The Suicide Squad Review · 12:15am Dec 3rd, 2021

Okay, so I've been waiting to do this one. I didn't know what to think at first, but I'm glad I saw this movie. Frankly I needed it; and also, this is how you make a movie on antagonists. No watering them down, no cringy dialogue to act like they're so edgy, no painful performances, this is the Suicide Squad we should have gotten 5 years ago. So without further ado, let's delve into The Suicide Squad!

The Suicide Squad focuses on a group of incarcerated villains who are tasked to go on suicide missions in exchange for years taken off their sentences. This particular team consisting of Bloodsport, Peacemaker, King Shark, Ratcatcher 2, and Polka-Dot Man are assigned to go on a search-and-destroy mission on the island of Corto Maltese. And naturally; things go awry as they progress on their mission...

So I must admit, I was hesitant to see the movie after the... shit-show of a first movie came. If you liked that movie, good for you, you get something out of it that I don't. I just thought the movie was so dull; it's watered down, the characters are flat except for Waller and Deadshot, the particular villains are pathetic (if you have to say 'we're bad guys it's what we do', you're a pathetic excuse of a villain), it just wasn't fun to watch, even with their forced additions of comedy. But then I heard stuff about this movie... and I got curious. And especially invested since I saw Polka-Dot Man was in it, who I remembered from the Lego Batman Movie.

And while I didn't see it theaters, I finally got it on DVD... and it was awesome. Holy shit this movie was awesome. Is this what happens when you give someone who cares about the source material? Cause it seems like it is. I don't know every reference to DC properties in this movie, but I have a feeling fans were cheering their heads off to see stuff in this film. And usually I would just break down what I liked and don't like, but you know what? ... I'm still doing that because doing a compare and contrast is going to take way too long and it's going to eat time that I could be using to get a chapter done. Now I am going to delve into some spoilers, so if you don't want to be spoiled, I will cover those in spoiler boxes.

The Introduction

First ten to twenty minutes manages to introduce all the characters, but keeps the introductions interesting. The first ten minutes is a massive trick and honestly solid subversion of expectations; making you think we're following this first team, when it's actually Team 2 we follow. And what follows is a hilariously dark cold open with all of Team 1 being brutally massacred in an extremely funny and gory manner. This sets the tone of what's going to follow for the movie, and it's just great. And it feels a lot more natural, oddly.

The Characters

A lot of characters are in the film, but the film makes it clear which ones you're supposed to focus on. The movie as mentioned has a hilarious opening to trick you into thinking Team 1 is the focus, which sets the tone for how brutal the film is gonna be, which fits, since the title is called 'Suicide Squad', and characters actually friggin' die. The main ones we follow are distinct in their own way, and you can understand and relate to some of their personalities, even if they are super criminals. Some of them are more nicer than others, but the film also makes it clear they're not good people. They do a lot of really horrible shit throughout the film, which makes them even more evil.

Bloodsport is a great character and Idris Elba pulls off this role very well; also makes for an interesting parallel to Deadshot as well. Peacemaker played by John Cena is especially fun, he's just a very violent over-the-top psycho who will not let anyone stand in the way of peace; and the scene of him and Bloodsport having a killing contest in the resistance camp is just hilarious. King Shark is a lot of fun as well; not to mention he's voiced by Slyvester Stallone which is even more funny. He's a big loveable goof but he's also a scary monster who will not have qualms about eating people in a very gruesome way. Ratcatcher 2 is also great, Daniela Melchior does a great job at playing this oddly sweet and kind criminal who can control armies of rats. Polka-Dot Man's a tragic case, which David Dastmalchian aces. Also for a character who's a joke; he's not a joke when he fires off polka-dots, that shit is lethal!

Viola Davis returns as Amanda Waller, and I feel like she did much better in this performance than in the first one. She's a lot more cold, more ruthless, and when her buttons get pushed, we see her start to hit the breaking point and getting more and more furious to the point where it honestly gave me a bit of goosebumps. This woman's scary, you do not f@ck with her. Even Rick Flag's a great character. Unlike the other movie, this Rick Flag actually feels like he's there in the moment and gives a shit about the situation happening around them, kudos to Joel Kinnaman. And he's not a colossal idiot like in the first movie either. And you know what? This movie got me to love Harley Quinn. I enjoyed bits of her from the old animated series, but this movie version was just great. She's funny, she's chaotic, she's her own person; and her new suit looks great. Even in the dress she sports later in the movie she still looks great. I don't know what happened in between these movies, but I love that she's her own person and isn't with the Joker; the tattoo on her back definitely implies, and she makes a speech later in the movie about knowing when certain relationships are giving off red flags. That definitely feels real, and I do commend Margot Robbie for her performance in that scene, that just... ouch.

The Costumes and Lighting

Hell, even the costumes look beautiful. The costumes are bright, they're vibrant, they stand out enough so you can tell everybody apart. They look straight from the comic books despite me not knowing a thing about them. See DC? There's a thing called color. You should learn to use it more often. And the lighting team definitely is an improvement. You can actually see what happens in the film, and there's good usage of keeping the movie set between day and night.

The Humor

The movie's jokes go all over the place; from cartoony visual, innuendos, to dark black comedy. There's a variety of jokes, and even if you don't laugh at one, there's always another to eventually get you to laugh right after. This movie's hilarious, and James Gunn and his team do a solid job with the comedy of this movie. And thankfully unlike the Belko Experiment, there isn't too jarring of a tonal shift regarding the comedy. And the humor feels a lot more geninue and organic unlike the other movie, which last time I checked, they re-shot a lot of stuff just to insert comedy into scenes. This movie knows when to be funny, and it'll be funny when it damn well wants to.

And last of all...

The Plot

The movie's plot kept me engaged throughout; despite the horrible shit the characters had done, and even the stuff happening around them, I wanted to see what was going to happen to them and how things would progress from there. DC made a good call hiring Gunn, and if we get more twisted movies like this that know when to have fun and when to be twisted, I'm all for it. I have no idea what DC movie will follow after this one, but if James Gunn works on any more DC movies, I wanna see more. And the R Rating actually helps this movie, just like it did with Joker. It's definitely silly, but the R-rating I feel gave Gunn a lot more freedom to do whatever the hell he wanted, which is great. Directors, depending on how much they give a shit about a source material, should have the freedom to be as wild and fun as they can with the project.

Honestly, I can't really name any issues I got. My only real one I have is more of a nitpick, and it's just the opening. I don't know everything about the opening kill team, but I understand some particular members like Mongal are a lot tougher than the movie portrays them. I can see some people taking issue with that, and I was admittedly hoping to see more of them in action. This is X-Force from Deadpool 2 again, which is both hilarious and sad at the same time.

I have no idea what's in store for DC, but color me impressed. After Wonder Woman 1984, they picked themselves up again with this movie. It's funny, it's fun, it's wild, it's insane, it's violent, it's an awesome DC movie. It's honestly refreshing to say that a DC movie is fun, I can only name so many DC movies that I gave a damn about, and this is up there. It's definitely not gonna be for everyone, it's Rated R first of all, and depending on the kind of movie-goer you are, this will either be welcome or a turnoff. DO NOT SHOW THIS TO YOUR KIDS, FOR THE LOVE OF GOD. But if you're just as insane as me, I recommend giving it a watch. It's fun, and frankly we needed that in this day and age.

I give Suicide Squad an 8 out of 10.

Thank you for reading it, and I am sorry it's been so long since I reviewed anything. I finally pulled myself together to review again!

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