it was just the same usual plot as Guardians of the Galaxy, Avengers, TDKR (in a way), where the characters all find common ground and unite to foil the villain, but with two major problems: the set up was ham-fisted and uninteresting, and the characters uniting relied heavily on a stable plot and an interesting relationship between Flagg and Moon, of which there were neither. As far as the first of those gripes goes, I really hated Enchantress post minute 35, and not even because of the actress, but because the set up of her as a villain and the clumsy inclusion of her brother was just so poorly done in my opinion. I mean, her brother was not developed at all (even at a CGI level it would seem), and her past and relationship with her brother and early man, which was potentially the most interesting thing about her, was glossed over in 2 lines of throw-away plot set-up in favor of a half-baked love triangle with Flagg. I mean her who "they worship machines so I'll build a machine" line was even less motivation than Eisenburg's Luthor seemed to have, and if not its at best less interesting. And on top of that, watching a poorly CGI version of her gyrate around with the actresses face seemingly cut and pasted on her body just looked stupid. I would have much preferred some version of the dark, wispy Enchantress from the first 35 minutes, and I think that it would have made a more interesting villain, at least on a visual level. Those in my theater went from gasping at the scene in the boardroom where she first shows up, to laughing during the big finale, and I think that any degree of interest those watching had in her while watching her snatch those files from Tehran faded away quickly thereafter.

To the second of those gripes....man. There were times in this movie where I legitimately had no idea where in the movie we were, which a shame, because the relationships between the characters really suffered for it. Moments of real emotion, or resonance, or even dynamism, seemed to always lose their steam to me by the cobbled together editing and the lack of a coherent pace. At one point, Flagg mentions something about it having been three days since the start of the attack, and there absolutely no other way to intuit that information. It was just sloppy. You had the intro, then the team got the green light, then, suddenly, theres a huge villain, there are zombie troopers, the team is going to escape, then they're not, then someone does, then they're back, then they quit, then they don't, then they quit, then they don't, then they can't win, then the can, then they can't, then they can. I mean it was more frustrating to me then any of the crap Marvel pulls ruining their emotional moments with unneeded comedy, and I HATE that. The entire relationship of the team on screen seemed to just be retarded by the movies inability to get out of its own way.

I think overall the characters themselves, with the exceptions of Moon and Flagg were phenomenal. While it was hard not to just see Will Smith, he absolutely killed it in my opinion. He brought levity, he brought emotion, and he really was a great center piece as the character who is a bad guy but isn't a bad guy, which I think is central to Laughton's character. Margot also absolutely nailed it, and I was ready to hate her performance. It was a god mix of Batman TAS Harley and something fresher and more realistic, for lack of a better word. Some of the lines didn't sound quite right to me, but it was more script than line delivery I think. Leto's Joker, and this may be an unpopular opinion, was actually really, really good to me. I think the idea of the Joker as this kind of twisted, hyper stylized crime boss makes a lot of sense. He has always had thugs, muscle, resources, reach, and a flair for the dramatic example, even in things like BTAS. In my opinion, that totally squares with a position high in organized crime, the only difference being he does whatever he wants and is not beholden to a family or income etc. I think this also helps differentiate him from Ledger in that it is NOT a one-man, loner type of approach we got from that Joker and his view. He is very much an embodiment of the Joker who uses minions, thugs, and resources to attain his goals, and thus a twisted sort of cooperation. I think that the flashiness of this Joker is trying to be Hamill's joker, and where it falls a bit short, its still an interesting and worthy take to me.

The other characters were good as well. Viola Davis did a wonderful job. I found myself caring about El Diablo more that I expected to. I liked Boomerang's inclusion if for no other reason than getting to see Flash.

This Joker has apparently ruined a lot of Batman's life, judging by the Easter eggs in BvS. Deadshot has it out for Batman, wants to head to Gotham to even the score. Shouldn't Deadshot theoretically know who the Joker is, rather than merely referring to him as Harley's friend when he spots the text messages?