For the first time in DC Comics history, the infamous Harley Quinn made her cinematic debut in “Suicide Squad”, the latest movie in the DC Extended Universe (DCEU) of films. Taking a twist on the superhero genre, it centers on a group of villains who are forced against their will to come together and conduct missions to protect the United States. It was the fourth best movie of the summer, making $300 million in North America, even though it had been released in August. Despite its popularity, critics gave the movie horrible reviews. Although the movie had its issues, “Suicide Squad” does not deserve its 26 percent rating on Rotten Tomatoes. It had trouble maintaining a linear storyline, but its humor and character development deserves to be praised.

The film has something for everyone, whether it is action, romance, or comedy. After the release of “Batman v Superman” (BvS), fans and critics alike were displeased with how serious the movie was. There was no humor and the movie itself was just bad. Fans became worried that the DCEU would not be what they had hoped for, so Warner Bros. took the hint and tried to redeem themselves with “Suicide Squad,” and they partially succeeded. The movie has some funny moments and some moments where the joke falls flat. Nevertheless, it is significantly lighter than BvS, which is a plus in itself, meaning that they actually tried this time. Harley Quinn was the source of most of the movie’s humor, making her transition from comics onto the big screen flawless. Much like Wonder Woman in BvS, Harley stole the show. Her outfits, personality and lines make the bad parts of the movie amazingly bearable.

The action scenes were captivating and even included a Batman cameo, however the romance fell short. Jared Leto’s version of the Joker makes everyone feel uncomfortable. Unlike past cinematic versions of the Joker, Leto fails to convince the audience that he is the Joker. It feels like the Joker character is a wannabe gangster, not the Clown Prince of Crime.

There was also some controversy regarding the depiction of the Joker’s relationship with Harley Quinn. In the comics, which are the source materials for the movie, their relationship has been proven to be abusive and Harley leaves him to be on her own. In the movie, however, any sign of abuse is erased. Perhaps this was done to market their relationship to attract different types of viewers, but who knows? Hundreds of minutes of scenes were cut from “Suicide Squad”, so no one will really know what the filmmaker David Ayer wanted to depict until a DVD is released. Hopefully in time, cinematic Harley will realize how horrible the Joker is and leave him, which would make for a wonderful storyline to be depicted in a movie.

The reason for the movie’s nonlinear and convoluted plot is because Ayer spends a long time establishing the characters’ backstories through flashbacks and monologues. Although this is good for character development reasons, too much of anything is simply too much. The audience does get to know the characters well, but it makes the plot confusing because it switches from the past to the present too much; any regular moviegoer who has not read the comics would have no idea what was going on.

“Suicide Squad” was supposed to be DC’s “Guardians of the Galaxy” (GotG), but they only achieved in making a pale imitation. However, much like GotG, the soundtrack of “Suicide Squad” was very well curated and is one of the highlights of the movie. The most popular song off the album,“Heathens” by Twenty One Pilots, perfectly sums up all of the characters in the movie and why they do what they do.

Bottom line, the movie was good, but it was not the best. The main reason that anyone should go watch “Suicide Squad” is because of Harley Quinn; she makes up for the movie’s faults. Now that DC is starting to get a hang of making movies, the DCEU is sure to become a rich playground for comic book storytelling.