THE SUICIDE SQUAD (2021) MOVIE NEWS & REVIEW

THE SUICIDE SQUAD (2021) movie

Genre              |   Science Fiction Action

Classification   |   MA 15+

Running time   |   132 minutes

Released         |   5 August 2021

cast

Margot Robbie ... Harley Quinn
Idris Elba ... Bloodsport
John Cena ... Peacemaker
Daniela Melchior ... Ratcatcher 2
David Dastmalchian ... Polka-Dot Man
Sylvester Stallone ... King Shark
Joel Kinnaman ... Colonel Rick Flag
Viola Davis ... Amanda Waller
Alice Braga ... Sol Soria
Michael Rooker ... Savant
Jai Courtney ... Captain Boomerang
Peter Capaldi ... Thinker
​Sean Gunn ... Weasel / Calendar Man

director

​James Gunn ... (directed by)

writer

James Gunn ... (written by)

cinematographer

​Henry Braham ... director of photography

music

​John Murphy ... (music by)

film editor

​Fred Raskin ... (edited by)
Christian Wagner ... (edited by)

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box office result

Worldwide               $? million

Australia                 $? million

North America        $? million

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movie minutiae

James Gunn specifically filled THE SUICIDE SQUAD with obscure and unknown villains since he felt that was more faithful to the Squad in the comics: "I wanted to stick with John Ostrander's original vision of mostly second-rate antagonists. There's an innate tragic element to supervillains who aren't even that good at being bad."

​James Gunn compared this film to GUARDIANS OF THE GALAXY (2014) he spoke about the the two franchise's inherent differences, with: I think you know from the beginning of the first Guardians that most likely, in his heart, Peter Quill is good, Gamora is good, Rocket is good, Drax is good. While both THE SUICIDE SQUAD and GUARDIANS OF THE GALAXY contain a wild group of comic book heroes fighting together, the teams couldn't be more different. One contains heroes that fight for good (and money), while Task Force X is made up of villains and killers. And when compared to Guardians, Gunn made it clear that the main distinction will be exactly who makes up each team. Gunn went on to speak about the group of villains in Task Force X, saying: "Some are not good people. They're bad people. It's less sentimental in that way. King Shark is much less sentimental than Groot."

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THE SUICIDE SQUAD (2021) MOVIE IMAGES

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Posters

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THE SUICIDE SQUAD (2021) STORY SYNOPSIS

From writer/director James Gunn comes Warner Bros. Pictures’ superhero action adventure THE SUICIDE SQUAD, featuring a collection of the most degenerate delinquents in the DC lineup.

Welcome to hell—a.k.a. Belle Reve, the prison with the highest mortality rate in the US of A.  Where the worst Super-Villains are kept and where they will do anything to get out—even join the super-secret, super-shady Task Force X.  Today’s do-or-die assignment?  Assemble a collection of cons, including Bloodsport, Peacemaker, Captain Boomerang, Ratcatcher 2, Savant, King Shark, Blackguard, Javelin and everyone’s favorite psycho, Harley Quinn.  Then arm them heavily and drop them (literally) on the remote, enemy-infused island of Corto Maltese. 

​Trekking through a jungle teeming with militant adversaries and guerrilla forces at every turn, the Squad is on a search-and-destroy mission with only Colonel Rick Flag on the ground to make them behave…and Amanda Waller’s government techies in their ears, tracking their every movement.  And as always, one wrong move and they’re dead (whether at the hands of their opponents, a teammate, or Waller herself).  If anyone’s laying down bets, the smart money is against them—all of them. 

THE SUICIDE SQUAD (2021) MOVIE REVIEW

Reviewed by Mark Geraghty   |   Review date 4 August 2021

Pop ​Movee Rating

James Gunn’s THE SUICIDE SQUAD takes the best parts of the 2016 SUICIDE SQUAD and harnesses them in a manner that delivers a film that marches to its own, perverse beat.

Gunn utilises his dual function as both Writer & Director to deliver viewers his version of THE DIRTY DOZEN; the 1967 film about a group of war prisoners who take on an almost impossible mission with the promise of being exonerated of their crimes if they succeed. The DC SUICIDE SQUAD Comic Book uses the same premise but in Gunn’s film he strips the story back to its bare bones. 

(Something to note is that THE SUICIDE SQUAD first appeared in a DC comic all the way back in 1959, so there may be an argument to suggest THE DIRTY DOZEN may have actually taken its inspiration from the comic book.)

THE SUICIDE SQUAD story is  pretty simple…

Amanada Waller (Viola Davis) from SUICIDE SQUAD is still in charge of selecting prisoners from the maximum security Belle Reve prison for dangerous, covert missions. If the prisoners succeed, they get time off their sentence. If they die trying, then, too bad...

Colonel Rick Flag (Joel Kinnaman) is still in charge of leading the missions and this time the freshly assembled team are off to Corto Maltese to stop a newly-installed military junta from making life too hard for the US by unleashing whatever may lurk in the country’s top secret scientific lab: Jotunheim.

Flag and his team, which also includes Margot Robbie’s Harley Quinn, are unaware that a second “Suicide Squad”, under the command of Idris Elba’s Bloodpsort, has also been dispatched to the island nation with the same objective.

Gunn gets to the point, laying down the plot within the first few minutes. Unlike the 2016 film, which takes a long time to get going due to the universe building it engages in at the beginning (with all its unnecessary Batman & Joker inclusions), THE SUICIDE SQUAD is up and running within the first five minutes.

The remainder of the film is a series of misadventures that see the SQUAD eventually, haphazardly find their way to Jotunheim and attempt to complete their mission objective.

As a film based on comic book characters, THE SUICIDE SQUAD doesn’t do anything that audiences haven’t seen over the last decade (and a bit) since Marvel decided to create their “Cinematic Universe”. Warner Bros, 20th Century Fox & Sony have all followed suit, attempting various interconnected stories where characters can exist within their own films but also contribute a larger, universe-building outing every so often to help perpetuate whatever franchise they exist within further into the future.

Warner Bros tried this with both Superman and Batman with their respective Henry Cavill & Ben Affleck films which then expanded into an anticipated Justice League series, featuring Wonder Woman, Aquaman, The Flash and Cyborg.

As part of this universe building, Warner Bros decided to tap into DC’s vast array of villains & anti-heroes, all of whom always seemed much more intriguing than anything the Caped Crusader or Man of Steel had to offer.

Who wants to be good when you can be realy, really bad?

So, the 2016 SUICIDE SQUAD came into being.

While it was a Box Office hit, it was not what many had hoped for.

The release of JOKER (2019), with Joaquin Phoenix, drew a stark contrast between SUICIDE SQUAD and what could be achieved when the story is about the character and not the “Fetch Quest”.

Enter James Gunn.

Gunn, who had parted ways with Marvel Studios, was in the process of seeking forgiveness for being too thoughtless in a lot of things he’d said earlier in his career, before he’d become successful. Unlike many people in the entertainment game, his apologies didn’t sound like they’d been generated in a crisis management think tank. The wave of support from those close to him painted a picture of a guy who, at his core, is actually a decent person. He just said some pretty shitty things that he thought sounded funny at the time.

Ironically, it’s the offbeat, absurd, perverse wit that pumps the heart of THE SUICIDE SQUAD...

While THE SUICIDE SQUAD plot is very much like THE DIRTY DOZEN, in terms of comic book cinematic adaptations, the closest comparison to THE SUICIDE SQUAD is DEADPOOL 2 (2018). 

THE SUICIDE SQUAD has a similar irreverence with a no holds barred approach to violence, but, unlike both DEADPOOL (2016) and DEADPOOL 2, THE SUICIDE SQUAD is not held together by a singular, idiosyncratic performance.
Gunn shares his sense of the ridiculous among all his players...

Margot Robbie’s Harley Quinn is back in form, after something of a misfire in her stand alone BIRDS OF PREY (2020) feature film. Harley gets one very large set-piece two thirds of the way through the film, highlighting that she’s still just as dangerous as she is crazy. Margot Robbie slips into the character effortlessly, relishing the chance to play a more self-assured version than her 2016 or 2020 renditions.

Not to be outdone, Idris Elba makes the most of Bloodsport, whose character was written into the story after Will Smith opted out of the new film. Keeping the option open for Smith to return as Deadshot, Elba was cast as Bloodsport. To be honest, Elba’s portrayal is far more authentic than Smith’s because he’s so much more jaded with the world, rolling his eyes and mumbling “What the fuck..” at just about everything before him. 

Also impressive are Daniela Melchoir as Ratcatcher 2 and David Dastmalchian as Polka-Dot Man. 

While Melchoir’s Ratcatcher 2 does not possess any special superpower, by virtue of her late father’s scientific work, she has a device that harnesses the power to communicate with and control rats. It may not seem like much, but it turns out to be a pretty handy trick.

Dastmalchian is the only person in the story who possesses a “superpower”, but in keeping with Gunn’s desire to use lesser known, second string characters, Polka-Dot Man’s “superpower” is exactly what his name suggests. He shoots an array of brightly coloured Polka-Dots brought on when he envisages the face of his Mother on his enemies. Gunn has a lot of fun with the Freudian overtones of Polka-Dot Man’s powers, helping to bolster some of the film’s later action scenes with some of the most absurd imagery to find its way into a Comic Book Studio Blockbuster.

Unfortunately, THE SUICIDE SQUAD release will yet another that is marred by ongoing COVID lockdowns and restrictions both here in Australia and elsewhere around the world. Hopefully, the film finds enough success to warrant another mission. 

Under the stewardship of James Gunn, DC have found a filmmaker for their SUICIDE SQUAD franchise whose joy of the absurd has taken a bunch of outcasts, misfits & moral reprobates and imbued them with just enough self-awareness that make the viewer understand where they’re coming from without having to make them sympathetic.

In that sense, THE SUICIDE SQUAD is a very personal film. The added bonus is that it is also a highly entertaining absurd science fiction action romp that hits the right tone for these strange times.

THE SUICIDE SQUAD MOVIE (2021) USEFUL LINKS

The Suicide Squad (film) - Wikipedia
​The Suicide Squad (2021) - IMDb
​The Suicide Squad (2021) - Rotten Tomatoes​
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