The Suicide Squad

Movie Name: The Suicide Squad
Year of Release: 2021
Director: James Gunn
Starring: Margot Robbie, Idris Elba, Viola Davis, John Cena, Joel Kinnaman, Alice Braga, Daniela Melchior, David Dastmalchian, Peter Capaldi, Juan Diego Botto, Michael Rooker, Nathan Fillion, Jai Courtney, Flula Borg, Mayling Ng, Pete Davidson, Sean Gunn, Steve Agee, Stephen Blackehart, Jennifer Holland, Storm Reid, Sylvester Stallone, Natalia Safran, Jared Leland Gore, Lynne Ashe, John Ostrander, Rey Hernandez
Genre: Action, Adventure, Comedy
Score out of ten (whole numbers only): 6
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Synopsis and Review:

Writer/Director James Gunn is back, following his latest feature "Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. II", which premiered in 2017. The film is a reboot from the previous iteration and adaptation of this comic, directed by David Ayer, which premiered in 2016 and was met with terrible reviews, even if it found its audience. This time around, Amanda Waller sets up another Suicide Squad, with the goal to destroy some classified research that has been going on in an island by the name of Corto Maltese. While the team initially is at odds with each other, they eventually start bonding, under the leadership of Bloodsport, with a good dash of lunacy and irreverence coming from Harley Quinn. As they get to the island, and the lab, they figure out there's a lot more to the original mission which wasn't unveiled by Waller, and as the challenges and mortality rate increase, they also have to make a stand if they believe in doing something selfless and right, or simply walking away and letting the whole island be destroyed.

One of the most interesting aspects of James Gunn's films, is how he always manages to permeate humor and a variety of pop culture references into his work. There's also a layer of self awareness to his characters, particularly as they themselves understand the over the top situations they find themselves in, which adds to the irony and humor he places on his narratives. However, his best features are also the ones where there isn't much self indulgence, where he mixes humor, violence, more intimate moments, with an actual arc to his characters, where even if they're barely defined, there's still a purpose to them. And while his take on "The Suicide Squad" has plenty of humor, violence and even some intimate moments, it lacks the essential purpose for what some of the characters are doing there, besides just making things explode and kill a lot of extras (and maybe that's much to expect from a comic book adaptation). The film is entertaining, visually inventive, but at times comes across as a compilation of character quirks, more so than an actually fully realized narrative. The cast is populated with great actors, including the always fantastic Viola Davis, who is more discrete in this version, whereas the center stage is taken by the always iconic Idris Elba, with great support from Margot Robbie, David Dastmalchian and Peter Capaldi. The production team responsible for crafting this film is impeccable, with highlights going to the fantastic visual effects, cinematography from Henry Braham and score from John Murphy. Entertaining and worth watching.