A Review of “The Suicide Squad (2021)”

 

The Suicide Squad is a sequel/semi-reboot to the critically panned Suicide Squad (2016). The 2016 movie tried to replicate James Gunn’s Guardian of the Galaxy but failed miserably. So for the second Suicide Squad movie, why not just hired James Gunn himself? The premise is “The government sends the most dangerous supervillains in the world – Bloodsport (Idris Elba), Peacemaker (John Cena), King Shark (Sylvester Stallone), Harley Quinn (Margot Robbie) and others – to the remote, enemy-infused island of Corto Maltese. Armed with high-tech weapons, they trek through the dangerous jungle on a search-and-destroy mission, with only Col. Rick Flag on the ground to make them behave”. So is this a failed mission or is it one to remember?

Firstly, The Suicide Squad is an absolute blast to watch as it contains all of James Gunn’s iconic charm from GoTG. There are the characters with their vibrant and distinct personalities, even for characters of limited screen time. The visuals are stylistic, from war looking jungles to colourful fever dreams that are contrasting but mesh well together. The pounding and awesome soundtrack returns but are utilized more effectively here than the 2016 version. The action scenes range from cool to even downright bonkers which is just so entertaining. Of course, The Suicide Squad is also very hilarious with a lot of laughs.

One thing in The Suicide Squad that is different from GoTG is the hard R Rating which James embraces. The action scenes are ultra-violent in their blood and gore with the destruction feeling very impactful. James Gunn also uses the R rating to allow for some dark humour which just really works. The characters in The Suicide Squad are mostly composed of B-tier villains but James manages to make us take some of them relatively seriously by giving them some depth. The biggest surprises have got to be Ratcatcher 2 (Daniela Melchior), Polka dot man (David Dastmalchian) and Peacemaker (John Cena). Ratcatcher 2 is the heart of this film as she is the one with the kindest nature in the team and her powers of controlling rats are made more interesting and cooler thanks to James Gunn. Polka dot man sounds incredibly stupid but is made very sympathetic in a weird way. Peacemaker is a douche but I do love his rivalry with Bloodsport (Idris Elba).

On that note, the actors all do an excellent job. Margot Robbie was already great as Harley but she has embodied the character perfectly to the point I can’t see any other actress as Harley. Idris Elba is still charming as the gruff guy and while it is a role he played many times before, he is still great at it. John Cena isn’t an actor I am fond of but he puts a lot more acting chops in The Suicide Squad which was surprising to see. The others are also great and it is very clear that they are having a real fun time in the role including returning actors from Suicide Squad (2016). The story of The Suicide Squad is very simple but engaging thanks to the characters and the unexpected twist and turns. It also explores some interesting themes including corrupt governments. The Suicide Squad is advertised as anyone can die and there are some surprising deaths for sure.

However, due to the huge amount of characters and cast, some get killed off without really getting to do anything significant which is a shame. There are also a lot of shots where it is just a lot of grey and dullness to it. We got grey buildings, grey rooms and grey offices which are just not that interesting to look at. There is also one plot thread that was disappointing which is Bloodsport and his relationship with his daughter. His relationship with his daughter is very sour but his daughter being threatened by Waller is the reason for him joining the squad. Yet we don’t get a proper resolution to this apart from one line that kind of resolves it but in a very unsatisfying way. Additionally, Bloodsport’s character arc just sort of happens. I wish they gave him more scenes or flashbacks to build it up instead of just one conversation with Ratcatcher 2.

Overall, The Suicide Squad is everything Suicide Squad (2016) should’ve been. It’s fun, joyful and off the walls crazy in the most entertaining of ways. James Gunn and WB succeed in delivering a successful DCEU entry and this makes me very hopeful for this cinematic universe.