The newest film from the DC Extended Universe, “Suicide Squad,” is out to prove what the first ever super villain team-up movie can offer! So far, the DCEU has faced a less-than-stellar line up with 2013’s “Man of Steel” getting mixed reactions and this year’s “Batman v Superman: Dawn of Justice” receiving even harsher reviews.

So, “Suicide Squad” was not only highly anticipated because of its talented cast but also because of the announcement that director David Ayer (“Training Day,” “End of Watch,” “Fury”) was taking on the project and seemed to be taking a more colorful and fun-filled approach than previous DCEU director Zack Snyder, who had been criticized for lacking. Now that the film is here, will it be the change to the franchise that fans have been waiting for?

The film follows a band of imprisoned, insane criminals with a host of special abilities who all have been called by the government to take on a new threat in the form of a witch named Enchantress (Cara Delevingne), who is creating an army out of normal citizens. The unpredictable criminals must work together to take her down while trying to make off with their own agendas for freedom.

Starting with the pros: The cast is nearly pitch perfect. Will Smith as Deadshot and Margot Robbie as Harley Quinn are the true highlights here, bringing loads of charisma to their roles. Deadshot is given motives that make his character feel quite human and rather grounded, yet Smith is able to balance it with a witty and hilarious personality at the same time. Harley Quinn is crazy, funny and also has an interesting backstory. Even though it would’ve been nice to have fleshed out her backstory in a smoother way and I could’ve used a little more unpredictability from her personality, she still brought enough energy and fun to make her character stand out.

The other characters are also, for the most part, very well done. Killer Croc (Adewale Akinnuoye-Agbaje), El Diablo (Jay Hernandez) and Captain Boomerang (Jai Courtney) make for a ton of fun, and Amanda Waller (Viola Davis) was rather intimidating. The team also had great chemistry, which allowed the film to remain entertaining even when there was no action on the screen. Some of its best moments consisted of nothing but these characters sitting around and talking, and, to be honest, I would have been just as entertained watching that the entire time.

The big performance everyone was likely anticipating, however, is that of the Joker, played here by Jared Leto.

This Oscar winner brings a new energy to the iconic role, portraying the clown prince of crime as more of a mafia gangster this time around, and you can see him really absorbing himself into this character. His scenes with Quinn are also rather enjoyable, and the two are a load of fun to see together on screen.

The film is also more colorful than the other DCEU movies and moves at a swifter pace. Every scene is either non-stop action or contains interesting dialogue, and the film knows to have fun with itself. The action is well-executed, and it’s fun to see all the squad members’ abilities in use, which helps all the fight and battle sequences to completely engage the audience. Also, it was a breath of fresh air to have a DC movie where every other scene isn’t a setup to “Justice League” and simply stays focused on telling a coherent story.

But “Suicide Squad” does suffer from some major problems. While many of the characters are well-portrayed, others are unfortunately not interesting or very underutilized. Some of these include Rick Flag (Joel Kinnaman), Katana (Karen Fukuhara) and Slipknot (Adam Beach), with the latter two being introduced rather lazily into the film. The villain, while interestingly designed and containing a host of special powers, has a plan that has been used to death in other movies such as “The Avengers” (2012) and “Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles” (2014). It doesn’t help that she lacks the charisma and charm the majority of these characters have.

There are also several tacked-on moments that feel like re-shots and are unnecessary to the final product, ultimately leading to some slight pacing and editing issues. Also, while Leto does a great job as the Joker, he is given a surprisingly small amount of screen time and has no stand-out moments, which is disappointing, given how the film’s marketing uses this character so extensively.

And that leads to the biggest issue with “Suicide Squad” — the way the film marketed itself, as opposed to the movie we got. From the many previews and trailers, one may assume that “Squad” would be a Suicide Squad versus Joker movie, which, given the premise, would’ve made a lot more sense. It could’ve had a lot of potential for fleshing out Harley’s backstory and showing some real conflict with her character, as well as helped to make the Joker a much more intimidating villain. Sadly, the film plays around with this idea while muddling it in a more cliched story that turns out somewhat more predictable than one might have hoped.

Ultimately, “Suicide Squad” is a mixed bag. It has many exciting performances, action scenes and fast pacing to remain a fun and entertaining experience. While there could’ve been some potential for a more compelling story, a lot of people may not care and just want to see these characters romp about and go wild, which they will surely get. “Suicide Squad” may be no masterpiece, but it definitely seems to be taking DC film franchise into a new and exciting direction.

Mikael, 18, is a rising freshman at the Savannah College of Art and Design (SCAD). He is an aspiring filmmaker who specializes in working with stop motion animation. His latest stop motion animated short film, “The Tree That Refused To Fall,” just won viewer’s choice award at the It’s My Life Atlanta Youth Film Festival.