Suicide Squad is fun but so much less than it could have been

I walked into the theater as I always do:  hoping to enjoy the movie I was about to see.  I want to give myself to the film, embrace it, and walk out happy to have seen it.

Over two and a half hours later--we had a fire alarm about two-thirds of the way into the movie--I left generally glad I'd seen the movie but, as is so common these days, nowhere near entirely happy.

A lot works in the film.  Will Smith and Margot Robbie deliver wonderful performances and continue to have great on-screen chemistry.  Viola Davis is appropriately scary.  Jay Hernandez made me want to check out more of his work.  The special effects were generally solid.  The soundtrack was awesome.  The pacing was appropriate.

The big weakness of the movie is its story.  As with so many films, you simply cannot think twice about any significant plot point.  For reasons that baffle me, Hollywood continues to be unwilling to deliver strong, coherent stories in most of its action films.  These movies could be so very much more memorable and engaging with better stories.

I've put off Jared Leto's Joker because he was decidedly meh for most of the movie.  I didn't hate him, I didn't love him, I just didn't care enough about him.  Following Heath Ledger is a very tall order indeed, but rather than embrace something completely different, Leto seemed to be trying to walk a line between adhering to Ledger's vision and making the character entirely his own.

If the trailers made you want to see Suicide Squad, go; you'll have a decent enough time.  If the trailers bored you, though, or put you off, skip it.  I'm glad I went, but not as glad as I'd hoped to be.