The Suicide Squad Movie Review

Comics Movie Reviews
The Suicide Squad Movie Review
By Hervé St-Louis
September 5, 2021 - 10:39

Studios: Warner Bros., DC Entertainment, Atlas Entertainment, The Safran Company
Writer(s): James Gunn
Starring: Margot Robbie, Idris Elba, John Cena, Joel Kinnaman, Jai Courtney, Peter Capaldi, David Dastmalchian, Daniela Melchior, Michael Rooker, Alice Braga, Pete Davidson, Joaquín Cosio, Juan Diego Botto, Storm Reid, Nathan Fillion, Steve Agee, Sean Gunn, Mayling Ng, Flula Borg, Jennifer Holland, Tinashe Kajese, Sylvester Stallone, Viola Davis
Directed by: James Gunn
Produced by: Charles Roven, Peter Safran, Zack Snyder, Deborah Snyder, Walter Hamada, Chantal Nong Vo, Nikolas Korda, Richard Suckle
Running Time: 2h 12minutes
Release Date: August 6, 2021
Rating: R (Restricted)
Distributors: Warner Bros Pictures
Genre: action, adventure, comedy

Amanda Waller wants to eliminate evidence in the Caribbean Island of Corto Maltese, so she sends two Suicide Squad teams to take care of the problem. One of them is not intended to comeback and is nothing but a diversion. While the second team lands, they must rescue members of the first team and deal with an unexpected problem, the mind controlling alien known as Starro. Will the second Suicide Squad succeed in stopping this world menace?

It is odd but pleasant at the same time to see Starro as the main villain of this film. Starro is after all, the original and first villain of the Justice League who with all its powers had problems stopping this alien conqueror. At the same, time, while I’m not sure if the concept had been done before, the idea of a parasitic host controlling a human host predates the Aliens franchise by decades. Unfortunately, the movie gave us a new origin for Starro and none of the connection with the Justice league stands. I feel that Starro was wasted here so that he could be a kaiju monster in a DC Cinematic Universe film.

The idea of introducing random and obscure DC Comics villains only to have them die quickly is a staple of the Suicide Squad. It would not be the Suicide Squad if a few of them did not die horrible death. It is part of the humour and the what the film and the original comic are about. One never knew who would make it back. This has always set the Suicide Squad apart from other series. I’m happy to see the tradition maintained.

This movie is nothing but a retread on the first one with better effects, better jokes, better action, and a better plot. Bloodsport, a relatively unknown villain at DC Comics (I make the claim as I had never heard of him before) is a stand in for the more popular Suicide Squad member Deadshot. King Shark instead of Killer Croc for the big bad cannibal.

I enjoyed how Amanda Waller was as shady as usual but would have liked her to have more exposure in the film. Once the main character of the Suicide Squad, she was pushed to the margins as barely a supporting character. This is the Wall. The Wall should not be a supporting character in her own franchise. I liked the play between Peacemaker and Bloodsport. I wish that Peacemaker’s character had been better fleshed out. He reminded me of US Agent Jonh Walker in the film.

I felt that Savant was wasted and badly portrayed. In the comics, he is as smart as Oracle and a great hand-to-hand combatant. We did not see his hacking skills nor his problem with time displacement. Neither did he have a chance to develop a relationship with ex-KGB agent Creote. Director James Gunn could have done something interesting with the deceased Javelin’s weapon which can allow its wielder to fly in the comics. It would have helped Harley Quinn a lot.

These are some of the problems that I have with the film. It treated all the characters as a joke and did not use them to their full extent. Most were meant to die and be hilarious. However, no care was taken to bring back some of the characters’ uniqueness in the film. Most felt as if they were the usual gun-wielding types or wore a silly costume.

In the end, the film was entertaining, but it will not make the Suicide Squad franchise look better nor will it help improve the DC Cinematic Universe. I wonder why this film was greenlighted. If it were to use James Gunn after he was originally fired from Marvel Studios, then that’s an expansive catch. If you are interested in this film, wait for the eventual two-disc re-release on Blu-Ray. Don’t waste your time.

Rating: 6.5/10