The best and the worst thing about THE SUICIDE SQUAD is that writer-director James Gunn was given complete creative freedom by Warner Bros. On the one hand you have fun character interplay and dues given to compelling, previously Z-List comic characters (particularly Daniela Melchior’s Ratcatcher 2 and David Dastmalchian’s Polka-Dot Man). On the other you have a fairly unwieldy film with an over-stuffed and circuitous middle section and more than a few sequences that feel like they’ve been made ultraviolet or nasty for the sake of provoking a reaction (particularly those involving John Cena’s Peacemaker). While not everything lands and it could probably do with a tighter edit and sense of purpose, this is unashamedly comic-booky entertainment and Gunn still brings mischief, heart and some batshit (maybe that should be ratshit?) imagery to bear. SSP