REVIEW | The Suicide Squad (2021)

“Can we be your friends?”

In which James Gunn trades the Galaxy for some Squad goals.

In an attempt to save the world, government official Amanda Waller deploys Task Force X — a team of enhanced criminals that carry out dangerous missions to reduce their prison sentence — to infiltrate a secret facility in the destabilized nation of Corto Maltese to destroy all traces of the mysterious ‘Project Starfish’.

*Minor spoilers for The Suicide Squad ahead*

Now, at this point of DC movies, you must be thinking:

“Why isn’t this movie called Suicide Squad 2?”
“Will the 2019 Joker connect with this one?”
“Is that a great white shark in denim shorts?”

So many important questions — but fortunately, the only answers that matter is that The Suicide Squad is a soft reboot that’s self-contained, stands tall on its own, and isn’t bothered by any DCEU connection.

In other words, you could hold a solid conversation about this movie without mentioning its 2016 ‘predecessor’, the Justice League movies (both theatrical or director’s cut), or even the more recent all-girls team-up, Birds of Prey (2020).

Which some would say is a great starting point for a good, coherent movie.

Right off the bat, The Suicide Squad tells you the kind of movie to expect by the costume treatment, pop-art aesthetic, and choice of comic book characters (remember that great white shark I mentioned?). It gives you a similar feeling to carnival posters with human oddities as attractions — except that this circus makes the bearded lady look like a civilian.

And fortunately, all that striking style and eccentric promotional material aren’t just for show.

James Gunn and Co. does an amazing job of capturing the best side of every scene to achieve awe-inspiring sequences, from the lighting to the compositions, the smashing colors, and even the visual elements. Just like the framing and cinematography of Guardians of the Galaxy Vol.2 (2017), you can expect the same level of cinematic excellence and comedic brilliance in The Suicide Squad.

So much so, that the only thing rivaling the vibrance of the film would be its [huge] cast of fun-derrated characters.

Love ’em or hate ’em, the star of the show (no pun intended) is actually the squad as a whole. Just like ensemble movies of old, The Suicide Squad showcases a huge cast of bizarre, deranged, and complex characters that bring something grand to the table whenever they’re hit with the spotlight.

After all, the villains are always more fun than the heroes anyway — right?

Despite the strange names and ridiculous powers, this movie successfully portrays a band of nobodies into fun, fantastic, and fully fleshed-out versions of their characters to earn their place on the big screen (at least, certainly more than they deserve to be).

And along the way, you’ll be hard-pressed not to be emotionally invested in these misfits, monsters, and maniacs after this adventure.

With fan-favorites like Harley Quinn being thrown into the mix with the likes of the comically brilliant Polka-dot Man, The Suicide Squad delightfully explores the back catalog of DC anti-heroes as ammunition for the movie-equivalent of Russian roulette — and boy does it make for a bloody good time (emphasis on the ‘bloody’).

Speaking of blood, although I’m not one for gratuitous violence in superhero movies, even I must agree that this movie makes proper use of its R-rated license. I mean, how else are you going to make it when you have “SUICIDE” in the title?

While most movies and TV shows today employ gore for the sake of violence, you can tell that The Suicide Squad makes the most of its brutal sequences while having as much fun as possible along the way. Blowing your hair back with awesome, blockbuster action while tickling your funny bone with comedic, over-the-top moments.

It’s also worth mentioning that, instead of distracting, the R-rating is cleverly used to complement and enhance the storytelling of the film where it counts. Carefully utilizing explicit sequences to either create a stronger impact or amplify the Wile E. Coyote-Esque humor of explosives and high-powered machinery.

To summarise, The Suicide Squad is more than an “R-rated Guardians of the Galaxy”. It’s actually a really refreshing comic book movie that subverts our expectations to deliver something new for the genre.

Ultimately — trading the familiar for genuine excitement and a little more fun at every corner.

Although it might not have the colossal foundation of having 10-years-worth of films behind it, The Suicide Squad plays its strengths to perfection while piggybacking on the success of past comic book movies that have helped defined the genre.

Essentially, revitalizing the formula for success with a team of lethal and laughable super-friends that go on morally depraved missions together.