Over a month has passed since its release, and time has told that the supposed “blockbuster of the summer”, otherwise known as Suicide Squad, has successfully found the line between pure likability and utter entertainment catastrophe. With plot holes, lack of character development, and a stressed tone, it goes without saying that there is a lot wrong with Suicide Squad’s final product. However, while its flaws are indisputable, the film somehow manages to maintain a strong presence at the precipice of actually being a good movie.

The film starts out with Amanda Waller, a villainous military general played by Viola Davis, at a table having an important conversation with ranked military officials about global security. With the possibility of other, more unfriendly “Supermen” coming to earth, Waller proposes putting together a team of misfit supervillains capable of dealing with such a threat. She then goes on to give a description of each of the candidates she’s been monitoring. The film then goes through a montage of the characters and their abilities.

This montage is one of the few stand out scenes of the movie. From Deadshot’s precision, to Killer Croc’s ferocity, the film does a good job of introducing each character. But, sadly, from then on, character progression is very much halted. Other than Deadshot and Harley Quinn, Squad doesn’t dive much deeper into any of the other characters’ backgrounds, motivations, or personalities. Granted, there are quite a few iconic heads from the DC universe that the film’s directors and writers have to juggle and balance. But when there’s nine characters, including the joker, and focus is only placed on two of those characters, then something is very wrong in the writing. Speaking of the Joker, Jared Leto’s take on the infamous clown was, in a word, underwhelming.

As for the plot, well… to be blunt, there isn’t much of one. The antagonist has little reason to be in the film except for to be someone that the heroes (villains) can be pitted up against, resulting in the bulk of the story riding on the shoulders of the characters. But with such a lack of character progression and chemistry, this “Deadpool” type approach to the story doesn’t work well with Squad’s narrative. The movie constantly feels forced in its dialogue, and in many cases, out of place. This, along with it not being particularly funny, is recipe for disaster. But, for whatever reason(s), Squad doesn’t turn out that way.

The first of these reasons is willpower. Squad has some serious power of will. Will as in, Will Smith. The epic scale of coolness captured by Smith in his portrayal of Deadshot is very satisfying. His performance outshines the entire cast, including Margot Robbie’s Harley Quinn.

The other reason(s)? Well there’s the… or the… and the… honestly, I don’t know. But for whatever reason, when I left the theatre I didn’t dislike Squad like I thought I would. I didn’t “like” it per say, but I definitely didn’t dislike it the way thought I would.

Suicide squad is a movie constantly striving to be something it’s not. And yet, while it doesn’t succeed to achieve its goal, it doesn’t fail at it either.  While the film does have a plethora of plot holes, a lack of character development, a stressed tone, and so on, (and on) there is still something the movie has to offer that keeps it afloat. Our suggestion to you is to go and watch it for yourself. Because while we aren’t giving it the best rating, it might be something you’ll like.

The Web gives Suicide Squad a 5/10.