By: Ted Trafton & Andrew Wing, Contributing Writer
The Suicide Squad is a 2021 superhero film based on the DC Comics team Suicide Squad. It serves as a standalone sequel Suicide Squad (2016) and is also the tenth film in the DC Extended Universe (DCEU). The Suicide Squad was written and directed by the always entertaining James Gunn who is most known for directing Marvel Studios’ The Guardians of the Galaxy (2014) and its sequel, Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 2 (2017).
The film stars an ensemble cast featuring Margot Robbie as Harley Quinn, Idris Elba as Robert DuBois / Bloodsport, John Cena as Christopher Smith / Peacemaker, Joel Kinnaman as Colonel Rick Flag, Sylvester Stallone as the voice of Nanaue / King Shark, David Dastmalchian as Abner Krill / Polka-Dot Man, Daniela Melchior as Cleo Cazo / Ratcatcher 2, and the award winning Viola Davis reprises her role as Amanda Waller, the director of the government organization in charge of the Suicide Squad.
David Ayer, director of Suicide Squad (2016) was set to return as director for a sequel, but decided to take on another project instead. Warner Bros. considered several replacement directors before ultimately landing on James Gunn, who at the time had recently been temporarily fired by The Walt Disney Company and Marvel Studios. As writer and director, Gunn drew inspiration from war films and the original comics which resulted in a very interesting and action-packed plot. In the film, a task force of convicts (The Suicide Squad) are sent to destroy a Nazi-era laboratory, but to do so, they must encounter and defeat the giant alien Starro.
The Suicide Squad hit theaters on August 5th as well as streaming service HBO Max, where it will be available to watch up to a month after its release.
THE GOOD
From Ted’s perspective…
I have been pumped for The Suicide Squad for quite some time. I might be in the minority, but I actually enjoyed 2016’s Suicide Squad from director David Ayer. Was it flawed? Absolutely, but I thought it was fun and had that cool comic book feel from start to finish. I also purchased the extended edition Blu-ray which I thought was even better. Jump ahead to present day and we have what seems to be a gem that everyone is raving about, The Suicide Squad, thanks to the decision to bring in the talented and risk-taking James Gunn. So is the hype real?
Long story short, the hype is very, very real. The Suicide Squad is by far the best DC film since 2019’s Joker, and is unquestionably more enjoyable and less depressing, obviously. I had such a great time watching this movie and had a huge smile on my face as I laughed out loud more times than I could count. The cast is absolutely stacked, the R-rating is front and center, the action is non-stop, and more than anything else the fun factor is always the priority. The film has Gunn’s much needed “I don’t give a fu**” feel and attitude, and allows the cast the opportunity to play to their strengths without any limitations. As with any Gunn film, the dialogue is epic. A few minutes into the movie I was already looking forward to watching it again just to fully appreciate the hilarious back and forth banter.
It was clear right away The Suicide Squad had a healthy budget, treating viewers to some top-tier CGI and just incredible visuals. I loved the soundtrack and the score, and felt like everything helped to keep the mood surprisingly upbeat and fun considering all of the blood and guts. I really enjoyed the creative camera work which in my mind was a big part of why the movie worked so well. I really liked the special effects, and absolutely loved what they did with David Dastmalchian’s character, Polka-Dot Man. I won’t spoil anything, but his motivation to kill and how it is used throughout the movie is just too damn good.
As I touched on briefly, the cast is next level. Idris Elba delivers a perfect performance as expected in his leading role as Bloodsport. Joel Kinneman is great once again reprising his role as Rick Flagg, even though he is slightly less angry this time around. John Cena is easily my favorite as he takes on the role of Peacemaker, an anti-hero who clearly struggles with his sense of morals and values. Man or woman, if he doesn’t win you over in his whitey tighties, you are definitely doing it wrong. Not weird at all I promise. I am a huge Cena guy and think he is hilarious, and he is easily my favorite character. I cant wait for his HBO Max spinoff series Peacemaker which was recently announced, coming in 2022.
Margot Robbie once again owns the role of the beautiful yet severely troubled Harley Quinn, who has just a few thousand daddy issues. She remains one of my favorites, and I actually really enjoyed Birds of Prey. For me the dark horse character who I really liked was Ratcatcher 2, played by the gorgeous Daniela Melchior. Not only does she have the best daddy cameo ever, she has fantastic chemistry with the rest of the cast and brings some much needed raw emotion to her character. The decision to bring her in was huge. King Shark, voiced by the legendary Sylvester Stallone, is a crowd-pleaser and will steal the show for most viewers. He is a man of, I mean a shark of, few words but you will definitely have a soft spot for him. Just be sure to establish basic friends ground rules so you know, he doesn’t eat you.
From Andrew’s perspective…
Where do I even begin? This was easily one of the most enjoyable movies I have ever seen. I watched it with my younger brother and we were experiencing just about every emotion during the 132 minute runtime. We were hollering, we were gasping, we were cheering, and we were laughing, like a lot. I knew going into the movie that there was going to be a solid amount of humor involved because of Gunn’s writing in both Guardians of the Galaxy movies, but this movie had one thing that those films didn’t and that would be the one and only John Cena.
If you weren’t yet convinced that the former WWE wrestler is one of the funniest actors we have today by his performances in both Trainwreck (2015) and Blockers (2018), his role in this will have you convinced in his first scene. Just seeing him in the Peacemaker uniform made me laugh and I will assume I am not alone when I say I want to see more of his character, because Warner Bros. has already announced a spin-off television series, Peacemaker, starring Cena that is set to debut on HBO Max in January 2022 and you already know that I’ll be tuning in for that.
Not only did Gunn excel when it came to the humor elements of this film, but his direction as a whole for this was just flawless in my opinion. I am so happy Warner Bros. let him have full control and freedom when it came to making The Suicide Squad, because it is definitely out of the ordinary for a superhero movie to be this off the rails. For starters, I loved the fact that this movie got an R rating, and lets just say that it earns it. First we had the Deadpool movies being rated R, and now this, and while I’m not campaigning for all superhero movies to be rated R obviously, it does allow them to showcase what can happen when a superhero movie is allowed to just be self-aware and energetic while also indulging in the violence, gore, and language.
Yes, the movie is violent and hilarious, but at the same time it sneaks in a bit of heart too which is just another reason why James Gunn is one of the best when it comes to the superhero genre. I also loved his great new character additions that we didn’t get to see in Suicide Squad (2016), specifically Bloodsport, Ratcatcher 2, Polka-Dot Man, and my personal favorite, King Shark who is voiced by Sylvester FREAKING Stallone!
Other quick things I want to highlight with The Suicide Squad include: the soundtrack is great, the visual style throughout is perfect, it is a SIGNIFICANT improvement over its predecessor, it is certainly rewatchable, and lastly, nobody will ever be able to play Harley Quinn the way Margot Robbie can, she is the character and the character is her.
THE BAD
When you have a movie like The Suicide Squad which is literally leaps and bounds better than it’s predecessor, it is really hard to pick it apart. From top to bottom this is just a really, really good movie that includes a little something for everyone. So yeah, there really is nothing “bad” about The Suicide Squad, but there are just two quick things I must warn you about if you decide to go ahead and check this out, which you should:
The movie is rated R. There is a lot and I mean a lot of violence, gore, and language throughout so just keep that in mind.
I’m not going to consider this a spoiler because the director himself, James Gunn, said it in an interview months ago before the film released, but there are a lot of casualties from beginning to end so take my hard advice and don’t get emotionally attached to any of the players involved.
THE VERDICT
From Ted’s perspective…
Brutally violent and unapologetically hilarious, the great James Gunn takes full advantage of the R-rating and a stacked cast to ensure The Suicide Squad is one of the best movies to come from the DC universe. This is good old fashioned R-rated fun for people who enjoy a few good casual murders superhero, or antihero, style. Marvel surely isn’t hurting for quality cinema, but a few more movies of this caliber and they will surely be put on notice. I’ve said it several times and I will say it again, the decision by Disney and Marvel to fire Gunn from Guardians of the Galaxy was a huge mistake. They of course have since groveled and begged him to come back, which he did.
Now I won’t get into the political BS or any of that of course, but to think you can have a guy like Gunn who everyone loves working with specifically because of his willingness to push the envelope creatively especially when it comes to violence and dialogue, but not expect him to have a few “unfavorable” tweets over the years? I mean, is that ignorant or what? Perhaps James Gunn should follow the path of my man Nicolas Cage (shout out to Andrew’s recent review for Pig which you can find here) and just rid himself of social media altogether. Seems to be the smart play career wise, especially when the world is full of computer nerds who spend all day digging through peoples past while living in their mom’s basement.
From Andrew’s perspective…
From the horribly beautiful mind of writer/director James Gunn comes The Suicide Squad, the perfect summer blockbuster that is a masterpiece of the superhero genre. It is an absolutely insane, crazy, wild ride that is endlessly fun and will have you on the edge of your seats until the screen cuts to black.
The Suicide Squad is a must-see movie, and one that we absolutely suggest checking out sooner than later. A movie like this is meant to be seen in theaters if possible, and the IMAX treatment would be even better. At the end of the day, there is nothing quite like the big screen. We will likely watch it at least five more times on HBO Max, and can’t wait for the inevitable Director’s Cut 4K Blu-ray.
TED TAKES RATING - 9/10
The Suicide Squad is now playing in theaters and streaming for 31 days from release on HBO Max. Check out the latest trailer below.