ayer
    Will Smith, Margot Robbie, Joel Kinnamon, 
    Cara Delevingne, Viola Davis, Jared Leto,
    Jay Hernandez, Jai Courtney, Common,
    Adewala Akinnuoye-Agbaje, Adam Beach
This is like the "Dirty Dozen" of superhero action movies, in which a bunch of low-life miscreants with exceptional powers are recruited from a maximum-security lockup to save the world or die trying and, mission accomplished or not, they're almost certainly going to die. The roster includes Deadshot (Will Smith), an assassin for hire who can fire any weapon at any target and never miss. Harley Quinn (Margot Robbie), a wack job in a punk schoolgirl outfit whose favorite lethal toy is a baseball bat. Diablo (Jay Hernandez), a fire-dealing pacifist who can incinerate everything within a quarter-mile, but only when he feels motivated. Katana (Karen Fukuhara), a ninja chick with a samurai sword. Boomerang (Jai Courtney), an Australian thug whose weapon of choice you can probably guess. And Killer Croc (Adewala Akinnuoye-Agbaje), who's, like, a crocodile man. Each of them has a back story and a theme song, but only Deadshot and Harley Quinn feel like fully developed characters. The movie's got energy, though, and a downbeat, nothing-to-lose fatalism that goes with the inescapable fact that no matter what they achieve, individually or collectively, they're all screwed and they know it. It looks like a castoff sequel to "Batman v Superman" (which I managed to miss), and a transparent setup for a future Batman/Suicide Squad movie. Ben Affleck even makes a cameo appearance as Batman, who's not the most charismatic superhero to begin with, but Ben Affleck? Jeez. With fantasy heroes and villains shifting roles anyway, maybe it's time to put the Caped Crusader on ice, let Harley Quinn and Deadshot take over, and be done with it.