It’s an odd time to be a fan of genre films.

Now more than ever, the release of a movie is less about the movie itself, and instead focuses on the hype train - an ever growing mixture of footage, stills, and marketing designed to make sure that if nothing else, you, gentle viewer at home, make your way to the cineplex opening weekend.

It has inspired vitriolic fandom for films years out from release, and no more is this apparent than in the fandom surrounding the DC Comics Extended Universe.

Built around two films thus far - with the third being the focus of this review - the DC Comics Extended Universe fan is a die-hard, hard core fan of what is, mostly, just a list of names of properties and dates selected for the future.

It’s this fandom that causes attacks on social media. It’s this fandom that calls for movie-criticism aggregate Rotten Tomatoes to be shut down. (Which I find odd, as isn’t Metacritic a better target? That actually scores movies.) And unfortunately, with Suicide Squad it’s difficult to separate the film from the hype.

But I will do my best with this review to focus strictly on the film, none of the hype.

Since this seems to be the litmus test upon which we’re basing reviews now - a quick clarification of my standing here: I really enjoyed Man of Steel. Thus far, I have yet to see Batman v Superman: Dawn of Justice. I loved Christopher Nolan’s Dark Knight Trilogy, and I would absolutely love it if there were a series of DC Comics films as vital, enjoyable and undeniable as the Marvel Studios run.

And now…onto the actual review.

Suicide Squad is an absolute, unforgivable mess of a film.

I could end it right then and there, and it’d be worth the level of effort, given how little joy the movie gave me, and how little joy it gives me to say that - but I’ll elaborate.

Set in the wake of Batman v Superman (there’s a major spoiler for that film in the beginning here), government agent Amanda Waller (Viola Davis) wants to create a special black-ops group, codenamed Task Force X. This team is made up of nothing but some of the worst of the worst, the most violent and unpredictable of villains. If they succeed on their tasks? Their prison stays each get a little shorter. If they fail? They are killed. Each mission is a suicide mission…hence, Suicide Squad.

That sounds like just a tag line for the movie, but sadly, given the bizarre, paper-thin script (I’m not sure if there’s actually a three-act structure in play here), that could also be the best summary of the plot of the film.

The movie that ensues over the next 123 minutes is a disjointed, poorly edited mess. Sequences don’t seem to play out before you logically, they hit the cool looking beats, and we move on - feeling more like a movie trailer than an actual chronological film. (It makes me wonder if the rumors of the trailer company getting the final edit are true.)

Here’s an example of what I mean. With the most minor of spoilers, here’s how the opening of the movie plays out:

• We are introduced to Deadshot (Will Smith) and Harley Quinn (Margot Robbie) in Jail.
• We are introduced to Amanda Waller, as she makes her case over dinner to a number of government officials to inact the Task Force X project, and in doing so, she introduces our cast of villains (each of whom have “fun" and “wacky" facts shown on screen), including Deadshot and Harley Quinn, who we were already introduced to.
• Amanda Waller then makes her case to inact the Task Force X project to another group of government officials (including those who were in the dinner), and the concept of having a team of villains on a suicide mission is introduced…again.
• We head to the special prison where these baddies are currently being held, and with Col. Rick Flagg (Joel Kinnaman) ready to lead the crew, each baddie is given…an introductory scene where we learn about them and their skills.

HOW MANY TIMES DO WE NEED THE SAME SCENES SERVING THE SAME PURPOSE?

I don’t like to fall to the “raging blogger" stereotype, but within the first thirty minutes alone, I was absolutely frustrated with this movie. Who had final edit? Why did no one try to clear this up? How could a major Hollywood production get released that wastes so much time?

And as the rest of the film plays out, you quickly realize why: the movie - with the exception of an ultimately pointless diversion involving the Joker (Jared Leto) that could’ve been completely excised from the film with no real harm done - is built around one, very lengthy mission. The worst part? The in and outs of the mission aren’t completely explained to the cast - nor us, the audience - meaning action occurs with little to no impact or interest.

Even more insultingly, the big baddie feels like a SparkNotes version of the superhero movie playbook. There’s a glowing macguffin, cgi drones for the heroes to dispatch (in poorly paced action sequences), a big explodey bit in the middle of the city, and a giant special effects heavy to-do at the end. And the effects aren’t even that good, rendering what should be a very cool sequence where two powered-up characters collide looking like a round of Mortal Kombat on the Xbox 360.

The part that is so frustrating? Suicide Squad, with a compedent script, direction and editing, could have been great. Margot Robbie IS Harley Quinn. Questionable design choices aside, she is a fantastic translation of the beloved Batman character. Will Smith does a great job of subverting his blockbuster movie legacy as Deadshot, working well within an ensamble cast, and giving heart to the deadly hitman. Viola Davis is deadly and devilish as the heartless Amanda Waller, and even Jai Courtney is enjoyable to watch as Captain Boomerang. Instead, they’re all wasted, but not as wasted as other characters in the film - one of whom is literally killed off minutes after being introduced.

The much vaunted performance of Jared Leto as the Joker is positively baffling, as he is a secondary interest of the film, and his performance is dull at best. Channeling Jim Carrey doing an impression of James Cagney, this is not going to be going down as a Heath Ledger-like gamechanger. That said, at least he is not as bad as Cara Delevingne as Enchantress, which is possibly the worst performance I’ve ever seen of a major comic book villain, full-stop. If you can justify to me why she’s basically dancing in the last act of the film, you’re a better person than I.

Even the music pissed me off! The wrong lessons were learned from Guardians of the Galaxy, as there are countless needledrops from beloved songs, but absolutely none are relevant to the scene at hand, or become iconic within the movie themselves. They’re obnoxious and call attention to themselves.

I’d love to say that what Marvel Studios is doing is easy, but with every installment of the DC Extended Universe, we learn how difficult it is.

Suicide Squad is the best example yet of how Warner Bros has no idea what to do with its wonderful library of superhero characters. The movie is just plain bad. In no way, shape, or form should families be seeing this together (the movie is very dark, sexual, and nihilistic), and worst of all? It has made me dread future films. There are two major superhero cameos in this movie, and as opposed to in the Marvel films, where I get excited to see these characters and how they’ll interact, I was just bummed that more was to come.

In a summer of movies that have dissapointed, Suicide Squad might be the boldest spit in the face from a major studio this year.

Don’t even bother.

Suicide Squad is in theaters now. I recommend something else.