THE SUICIDE SQUAD (2021)

THE SUICIDE SQUAD (2021)

Tagline: Don't get too attached.

(Action, Sci-Fi, Comedy) [R]

If we find out you have personalized license plates, you die

In this movie, several criminals with special sets of skills are formed into 2 groups (Task Force X) whose mission is to take down a secretive project called “Starfish” on the island of Corto Maltese. While there they discover much more than they bargained for and a military force that seems to never run out of troops. 

I don’t want to give any spoilers here, but if you have seen the previews you already know this movie has a freakin kaiju in it. Anything with a kaiju is going to get my attention unless it just flat out sucks like SHIN GODZILLA, which I don’t think I will ever bother writing a review for. The scenes with the kaiju are legendary and bizarrely fun. 

I love that director James Gunn (known for GUARDIANS OF THE GALAXY ) is never afraid to get out of the box and do crazy stuff. Everything from Rocket in Guardians to Weasel in this thing as well as a mako shark-ish version of King Shark (played by Sylvester Stallone), and a giant Starfish this movie is just freakin nuts. In the comics by the way King Shark is a Hammerhead, but Gunn decided that was going to be weird to deal with on-screen. You should never let a CW TV show King Shark one up a movie design, but that is actually going on in this thing, so just something to be aware of. He also handles the Polka Dot-Man’s background differently than the comics, but it's not the end of the world. 

Acting-wise this movie is extremely solid. Idris Elba who is always great was slated to replace Will Smith as Deadshot but instead plays a new cooler character with basically the same skill set named “Bloodsport”. It does sound like they wanted to keep the possibility of Will Smith returning to the series at some point. I guess he stepped out of this one due to scheduling conflicts. Anyway, I do think that Tyla (Bloodsport’s daughter) and Zoe (Deadshot’s daughter) are going to get voted “most likely” to start a support group called “Girls Whose Dad’s Suck, But Everyone Seems To Like”.  Margot Robbie is freakin brilliant as Harley Quinn, in fact, this might be her most emotional role of the 3 she’s done as Harley. She is also like 10 times more bad-a-s in this than she is in the other two films. Daniela Melchior who plays Ratcatcher 2 is probably the emotional heartstring of this film but we do get a bit of insight into Polka Dot-Man’s background as well. The role of the Polka Dot-Man is superbly played by ANT-MAN veteran David Dastmalchian. Viola Davis also returns as Amanda Waller with a top-notch performance and is 10 times as brutal in this as she was in the first one. There are a number of other great roles in here, but I also liked the fact that some of the actors I can’t stand don’t last long in this damn thing. 

Yes, be warned, the tagline is true. This freakin movie is a bloodbath, so you do not want to get attached to these characters. That is all I am going to say about that. Speaking of that, in spite of the CGI cheese, the violence in this movie is a bit over the top for me, and I watch a ton of action flicks, but it is to be expected in a rated R film. 

In spite of some of the reviews, this isn’t a perfect film. It has some plot holes you could drive an entire state through, but to be honest, I don’t care, James Gunn doesn’t care, DC doesn’t care, because this whole freakin film is total balls to the wall nonsense. The overall message is that the United States government can’t be trusted and not everyone fits into a neat little box. This is all stuff you already know if you grew up in the ’80s. NEVER trust the government and never let them stick stuff on or in your body that you haven’t fully investigated and hasn't killed hundreds of people. 

Overall this is an enjoyable edgy flick that I have watched twice already. There is just a ton going on and it feels like some 5-year-olds mind exploded with a bunch of ideas and they were all just written down and thrown at some giant dartboard. Then James Gunn turned it into a movie.

For its originality (with the exception of the movie’s title) and surprising bits of heart, I give THE SUICIDE SQUAD a 6 out of 7. Just for removing The Joker from this movie, it's already better than the first installment. 

GRAPHICS ARE THE PROPERTY OF DC COMICS AND ARE USED FOR REVIEW PURPOSES ONLY. 

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