Suicide Squad star Joel Kinnaman admits he only liked ‘first 40 minutes’ of maligned movie

Actor also praised the ‘clear vision’ of the forthcoming James Gunn-directed Suicide Squad reboot

Suicide Squad star Joel Kinnaman has admitted he thinks only the first 40 minutes of the maligned superhero movie were “great”.

Kinnaman played Colonel Rick Flagg in the 2016 film, which revolved around a gang of DC Universe villains recruited for a special retrieval mission. The film, directed by David Ayer, was a critical disappointment, with the concept being rebooted in a forthcoming sequel.

While discussing the new movie, titled The Suicide Squad, Kinnaman admitted that the original film had problems.

“I thought the first 40 minutes of the film was f***ing great, and then there were conflicting visions and it just didn’t end up being what we all hoped it was,” Kinnaman told the Just for Variety podcast. “It didn’t feel like the movie that we hoped we were going to make.”

Kinnaman will reprise his Rick Flagg role in The Suicide Squad, along with a handful of other actors from the original film, including Margot Robbie and Viola Davis.

Guardians of the Galaxy mastermind James Gunn has stepped into the director’s chair for the new film, which Kinnaman told the podcast was “insane”.

“It was very much the movie that I thought it was going to be because the vision was so clear from the beginning,” he explained. “I’m of course hopelessly biased, but I found it to be one of the most entertaining films I’ve ever seen. From A to Z, it’s so well paced, it has such a drive and such comedic timing.”

Margot Robbie, Will Smith and Joel Kinnaman in 2016’s ‘Suicide Squad' (Warner Bros)

Last year, Suicide Squad director David Ayer suggested that the 2016 film was taken out of his hands after he finished production on it.

“Suicide Squad hits a very deep nerve in many people,” Ayer tweeted. “I was going for something more esoteric and profound but it was diluted. The roots are still visible.”

The Suicide Squad will be released in cinemas on 30 July.