Suicide Squad

"What’s made it to the screen as Suicide Squad could not have happened without Marvel. This DC property has prior super-pics all over it as it strives to achieve similar results. At its core, there’s a Dirty Dozen cannon-fodder mission movie, and a focus on villains that hasn’t been explored elsewhere. Sadly the whiff of Marvel-wannabe desperation means one can just about see the notes in the margins - needs more Guardians of the Galaxy music cues here; funny, tonally inconsistent Deadpool graphics in this bit; Avengers banter, more Avengers banter."

"The year's most muddled piece of storytelling."

"On paper, this could have been the antidote to an increasingly codified strain of comic-book movies, but in the end, it's just another high-attitude version of the same."

"Starts off flavourful, turns rather bland. This Injustice League jaunt proves that DC is still a long way behind Marvel for on-screen action."

"A twisted B-side to some of the slicker comic book movies."

"A so-so, off-peak superhero movie. It chases after the nihilistic swagger of "Deadpool" and the anarchic whimsy of "Guardians of the Galaxy" but trips over its own feet."

"It's a clotted and delirious film, with flashes of preposterous, operatic silliness."

"A concept in search of a story worth telling."

"A puzzlingly confused undertaking that never becomes as cool as it thinks it is, Suicide Squad assembles an all-star team of supervillains and then doesn't know what to do with them."

"Feels like its been micro-managed to within an inch of its life."

"Like Avengers Assemble forced through a Deadpool mangle, Suicide Squad gives new life to DC's big-screen universe. So bad-to-the-bone it's good."