As far as movie disappointments go, Suicide Squad (2016) is up there for me. And since I’m one of those ‘once bitten, twice shy’ people, I took my sweet time to watch The suicide Squad (2021); DC’s James Gunn directed attempt to redeem themselves.
My main hope with Gunn’s movie was for the story to be great. And for the finished film to be worthy of Margot Robbie’s super captivating take on Harley Quinn. If you’ve seen the Suicide Squad Comic-Con trailers, then you understand.
I can say without hesitation that The Suicide Squad is unequivocally better than Suicide Squad (2016). But, did I love it? Well, my favourite characters are played by Robbie and Idris Elba; no surprises there. Robbie’s Harley Quinn isn’t even featured particularly heavily. But, thankfully, when she was on screen, missing her a little in other scenes proved just about worth it.
Story-wise, I had more fun with this second movie, thanks in part to one or two surprise twists and turns. There’s also the moments of excellent camerawork, stunt work, special effects and a particularly well-executed last quarter.
The parts that made my experience less than desired include the rather annoying characters who worked closely with Viola Davis’s Amanda Waller. There’s also a specific emotional scene between Elba and Cleo Cazo’s Ratcatcher that felt forced and not entirely earned. Lastly, I don’t love rats, AT ALL. But that weasel!
Perhaps I should just be grateful that this movie did a better job of weaving a story around many hardly known characters than the 2016 film. By ‘hardly known’, I mainly mean hardly known by non-readers of comic books, such as myself, of course. I’m certainly glad that Gunn’s movie is an improvement on the Suicide Squad story. Even if the film still has a somewhat empty/surface-level quality to it.
Besides The Suicide Squad being quite fun, particularly towards the end, both films are fixed in my mind as reminders of just how difficult it must be to deliver a truly great story, one that features many comic book characters.
Watch it if you’re curious. There’s definitely some fun to be had.
Happy Film Loving
G
The Movie My Life 
Maybe when it comes to DVD.
Can’t blame you. 😁
Nice review! I’m glad you liked it better than the 2016 version. I haven’t seen it yet, but I’m sure I will at some point.
Thank you. 🤓
I hope you find it fun.
I liked it. I thought it was so much fun. I won’t give it away , but I will say the first part of the movie left me with my mouth hanging open and forgetting I had a handful of popcorn because I was so engrossed in the movie.😂
There were some moments that I didn’t particularly care for and seemed a bit… reaching if you will, but as a whole I too liked it better than the first. Although I did like the first as well. I was really glad tho to see Joel Kinnaman’s character Rick Flag be more of a leader than a love struck I-cant-function-without-getting-my-woman-back. Although I think Margo Robbie and Idris Elba were the stars of the show. I really enjoyed them together. I have to say I even cared for polka dot man. And of course Milton 😁
That’s fantastic! I like your reaction to the first part. I’d definitely watch. a follow up Suicide Squad movie. Surely they can only get better and better.
Poor Milton! 😁 At least we remember him, even though he’s utterly forgettable to several other members of the squad. 🤓
Much as I loved this one I don’t think they’ve gotten Waller completely right yet. That whole sequence at the end with her and her employees bugged me. Especially since Gunn did such a great job with the other characters!
Glad you liked it. If enough people feedback similar thoughts to yours, who knows, they may just reimagine waller. 🤓
Yeah, I was disappointed too.
Hopefully, any follow ups can only improve.🤓 🤞🤞
I think I had a hard time with it on the violence. It was right when so much was happening all over – I know that seems like every day now – but I wanted an escape and it was just too much for me with it – it takes a lot for me to notice something like that and maybe it was just the wrong day to watch as well. These movies are always kinda the same, bad guys, good guys, destroying a city. ha!
That’s totally understandable, Peggy. It was a very particular kind of violence too.
I’m starting to feel like for every 100 movies I watch, there’s maybe one that ticks all my boxes at a given time. Most just tend to have some memorable moments and the rest is nothing especially new. Also, I’ve definitely watched movies on th e’wrong days.’