Review of The Suicide Squad
midlandsmovies • August 11, 2021
The Suicide Squad (2021) Dir. James Gunn
After taking a bunch of obscure comic misfits into the big leagues with Guardians of the Galaxy, director James Gunn has found himself helming a quasi-sequel to Suicide Squad (2016) having been temporarily fired from his own Marvel franchise. Jumping over to the mostly awful DCEU (not sorry), and in the footsteps of Zack Snyder’s Justice League re-edit, could Gunn create a similar resurrection of his own?
Well, very much yes. Joel Kinnaman, Viola Davis, Jai Courtney and Margot Robbie are the lucky returnees from David Ayer’s first effort. And they’re joined by Idris Elba’s mercenary Bloodsport and John Cena’s “bro” Captain America-style douchebag Peacemaker.
CGI King Shark (Sly Stallone), David Dastmalchian as the quirky Polka-Dot Man and Daniela Melchior as Ratcatcher 2 round out the group of outcasts. And then there’s Milton (a regular nobody who is with the team for almost their entire journey to provide a joke late on in the film).
Gunn has pulled these unfamiliar superheroes directly from the most obscure 70s versions of the Squad and the film adds his familiar idiosyncratic humour, weird one-liners and plenty of gory blood to a lot of success.
Unlike the 2016 version, characters are introduced and established in minutes (instead of half the film’s runtime) and there’s a tongue-in-cheek knowingness that a film like this sorely needs - especially if you’re gonna have a monstrous shark-man (or weasel even) as part of the team.
The plot sees two squads, on the promise of less jail time, arrive at the island Corto Maltese (Vicky Vale’s photos of this were great in 1989 Batman, natch) to destroy a secret military facility. After a double-crossing ambush the remnants of the first team merge forces with the back-up group to join local rebels and continue their mission.
From rats saying hello to Polka-Dot man’s virus infected face, the film is an exciting mixture of superhero tropes, incredibly peculiar situations, beguiling humour and oddball action. As they trudge through the jungle there’s hints of the freaky team dynamics of Predator and, thankfully, almost none of dullness of their first outing.
The actors have great chemistry with each other (Cena and Elba trade barbs throughout) and Gunn’s script has them bantering and hollering but at the same time, he also allows time for them to bond naturally in slower scenes. This helps by adding some tonal humanity to his frankly ludicrous concept.
The film barrels along as Harley Quinn gets captured and then escapes in a hail of bullets and bouquets (don't ask) and eventually we discover Peter Capaldi’s “Thinker” who is working on a project which sees a giant Starfish attack a city. With smaller starfish emanating from its armpit, they attach themselves face-hugger style to people’s heads as a way to control the area's population. Just writing that sentence would have been unthinkable just a few years ago under Snyder’s tenure.
So where does that leave the DCEU? In many ways, who cares? Whether they’re using the same actors from previous unsuccessful attempts or simply creating standalone movies (Joker and the forthcoming Batman) it seems as long as they allow directors to complete a vision with as little studio interference as possible then they’re on to a winner.
With Joker, Snyder’s recent re-imagining and now The Suicide Squad, DC has provided far more imaginative films than any Marvel project since Endgame. And kudos (finally) to them for doing so. It’s been a long time coming.
So despite my scepticism that anything could be made from the DCEU corpse, Gunn proves he can polish even the dullest of franchise turds into something incredibly watchable and fun with huge energy and blockbuster thrills. This is how you do it.
★★★★
Michael Sales
On Sunday 26th April Midlands Movies Editor Michael Sales & awards ceremony co-host Ed Stagg (BBC Radio) announced the nominations for the 2026 Midlands Movies Awards live from the Queen of Bradgate Vintage Cinema in Leicester. A big thanks was given to the entire Jury Panel of industry experts who gave up their precious time to watch a huge selection of creative projects and as always, had a difficult time choosing from the excellent number of films from the region. You can read the full list of nominations across all 16 categories below and watch our announcement videos here: Part 1 & Part 2 And please also check out our great awards partner Chrome Video Best Actress in a Leading Role Karendip Phull for Family Kate Bracken for The Lace Rachel Baker for Throwing Fruit Chloe Wade for How Long Sophie Bullock for Ma Prison Best Animated Film Of All the Things by Steff Lee Big Red by James Pyle Statue in the Garden by Qianhui Yu Butterfly by Jacob Christie Best Director Luke Worrall for The Waterline Lily Portman for Quiet Jack Richardson for Daniel’s Room Jonathan Hawes for Sorry We’re Closed Sophia Dall'Aglio for Man from Mars Best Documentary Nothing's Impossible by Jacob Thomas McClean A Birmingham Symphony by Jemma Saunders We Bring Light: Leicester's Diwali Legacy by Kieran Vyas The Sunshine Café by Jill Lampert Through the Viewfinder by William North Best Sound (Editing or Mixing) Neil Evans & his team for Artificial Insanity Alasdair Gretton for Dead on Distribution Deepanjali Patel for Earworm David Hamilton-Smith for The Pause Heidi Wilson for Of All The Things Best Actor in a Supporting Role Devon Junior for Lazar Tim Sparrow for Safety Net Shaiek Ahmed Rana for Family Luke Rollason for Quiet Peter Willoughby for A Story of Spring Best Visual & Special Effects Jake Wesley-Worrall for Soul Trader Steve Askey & team for The Correction Unit Nick Willett, Matt Burkey & Jayne Hyman for Black Goat JaqD SFX MUA, Mind Magic Studios and Ben Harker for Beyond the Witching Hour Pete Key, Jai Blanks and Jacob Christie for Countenance Best Cinematography Gary Rogers for The Pause Laurence Mason-Guetta for Sorry We’re Closed Ian Snape for Soul Trader Ash Connaughton for Daniel’s Room Duane Adamoli for Surfing (nominations continue below...)
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