‘Suicide Squad’ misses on most levels

What It's About: Take Gotham City's super-villains, please.

Seriously, among the myriad of problems in "Suicide Squad," the hurdle that one can't get past is that these are the bad guys we have despised since Batman first entered our pop culture consciousness.

So, now we're supposed to root for them as Task Force X, a secret government mission enlisting the help of these psychotic, sadistic and violent criminals, who have been sprung from their dungeon-like prisons.

The motley crew is assassin Deadshot (Will Smith), beastly beauty Harley Quinn (Margot Robbie), scaly-mutant Killer Croc (Adewale Akinnuoye Agbaje), pyromaniac El Diablo (Jay Hernandez), bandit Boomerang (Jai Courtney), and sword-wielding Katana (Karen Fukuhara). The slick green-haired Joker (Jared Leto) is a thug creating mayhem, always trying to hook up with his girlfriend Harley.

They must stop a demon sorceress, The Enchantress (Carla Delevingne), from destroying the world. But this threat is a ridiculously over-the-top and underwhelming device — just an excuse to blow up things and use big-budget special effects, a murky and uninvolving aspect.

Taken from the DC Comic Books that are popular, this mind-numbing movie is an aural assault on our senses — noise disguised as plot, with a distracting and loud classic rock soundtrack. (The over-used "Sympathy for the Devil" and "Gimme Shelter" of course.)

Performances: Margot Robbie ("The Wolf of Wall Street") demonstrates that she can ramp up the crazy as The Joker's paramour, but Jared Leto ("Dallas Buyers Club") is a major disappointment as Batman's biggest foe. He's not going to make you soon forget Heath Ledger, Jack Nicholson, or Cesar Romero, for that matter. His scenes are choppy, hazy and add nothing.

The team's character development is sorely lacking, and the fringe characters really don't add anything to the overlong and vexing story.

Will Smith's character doesn't seem to fit in with the rest, but he's fine in his anti-hero turn.

Viola Davis ("The Help") is tough Amanda Waller, the bureaucrat in charge with secrets of her own, while Joel Kinnaman ("Run All Night") plays a special ops guy trying to rein in the kooks.

Ben Affleck ("Batman vs. Superman") has a few good scenes as Batman, whetting our appetite for more.

What Works: The origins segment in the beginning does a nice job of explaining who's who.

What Doesn't Work: Director David Ayer ("Fury") substitutes bombast for a story that can engage us. Instead, we're observers to bedlam, and it is wearisome. Unlike "The Dark Knight," it's hard to care about any of these characters.

Was "Suicide Squad" intended to be this chaotic of a madhouse? The blockbuster fantasy is another example of a comic-book franchise setting up their next big tentpole, The Justice League.

This story was originally published August 4, 2016 at 1:17 PM with the headline "‘Suicide Squad’ misses on most levels."