Pros:
1.) This movie is surprisingly over-the-top violent and I love it. With all these action scenes, it tries to show off as much gore as possible while making it funny in the process. In some cases, it is almost like The Suicide Squad was trying to do their own version of Mortal Kombat (which makes sense since Warner Bros. owns both DC and Mortal Kombat properties). If you want to see some dark comedy in these gore-filled action scenes, you are going to laugh and be amazed.
2.) The main plot reminds me of many 80s and 90s action flicks, and the movie takes full advantage of it. The Suicide Squad are sent to a fictional Southern American island country controlled by dictators in order to destroy a secret project there. If there is a specific action flick that this movie reminds me of, it would The Expendables movies, specifically the first one. Though there are a couple of issues I see in the plot, I found it to be a fun experience in the end. It is not meant to be a deep story (for the most part), and it wants to take you for a ride alongside with some exploding heads.
3.) Some of the members of the Suicide Squad are more interesting than others. The ones that stood out to me are Robert DuBois a.k.a. Bloodsport (played by Idris Elba), Harley Quinn (played by Margot Robbie), Christopher Smith a.k.a. Peacemaker (played by John Cena), Nanaue a.k.a. King Shark (voiced by Sylvester Stallone), and Cleo Cazo a.k.a. Ratcatcher 2 (played by Daniela Melchior). Besides their appearances and their actors playing them, they seemed to have some potential of deep characters and backstory that can be quite interesting (one of the members, Peacemaker is going to have his own HBO Max show down the line). You get to know who some of them are, and it is enough for people to care what is going to happen to them (unlike the last Suicide Squad movie where the filmmakers did a poor job in it)…
Cons:
1.) …The issues I have with these characters is that they did not do enough characterization to help audiences care more about them (with a couple of exceptions). They only have on-the-surface issues and not much else, slightly ruining any more interests and characterizations with them. The biggest example for me is Abner Krill a.k.a. Polka-Dot Man (played by David Dastmalchian); he is the weirdest member of the Suicide Squad and I thought they would do something interesting with him, but he is barely utilized in the movie, so the best things I know about him is his weird name and he has mommy issues. Honestly, if you think of some of the members of the Suicide Squad as the characters of Guardians of the Galaxy (Bloodsport is Star-Lord, Harley Quinn is Gamora, Peacemaker is Drax, Ratcatcher 2 is Rocket, and King Shark is Groot) except not as interesting, you probably get my point.
2.) Just like he did in Guardians of the Galaxy, James Gunn manages to put in a bunch of songs throughout the entire movie. However, just like the first Suicide Squad, it really does not have much purpose other than telling what is happening in the scene. While it is entertaining to hear, one of the reasons why the songs in Guardians of the Galaxy worked well is because it is a reminder of Star-Lord’s home planet of Earth. This may not be that big of an issue for you, but I wish that these songs are more than just entertainment for the ears.
3.) The third act is probably not a strong way to end this movie. Without spoiling anything, here is what I think is wrong with the last act: the Suicide Squad’s decision to pursue what happens is not really strong if you consider that these are criminals forced to do the government’s dirty work. I can probably see why Bloodsport might do this, but not the other remaining members. The other issue is what was once a search-and-destroy mission turned into a save-the-world mission; something I was hoping this movie was not going to do since it has been done so many times and it does not fit with these characters. Lastly, how the main villain gets defeated I found absolutely ridiculous even for this movie: it is similar to Star Wars: Return of the Jedi with the Galactic Empire losing to a bunch of Ewoks. It is not a terrible last act, but I found it to be a weak and poorly-delivered one.
Overall: The first Suicide Squad had an interesting concept of prisoners forced to do the government’s work for a reduced sentence, but it had poor story, characters, and other technical problems. Now comes the next Suicide Squad movie called The Suicide Squad (it is seriously a dumb title just by adding the “the”), but directed by the Guardians of the Galaxy director, James Gunn. Unlike David Ayer, Gunn did a good job making a movie about a bunch of criminals stopping evil in its tracks (I guess his work with Marvel definitely prepared him for this). Though it has some big issues here and there, it is clearly a movie about cool action with characters that are despicable but fun. It is definitely better than the last Suicide Squad, though I would not go as far as saying it is one of the best DCEU movies. If you wanted to see the Suicide Squad represented on screen well, this is the best you got; just be glad it did not blow up in its face.
7/10
benzeyeview 