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The Suicide Squad (2021) Review

by Joe Joe September 15, 2021

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Suicide Squad (2021) Review

Typical DC movie that's not as good as it should be.

Suicide Squad (2021) Review

Typical DC movie that's not as good as it should be.

A bunch of nobodies from the DC universe and Harley Quinn get tasked with saving the world. Again. Is it at least better than the previous film directed by David Ayer? Yeah. By a pinch. I wouldn’t say I liked the first Suicide Squad, but I don’t hate it. I still think it has some redeeming qualities, and this new one essentially feels just about the same.

James Gunn directs this one, and while I’ve enjoyed some of his work, I feel like he somewhat misses the mark. I feel like people worship him like a religion. He wrote the awesome Dawn of the Dead remake and wrote and directed the first Guardians of the Galaxy movie, which is excellent. His other films are either just decent or mediocre. The Suicide Squad fits into the mediocre camp.

Since everyone seemed to hate the first movie, despite it making 750 million worldwide, they have to make it seem more like a reboot than an actual sequel. Warner Brothers happily hired James Gunn after Disney fired his ass for making tweets that I, nor anyone, should repeat. They wanted that Disney magic for their extended universe since many of their movies weren’t succeeding. Not fun enough, I suppose. Everyone wins in the end since everybody loves this movie, and Disney rehired Mr. Gunn for future projects. I didn’t win.

After early reviews, I figured this would be a fun ride. It did entertain me in some places, but I was mainly bored and didn’t find it that funny or memorable. I feel like it’s trying way too hard and comes off as annoying visual vomit. There’s a lot of terrible dialogue, which adds to the averageness of everything. And just like the first movie, it has a song every goddamned five minutes or so. Guardians had a lot of songs too, but I felt they were better chosen and fit the scenes much better.

In terms of quality, the cast is all over the place. My favorites were Idris Elba and John Cena. It’s at its best when they’re together. I would prefer the movie to be with them and ditch the rest of the squad. Joel Kinneman is cool. Rat Catcher is the heart of the film, but her pet rat had more charisma. Polka Dot man has this odd relationship with his mother, who he sees everywhere, but it’s an overused joke. Sylvester Stallone as King Shark is perfect casting, but the character is essentially useless and not funny. The always reliable Michael Rooker is a waste. Pete Davidson dies within one minute, which is a plus. Then we get to Margot Robbie as Harley Quinn.

Look, I love Margot Robbie. I think she is one of the best actresses working today, but she should fire her agent since she still does this crap character, and it looks like she will be Barbie someday. Harley Quinn is a character I have never liked. Not on the animated series, comic books, suicide squad movies, and not in her solo film, Birds of Prey. She still sucks in this movie. The worst parts of this movie involve her. She gets a lot of adoration, and I don’t get it. I always thought it was just Hot Topic girls that love her, but apparently, almost everyone does.

The movie is full of gore and foul language, as it should be. It lives up to the R rating. Action scenes are violent and visceral but not memorable—the Gunn style kind of ruins certain scenes. A perfect example would probably be Harley Quinn’s big action sequence where flowers and cartoon birds spew out of bodies she’s sliced and diced. It’s shot well but ruined by the after-effects as well as the particular song choice. For me, the so-called style just came off as annoying.

I ultimately checked out of this movie, probably around the third act. Nothing was shocking or entertaining to me anymore, even when Starro showed up. I didn’t care and felt completely numb. It is getting all kinds of love from both critics and fans, so it will get considered an overall success despite its box office failure. Covid and its HBO Max premiere certainly didn’t help it.

Would I watch it again? Hard to say. I’ve seen the previous movie twice, so I would assume that I would see this again. I loved Elba and Cena. They’re worth watching for sure, but other things like Quinn and Gunn’s directing style didn’t work for me this time. I think it’s your typical DC movie that’s not as good as it should be, and that’s a shame.