The Sucide Squad (2021)

NOT WORTH A SECOND RUN

Perhaps is cynical to think that a second chance-type of move from the big corporations such as Warner Bros Pictures and DC Comics greenlights a second Suicide Squad, with partly the same cast five years before. Perhaps the companies are struggling in terms of money as they desperately need to get a similar story as we have already seen before. A group of criminals gets together on a governmental mission, to fight a supervillain. A similar plot was depicted in the comics and the movie five years before.

With this movie, maybe the producers might forget the other one. A clean slate. And with a new director on the spot and partly new re-casting of several characters with few returning, it looks like it might be a clean slate, but James Gunn’s vision of these characters doesn’t add much just as David Ayer’s version of the characters. Making the story with a different cast and director doesn’t change the outcome. Neither of these two directors doesn’t makes a trustworthy third act. Both movies are train-wreck in the end. Gunn’s version has a more sensible structure in terms of characters and notions. The latest addition to DC Extended Universe shows more care for the characters. The script doesn’t always work through the whole movie as there are some gleamy odd moments with Amanda Walker by Viola Davis and Gunn’s direction feels enzymatic at some points.

Not to mention the predictable ending and the safeguarding of some character’s death. Even if Peacemaker dies in the film, we get that he comes back later in the post-credits as it’s already confirmed that this character gets its own TV series. The acting is decent and there are some jokes that fall through but not many. The end scenes with the Starfish-fight are pathetic and don’t really relay some confidence in this motion picture. It’s gruesome for sure, violent, and filled with profanity. Much of this is unnecessary and doesn’t fill a function to elevate the film. It’s just there and feels empty.

The film itself is better than the failed attempt by David Ayer and a badly made joker played by Jared Leto but we did need this film either way. We don’t need to see people get killed thoughtless just for the entertainment’s sake, but as it supposes to be an action-comedy, we look through the fingers instead of preventing it. It feels like watching a sports game like a rerun of soccer or ice hockey. We know who is going to live and we get who is going to die. Although, the only character that resonated deeply with me was Ratcatcher II, who had a purpose in the film. The other character in the Squad didn’t come through on the screen. It was just another job. Another film to work with.