The Suicide Squad (2021) Review

THE FOLLOWING REVIEW CONTAINS SPOILERS OF THE DISCUSSED FILM. READERS DISCRETION IS ADVISED.

Everyone knows that Suicide Squad was a guilty pleasure mess in 2016. So no one expected a sequel to fix its issues until it did.

PLOT

The 2021 follow up shows ARGUS director Amanda Waller assembling a new team of convicts from Belle Reve that is ‘Task Force X’. The new mission is to go to the South American island nation of Corto Maltese, one that is overthrown by an anti American regime led by Silvio Luna (Juan Diego Botto) and Major General Mateo Suárez (Joaquín Cosío). When they reach the nation, they must confront chief scientist Garius Grieves/The Thinker, one who gains his hyper intelligence from electronics embedded on his head. When they find him, they must make him let them into the laboratory ‘Jotunheim’. And once they’re in, they must destroy all evidence of ‘Project Starfish’. Whoever survives and accomplishes the mission, will get time reduced from their prison sentences. Those who attempt to flee will be killed from nanite explosives implanted behind their necks. This time around, Waller assembles two different teams. The first team has Colonel Rick Flag leading the likes of: mercenary Harleen Quinzel/Harley Quinn, George ‘Digger’ Harkness/Captain Boomerang (Jai Courtney) a thief who wields boomerangs, alien mass murderer Mongal (Mayling Ng), self styled vigilante Brian Durlin/Savant (Michael Rooker), Cory Pitzner/TDK (The Detachable Kid) [Nathan Fillion] who can literally detach his arms from his body, Gunter Braun/Javelin (Flula Borg), a former Olympic athlete who wields javelins for weapons, criminal Richard Hertz/Blackguard (Pete Davidson), and an anthropomorphic Weasel (Sean Gunn). The second team includes marksman Robert DuBois/Bloodsport who will lead the likes of: fish-human hybrid Nanaue/King Shark, extremist Christopher Smith/Peacemaker, metahuman Abner Krill/Polka Dot Man who can release actual polka dots from his body that cause disintegration to whatever/whoever they touch and Cleo Cazo/Ratcatcher 2 who can control rats with a rat communicator like her father, the first Ratcatcher (Taika Waititi). Bloodsport only agrees to join so that Waller doesn’t transfer his daughter Tyla (Storm Reid) to Belle Reve for a minor crime of theft. When the first team makes their way in, Weasel is the first to presumably die after drowning, while most of the team are killed when Blackguard gives away his position (as part of his act to foil his own schemes). When Savant tries to flee, Waller kills him by setting off his nanite. Harley gets taken to Luna’s palace while Flag gets picked up by a regime led by Sol Soria (Alice Braga). Bloodsport’s team than gets sent to rescue him, unaware of who the freedom fighters are. Despite the misunderstanding, Soria agrees to help them make way into Corto Maltese. Harley does meet Luna and he proposes to her, believing she symbolizes anti America. She briefly accepts but than chooses to kill him when he claims to use Project Starfish against other nations. This results in her being arrested and interrogated by Suárez. The rest of the squad find The Thinker at a nightclub, thanks to Sofia’s associate Milton (Julio Ruiz) helping them make way into Corto Maltese. Bloodsport, Flag & Peacemaker get made by local authorities while Krill & Cazo flee with The Thinker. The first three are able to break free as they were being transported. Their new task is to rescue Harley after discovering she’s held prisoner. She’s does break out on her own and regroups with them before they could rescue her. Once all have regrouped, the squad breaks into Jotunheim, thanks to The Thinker’s access. Bloodsport, Harley, Nanaue, Krill & Milton set up explosives all over the building while Flag & Cazo go to the Thinker’s laboratory with the scientist himself. There, he reveals that he’s been experimenting on an extraterrestrial he calls ‘Starro the Conqueror’. He than shares that since Americans brought it to earth, they’ve been involved with funding the experiments. Knowing that the real mission was to cover up their involvement, Flag intends to reveal this to the world. Peacemaker however reveals he was secretly assigned to Waller to ensure that America’a involvement is not revealed. At the top of the building, there is a shootout between the rest of the Squad & more militia. Milton gets shot in the crossfire but when Krill releases more polka dots, they accidentally set off the explosives early. As the building gets destroyed, Starro breaks free after killing its tormentor Grieves. Peacemaker is able to kill Flag to secure America’s image. Cazo sees this, retrieves the drive and runs away from him. He does try to kill her but is shot in the neck by Bloodsport, who survives from falling debris. Just as she explains what happened, Starro is completely free from the rubble. It than begins to take over Corto Maltese by summoning spores to control all humans. Waller orders the squad to leave as their mission was a success. But they choose to stop the extraterrestrial, knowing that the rest of the world could be next. She intends to kill them all, but one of her subordinates incapacitates her and allows the team to do the right thing. Nanaue tries to eat his way through the extraterrestrial, but that backfires as he gets tossed into another building that collapses. Krill throws polka dots at Starro, but the injuries were temporary which results in him being crushed by it. Cazo summons every rat in the island to devour it from the inside. This is only possible when Harley stabs through its eye with a javelin that formerly belonged to Javelin himself. As Starro is defeated, Soria takes control of Corto Maltese’s government and pledges democratic elections. Bloodsport blackmails Waller to fully pardon the remaining team and leave his daughter alone, in exchange of not posting America’s involvement of Project Starfish to the public. As they board on a plane, the films two post credit scenes that reveal Weasel and Peacemaker survive from their presumed deaths. While Weasel’s survival remains unknown to Waller, Peacemaker is found in the rubble of Jotunheim, recovering from his injuries and is now under supervision of her subordinates. THOUGHTS

Whatever hype I had, I chose to have low expectations to avoid a second batch of disappointment. After getting the chance to see this in theaters in 2021, I’m happy to say that I really had a blast this time around. Due to the creative freedom, Writer/Director James Gunn nailed every aspect David Ayer was unable to do: While there was interesting action sequences before, they felt like dress rehearsals compared to the ones here. The way they can be zany yet graphic is pretty intriguing. All may look absurd, yet succeed in being epic as well. The comedic scenes may appear excessive due to having more than expected. That thought disappears when they land. An obvious improvement is there use of visual effects, which are at their best use when focusing on Starro. This was a character I never expected to be on the big screen for two reasons. The first would be my original worry on how it'd look through CGI. It goes without saying that I was impressed with the final product. The second would be because I always thought that this character would debut through a Justice League film, as it was the first foe for the iconic team in the comics. With that being said, I was blown away how it worked out being a threat to the squad. There is no exaggeration with Starro being looked at as Kaiju like threat because this thing lives up to being that dangerous. You add the fact of it releasing spores on others as an act of creating an extension of itself, this is definitely a creature to be intimidated of. And surprisingly, I was caught off guard of its last words made me sympathize with the creature, "I was happy, floating, starting at the stars". It comes to show how some things should be left alone for the greater good. Like Guardians of the Galaxy, the reason that Gunn does a better job with this concept is because of how he has us invest with characters that were first looked at as lesser known in the comics. We end up liking them because he: Uses their absurdities to create intrigue and use their flaws to make us relate, a method that works very well. Even when a character has a few minutes to shine, no one feels wasted and become memorable whether they're plot integral or used as a throwaway joke. While some actually are meant to be the butt of the joke, you stick with them until they're gone. Once you're aware that anyone can die, you have to prepare for the dread. And when one actually does meet his/her end, you're immediately bummed. But at the same time, you won't be too bummed because guessing who will make it is what makes the film all the more fun. Having said all of that, the cast members that were able to impress me throughout are the ones that were plot integral. Thinking about the returning characters, the first one that easily impresses me is the mainstay that is Harley Quinn. Margot Robbie returns and continues to be the life of the party with this energetic role. Between her acts of suicide, she is someone who is becoming a better person within. Seeing her 'Rotten' tattoo removed from her face and her back tattoo now saying 'Property of No One' reminds us that she is her own woman this time. She never puts herself in a vulnerable state because she has created a better judgment than before. She did the right thing killing Luna because she thought about Joker the way he spoke. The last thing she needed is to enter another bad relationship. That moment came to show how she is still in pain behind the quirky side she expresses throughout. Since she is one of the last members remaining to be pardoned, there really is no telling of what her journey can head to next. Joel Kinnaman got the chance to flesh out Rick Flag properly/ Rather than being an exposited machine, you do feel that he's a serious soldier that has grown charm. Seeing how he attempts to bond with his teammates comes to show how much he's changed since his first squad mission. While his good morals got him killed, the respect of him to do the right thing will never go away. Viola Davis was bad to the bone when we first saw her as Amanda Waller. In her second outing, she is just that but dialed up. It was self aware of how selfish and manipulative she'd be to get what she wants. What makes it shocking to see is due to how she's more ruthless about it. You can almost call her the real villain because her decisions are the coldest. She was willing to kill the remaining members of the squad who were gonna save the world. While this is only because she didn't think of the bigger picture of what Starro could do, it is pretty messed up that she was willing to go that far to get what she wants. I admit that I found it a relief that her subordinates stood up to her because everyone has a limit and they drew the line with that moment. Going into the new characters, it is easy to mistake Bloodsport with either Deadshot or Deathstroke because of the fact that he is well equipped and is a loving father. The difference he has between those guys is that he displays more compassion while being a hardened person. And Idris Elba nailed every aspect of that just right. The second you see him completely land from the debris and shoot down Peacemaker, you truly believe that he took down Superman. Prior to seeing this film, I always recall Polka Dot Man as the worst character ever written in a comic book because the costume and abilities were just too ridiculous compared to beloved characters. The negativity disappears when David Dastmalchian excellently displays him to be a soft spoken and dourly dispirited figure, which is the result of being experimented by his mother. Since his death was the most sudden, I appreciate that he got a slight bit of joy being a hero. When reading the comics, King Shark was always my favorite character of the squad because of how he was the most invulnerable/strongest within each story. While sounding adorable, the legendary Sylvester Stallone does great in portraying the powerhouse as one who acts in a bipolar manner, with just his voice. You laugh that he speaks a few tender words, but than you want to take a step back when he chooses to be violent. You'll laugh if he's staring at a bird, but your face will turn pale once he says 'Nom Nom'. The Ratcatcher was the one character in this film I had no idea of, so I had no idea what to expect from the name alone. Afterwards, I was blown away on how Daniela Melchior brought such heart to the role. She succeeds at it because she portrays her as the most sweet and endearing of the squad. Seeing her choose to see good in everyone makes you respect her spirit. Even though she lost her father at a young age, the respect for her rises high to how she refused to be helpless. At first her staff looks weird, but than you don't think about that when an army of rats can show up at her disposal. Seeing how many can show up in a short period of time comes to show she is arguably the most powerful as well. I was briefly terrified of how thousands swarmed over Starro. But at the same time, that was the most badass moment of the whole film. I wasn't sure who Peter Capadli was gonna play when first hearing he would join the cast. Than again, he couldn't be anymore of a perfect choice for The Thinker because in his given time, he pulled off embracing him to be so sly and self preserving as expected. Because of that, I wish he had more scenes where his powers are actually on display. Last but not least, my favorite performance is gonna go to John Cena as Peacemaker. For years, I have been waiting to see him play a villain and he does it spectacularly as the jingoistic patriot. At first, you'll laugh when he claims he'll eat a beach full of dicks for liberty. But than your head will turn out of shock when he also says he'll kill children to achieve peace. Someone with that mindset can become the most psychotic. Waller picked him to cover up America's involvement with Project Starfish because she knew how far he'd go to do it. He proved his commitment by killing Flag. Since he survived the rubble, you should've expected that his HBOMax series was gonna be something beyond what we experienced here. Just because this is an improvement does not mean it didn't have its own issues. First off, why didn't Waller check if Weasel can't swim?If she is willing to go out of her way to manipulate Bloodsport, that should've been easy to do. I get that Savant is scared to die because of how quick the other before him did so. But seriously, how would he escape the ocean? Even if he can swim, the guy had no plan and summoned his fate like Slipknot. Also, how did Harley get her dress on when she was tied up? If she had carved wood to cut the rope, that is something that should've been acknowledged because I was confused on how she got untied. It is pretty crazy that Peacemaker survived the rubble of Jotunheim after getting shot in the neck, but how'd he survive the car crash and not get injured?He stuck his arm out to turn the wheel, and I don't believe he had enough time to get it out of the hole. And why would Waller not be cool with her crew having a deadpool over the squad? This is her idea to get these people killed for her own gain, so she could encourage this shit rather than discourage. Another weird thing I noticed was how it takes a while for Waller's UAV monitor to view soldiers from Corto Maltese until the squad arrives? I know this is a good build up for most of the squad to get killed off hilariously, but it's pretty weird on how slow it takes for the suspense to kick in. If Blackguard had something to do with that, I kinda wish that was clarified. I even thought it was cute for Cazo to have a decor in her cell, but why does she have a hamster ball? Her pet rat Sebastian (Dee Bradley Baker) ain't gonna fit in that thing, so that's kinda pointless to display. It looked useful to see the rats controlled by Ratcatcher 2 shut off a camera, but why weren't the other cameras dealt with? If that was pulled off, the squad would have likely had a better chance against the militia. It is definitely funny as hell where Bloodsport and Peacemaker are having a measuring contest while killing Sol Soria's crew stealthily, but how come neither her nor Flag not hear the ruckus Polka Dot man made? It's not like there's a surround sound stereo/radio playing. Also, how are Flag, Bloodsport and Peacemaker not injured during their car crash? Especially Peacemaker because I have a hard time processing that he got his hand out of the hole in time before it starts flipping. I'm even tripped out of the Colonel doesn't even shoot at the remaining squad before Starro comes out. I mean those are the guys that destroyed the place. I know we need them to stop Starro anyway, but the Colonel had no reason to spare before shit hits the fan even more. And lastly, why does Harley take the high ground? Yeah the javelin was useful, but Bloodsport is the one with nanotech. On paper, that sounds better than a javelin, so imagine if they still pulled it off the other way around. Other than that, my love for this movie will never change. In conclusion, The Suicide Squad is the best film in the DCEU since Wonder Woman because of how they nail the character driven arcs and it knows what it wants to be, not falling off course at all. If you hated the first film, pretend that it doesn't exist and see this one now.