The Suicide Squad - Review

Safely placed in the hands of superhero writer and director James Gunn, The Suicide Squad offers a more refreshing, fun, and comedic take on the standalone sequel. A follow-up to DC’s original movie Suicide Squad released back in 2016, the film sees imprisoned convicts Robert DuBois aka Bloodsport (Idris Elba), Christopher Smith aka Peacemaker (John Cena), Nanaue aka King Shark (Sylvester Stallone) held at Belle Reve penitentiary.

Assembled to complete a mission on the South American island of Corto Maltese, the convicts named ‘Task Force X’ are sent to destroy Jotunheim, a Nazi-era prison, and laboratory which held political prisoners and conducted experiments. Joined by Harley Quinn (Margot Robbie), Task Force X’s main mission is to stop the strangest supervillain to be introduced in a superhero film yet - a giant starfish named Starro. Along the way, some shocking but honestly not surprising things happen, of course, one of those being John Cena turning out to be the bad guy

With the addition of Idris Elba, who took over the lead role from Will Smith, The Suicide Squad is 1000% better than the original. Maybe Idris Elba was what DC needed all along to actually make the film digestible. His character of Bloodsport actually provides the franchise with some stability, giving the audience the chance to do something they didn’t do when watching the first film… laugh. It’s clear from the first viewing that the criticism in regards to the first film made the studio change their direction and approach with this one.

Whilst The Suicide Squad isn’t perfect, it makes for a good action-adventure superhero movie, finally providing the audience with humor, edgy adult material, and a plot that actually makes more sense (unlike the first one). Of course with Harley Quinn and Amanda Waller being the only two leads from the first film to make a return, The Suicide Squad feels slightly off with us not actually being provided an explanation as to what happened to the original members.

One of my favorite parts about the film was of course the action scenes. From Bloodsport vs Peacemaker to Starro being juiced to death by Harley Quinn, the fast-paced violent naughty yet irreverent fight scenes are somewhat gleeful and keep you engaged. James Gunn is one director I trust when it comes to correctly portray superheroes and their universe. We all saw the amazing work he did for Guardians of the Galaxy - and whilst The Suicide Squad isn’t exactly on its level, considering the most recent films to come out of the DC Universe, this one is up there as one of their best (yes that was shade!).

8/10

The Suicide Squad is out in cinemas on Friday 30th July 2021