Of course I had never heard about the 2023 movie "The Squad" from writer and director Rick Walker, as I happened to stumble upon the movie by random chance here in 2024. However, I must admit that given the movie's synopsis and its cover, then I wasn't expecting this to be anything fantastic. Yet, I still opted to give the movie the benefit of the doubt and watch it.
"The Squad" is definitely not entertainment for the cerebral viewer. The storyline from Rick Walker is pretty straightforward, albeit rather generic for a crime thriller. Sure, it was semi-watchable, but you're not in for any grand cinematic experience here.
I was not familiar with the cast ensemble in the movie at all. And that is usually something I enjoy when I sit down to watch a movie. In all fairness, then against the fact that the actresses and actors had precious little to work with in terms of script and character gallery, then the acting performances were actually adequate.
Some of the dialogue in the movie was rather wooden and rigid, feeling like it was written by a High School student with an interest in movie making. It wasn't exactly Shakespearian poetry that transpired on the screen.
Be prepared to see a lot of skin throughout the course of the movie, though thankfully director Rick Walker didn't stoop to showing tacky nudity.
The cinematography was actually fair throughout the course of the 78 minutes that the movie ran for, and that definitely spoke well in favor of the movie, adding to the overall impression of "The Squad".
I was only mildly entertained by "The Squad", and it is not a movie that I would recommend you rush out and get to watch. This is definitely not a movie that I will be returning to watch a second time. But in all honesty, it does feel like writer and director Rick Walker had the right intentions and spirit for making a movie. The end result, just wasn't particularly spectacular.
My rating of "The Squad" lands on a generous four out of ten stars.