Welcome to The Morning After, where I share with you what movies I’ve seen over the past week. Below, you will find short reviews of those movies along with a star rating. Full length reviews may come at a later date.

So, here is what I watched this past week:

Suicide Squad

If you’ve seen the myriad previews for Suicide Squad, you may have an impression of the film that is entirely unrealistic. Based on a popular series of DC comic books, the film follows a group of villains conscripted to fight against dire threats that conventional methods cannot touch.

The film brings together Will Smith as unparalleled assassin Deadshot, Margot Robbie as unhinged former psychotherapist Harley Quinn, Jai Courtney as Australian bank robber Boomerang, Adewale Akinnuoye-Agbaje as the malformed mutant Killer Croc, Jay Hernandez as pyrotechnic wizard Diablo, and Cara Delevigne as witch-possessed Enchantress, Karen Fukuhara as sword specialist Katana, Adam Beach as poorly-used climber Slipknot, Joel Kinnaman as the military team leader Rick Flag, Jared Leto as legendary psychopath The Joker, and Viola Davis as the bureaucrat responsible for putting the team together Amanda Waller.

Having a large cast in a single film creates numerous challenges for a screenwriter. Giving them sufficient backstory and screen time to merit their inclusion, writer and director David Ayer (End of Watch, Fury) finds a better way to bring the group together than did his predecessor Zack Snyder with the hamfisted litany of introductions in Batman v. Superman: Dawn of Justice. That doesn’t mean they all come off without a hitch.

The film flows decently from one scene to the next, but the overly-familiar soundtrack score is often more of a distraction than an aural aid. The performances are fine, though Leto’s overacting gets in the way and Kinnaman is so mirthless as to be irritating. Smith is the best I’ve seen him in awhile as was Courtney. Hernandez was a solid discovery and, even though she may already be familiar to many audiences from her performances in The Wolf of Wall Street, Robbie is about to see her star skyrocket. Davis is dependable in an underwritten role and Delevigne is solid in a role that is shockingly critical to the film’s success.