The Suicide Squad (2021) review

2016 wasn’t exactly the best year for the DC Extended Universe. Simply put, this was meant to be the year where the franchise would officially kick-start its efforts to rival the likes of the Marvel Cinematic Universe. And yet, while both of its 2016 releases did quite well at the box-office, with each grossing at least over $700 million worldwide, neither film managed to fare as well with critics. This was especially the case for the latter of the two films, Suicide Squad, despite it being one of the most anticipated films of that year. Not only did it boast one of the most notable marketing campaigns in recent memory, but the concept of a superhero film based almost entirely around supervillains allowed it to stand out amongst its peers. However, upon its release, the film was just as much of a critical dud as its fellow 2016 DCEU release, Batman v. Superman: Dawn of Justice. Now, admittedly, both films were negatively affected by studio interference that had a clear impact on what was ultimately released in theaters. In Suicide Squad’s case, it was the result of Warner Bros. trying to course-correct after BvS received tons of flak for its dour tone. Thus, what director David Ayer originally envisioned as a ‘soulful drama’ was drastically altered in post-production (to the point where, no joke, the final cut was handled by a movie trailer production company) in a failed attempt at making it more light-hearted. Despite this, however, its $746.6 million turn at the box office paved the way for a sequel, albeit without Ayer as its director due to his commitment to a different DCEU project, Gotham City Sirens. Thus, this new sequel ended up going in a different direction thanks to one James Gunn.

Now I know what some of you might be thinking… isn’t James Gunn more of a Marvel guy? And to be fair, you wouldn’t be wrong for thinking that. Since 2014, Gunn has mainly been known for his work in the Marvel Cinematic Universe. It all started when he took some of the most obscure characters in the Marvel universe, the Guardians of the Galaxy, and turned them into some of the MCU’s most popular characters with their first official solo outing, which still stands as one of the MCU’s most highly acclaimed and widely beloved installments. He then followed that up in 2017 with an equally successful (and arguably superior) follow-up, Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 2. And just a few months later, before much of the MCU’s post-Endgame slate was even confirmed, a third Guardians film was set up with Gunn once again returning to write and direct it… but for a while, he wasn’t. I’m not going to focus on this next bit too much since, as many of you know, I don’t like to get into deep political discussions on this site, but basically, in 2018, Gunn ended up pissing off one too many a Trump supporter, who then proceeded to target him over old Twitter posts that he had made from 2008 to 2012 that featured… let’s say, dated attempts at humor. And while Gunn had already apologized for these tweets back around the time that the first Guardians of the Galaxy film was in the works, their resurgence resulted in Disney making the utterly shocking decision to fire him as Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 3’s director. Thankfully, Disney eventually realized that they probably shouldn’t have given in to right-wing morons and Gunn was reinstated to his original job in 2019, with Vol. 3 currently set for a May 2023 release. But before all that happened, DC promptly stepped in to offer him the gig of the second Suicide Squad film, and it’s a good thing that they did because The Suicide Squad is yet another example of what happens when the DCEU realizes that it doesn’t need to take itself ‘that’ seriously to match the high quality of the MCU.

The South American nation of Corto Maltese has recently come under attack after an insurrection led by dictator Silvio Luna (Juan Diego Botto) and his second-in-command, Major General Mateo Suarez (Joaquín Cosío). All the while, one of their main associates, Dr. Gaius Graves AKA The Thinker (Peter Capaldi), has been working on a secret experiment codenamed ‘Project Starfish’ in Corto Maltese’s Nazi-era laboratory, Jotunheim. In response to this, government official Amanda Waller (Viola Davis) reinitiates her black ops unit Task Force X, which consists of some of the most notorious supervillains in the world who are forced to cooperate under the promise of a reduced prison sentence and the threat of death via explosive devices implanted into their necks. Once again under the command of Colonel Rick Flag (Joel Kinnaman), Task Force X, now consisting of returning members such as the unpredictable Harley Quinn (Margot Robbie) and new recruits such as mercenary Robert DuBois AKA Bloodsport (Idris Elba) and hard-edged vigilante Christopher Smith AKA Peacemaker (John Cena), travel to Corto Maltese to investigate. However, in their efforts to help the locals deal with Luna and his army, they soon realize that they’re dealing with a lot more than they had originally bargained for, especially when it comes to what ‘Project Starfish’ truly is.

I’ve often found the newer installments of the DC Extended Universe to be the antithesis of the franchise’s initial outings. Whereas the likes of Batman v Superman: Dawn of Justice and Justice League (the ‘Snyder Cut’, specifically…) were overly dark and serious, which arguably wasn’t the best route to take for these iconic characters, films like Aquaman and Shazam felt far more natural when it came to embracing their comic book roots. And when it comes to James Gunn’s The Suicide Squad, it is probably the best example of this out of any post-Justice League installment of the DC Extended Universe, especially when compared to its predecessor. Regardless of all the issues that occurred during its post-production process, the original Suicide Squad utterly squandered the potential of its unique premise of focusing on supervillains by being a tonally uneven mess with an ugly visual style and a shockingly harsh mean streak. The Suicide Squad, on the other hand, doesn’t fall victim to any of that. It boasts far better visuals and effortlessly follows in the footsteps of Gunn’s Guardians of the Galaxy films by expertly balancing its strong emotional moments with its hilariously snappy dialogue. And while this next part isn’t necessarily the original Suicide Squad’s fault since it most likely had to maintain a PG-13 rating, The Suicide Squad fully embraces its R-rating. Simply put, this film can get so damn intense at times that it legitimately rivals the most graphic sequences from the likes of the Deadpool films and Logan. And yet, while this may seem like something that would make the film even harsher than its predecessor, Gunn’s skillful direction prevents that from happening.

Case in point, this film serves as another great case where Gunn manages to take characters who aren’t necessarily ‘heroic’ and give them such great character development that you come to love many of them by the end of it. Much of this is thanks to the outstanding ensemble cast that Gunn has assembled, whether it’s some of his most frequent collaborators, the few returning leads from the first Suicide Squad, or some incredibly exciting newcomers. Of course, you’ve got Margot Robbie returning as Harley Quinn in what may just be her best performance in the role to date as the film dutifully maintains the excellent retooled characterization that she was given in Birds of Prey while also fully capitalizing on the madcap personality that has made Harley such an iconic character. The far better-refined script and direction also results in stronger performances from those returning from the previous film, especially Joel Kinnaman, who gets to have a lot more fun as Rick Flag this time around instead of being the cold and stoic figure that he was in the previous film. Ultimately, though, the biggest standouts of the cast are its newcomers. Idris Elba headlines the film excellently as Bloodsport, who’s easily the most level-headed member of the group, and while he’s technically playing one of the more unlikable members of the squad, John Cena’s phenomenal charisma still manages to shine through as the hilariously douchey Peacemaker (It’s easy to see why he and James Gunn are going to be teaming up again for a Peacemaker series on HBO Max next year). And to close out the main cast, we have an outstanding trio of supporting players in Daniela Melchior as Cleo Cazo AKA Ratcatcher II, arguably the most sympathetic and ‘heroic’ member of the team, Sylvester Stallone as the voice of the fearsome but lovably goofy King Shark, and David Dastmalchian as Abner Krill AKA the Polka-Dot Man. He may be one of the weirdest characters that you’ve ever seen in the world of comics, but thanks to Dastmalchian’s wholly endearing portrayal, he’s truly unforgettable.

Simply put, The Suicide Squad is everything that the first Suicide Squad wasn’t. It’s a film that wholeheartedly embraces the concept of supervillains who are sent out on missions where they aren’t meant to survive but also succeeds in one of the main things that the previous film tried to accomplish: finding the humanity within its ‘villainous’ characters. Obviously, not every ‘villain’ in this film is meant to be ‘redeemed’, per se, but when you have a director like James Gunn who, above everything else, fully understands the importance of strong character development and emotional poignancy, it truly goes to show just how pivotal all that stuff is to the enduring success of the superhero genre. It’s the reason why the MCU has continued to be the cultural juggernaut that it is today… and why the DCEU struggled considerably out of the starting gate as many of its early films tended to emphasize style over substance. Ultimately, though, if you were to ask me why a film like this works better than something like Batman v Superman: Dawn of Justice, I’d say that it’s because The Suicide Squad has a greater understanding of how superhero films should be like tonally. Sure, it can be serious when it needs to be, but at the end of the day, it’s a far better idea for a superhero film to embrace the goofier elements of its source material rather than it trying to be something that it’s not.     

Rating: 5/5!