After being at the helm of two major Marvel titles in Guardians of the Galaxy 1 & 2, James Gunn has really stepped up to the plate with his latest directorial effort in The Suicide Squad 2021.
This movie comes with an almost immediate Marvel feel in the way of it’s comedic timing and delivery but still maintains the classic “Shock and Gore” that we have come to expect from DC’s attempt at the dark and serious side of Superhero Cinema.

The more obvious intro of gathering the team is utilized well as we are reintroduced to familiar faces in Harley Quinn, Captain Boomerang, and Rick Flag. Followed by an assembling of 3rd rate DC villains to complete what we assume is the new “Suicide Squad” in Savant, Blackguard, and Weasel among others. Savant and Weasel are portrayed by Michael Rooker and Sean Gunn respectively. You may recognize as Yondu and Kraglin straight out of Guardians of the Galaxy. Both of whom seemingly die very early on in the preceding’s, however we’re shown Weasel coming back to life in among the post credit wrap ups.

The symbolic killing off of the rest of the squad aside from main stalwart characters (Flag & Quinn) paves the way for the actual Suicide Squad to make their first appearance. Bloodsport played by Idris Elba takes an unwanted pseudo-leadership role alongside Peacemaker played by John Cena, King Shark played by Sylvester Stallone, as well as RatCatcher and Polka-dot-man played by Daniela Melchior and David Dastmalchian respectively.

Not long after joined by Flag and Quinn are tasked with shutting down an experiment spearheaded by hyper intelligent metahuman Gaius Greaves aka The Thinker.

The overall delivery of the dialogue between Elba and Cena at times felt extremely laboured which I can really only chalk up to John Cena’s forced “I’m definitely a superhero” persona in this film. As a stark contrast to this Elba’s devil-may-care flair fits in very well with Bloodsport and the overall portrayal of the character. The banter between the two is extremely hit and miss within the movies dialogue.

King Shark or Nanaue is quickly being adopted by critics and internet reviewers alike as the “Baby Yoda of DC” with his naïve short sharp delivery of simple phrases and overall childlike innocence, its pretty easy to see why.

• 

• 

The RatCatcher and Polka-dot-man although second rate characters in the comics are pivotal to the overall climax of this film. As not to completely spoil it for you I will refrain from mentioning the ending but let’s just say they definitely pay their dues by the end of the film.

The introduction to both RatCatcher and Polka-dot-man left a lot to be desired but their character development throughout the film is very impressive.

Overall I’d have to give this film a BB Malloy 8/10. There were some glazed over plot holes and some glaring ovations needed to encapsulate the comics, I would HIGHLY recommend this film more than I would any other DC film released in recent years.

For more information on The Suicide Squad, visit www.thesuicidesquad.net