Review of The Suicide Squad (2021) by Th3Greenhorne7 — 06 Aug 2021

Well....this movie was insane, I mean really insane, but I thoroughly enjoyed this film. This is more of a comparison than a review, but I will kinda of review it. I'm gonna start with what I think this film did better than David Ayer's Suicide Squad and then say what I think David Ayer's Suicide Squad did better than James Gunn's The Suicide Squad.

What I think it did better than David Ayer's film:

The Cinematography and the action sequences: By the looks of it the action sequences were done more practically than in Ayer's version, takes were longer and more of the action was visible than Ayer's. The action sequences were beautifully shot, the camera was always following the action so you wouldn't miss much.

The Visual Effects & Costume Design: Surprisingly the visual effects in this film was phenomenal, I wasn't expecting it to look as good as it did, especially the CGI character of King Shark, the detail on his skin was mind-blowingly good, he really look real, yes I know he really isn't a regular shark given that he's walking around like a human but that's how good it was to me, plus the big baddie at the end Starro, once you were able to see what it looked like I was stunned at how well it blended in the live action elements, like King Shark the detail on Starro was insanely good. Now the costumes are exactly as I was expecting, when you have characters like Polka Dot Man, TDK, Javelin, and Peacemaker who are some the lesser known DC villain's who you consider C, D, or even lower grade villains of course their costumes are going to be absolutely ridiculous, and they totally are, but they looked amazing, some of them were vibrant with color as given so much detail that they looked awesome. Bloodsport and Harley Quinn's costumes were the standouts for me, I thought Bloodsports mask was freaking awesome, I got a Xenomorph vibe from it which was cool as hell, and Harley's costume felt like it was ripped from the comic pages itself, especially the two tone color scheme.

Some of the Lead and "Some of the" Supporting Cast: Idris Elba's Bloodsport and John Cena's Peacemaker were real standout among this ridiculously massive and star packed cast, especially how funny the two of them were especially when the two were trying to kill people in a more creative way as a way to prove who's better at killing. Daniela Melchior and David Dastmalchian as Ratcatcher 2 and Polka Dot Man were the emotional core of the film, Gunn really did a great job getting you to really feel for these characters and their backstories. Viola Davis as expected did a fantastic job as Amanda Waller, and Joel Kinnaman as Rick Flag made a HUGE improvement from the previous film, he wasn't as wooden as he was before.

Gunn's Signature Style: This film is very reminiscent of Gunn's Style of film from before he did Guardians of the Galaxy, they were screwed up and gory as hell, the fact that Warner Bros let him use that for a comic book movie is actually refreshing in the massive market of comic movies and shows, every now and then you have to change things up to keep it interesting and I'm happy he could let loose with this movie.

Now I really didn't like David Ayer's Suicide Squad but I'll admit there are some things I think it did a little better:

The Soundtrack: I know it's weird to start this off with that, but to be honest the music in Ayer's version is superior by quite a margin, I listen to a lot it's music still 5 years later, I mean come on, Skrillex, Lil Wayne, Twenty One Pilots, War, CCR, Rolling Stones, Wiz Khalifa, Imagine Dragons, Queen, Eminem! So many artists, it was a little disappointing but I'll admit that a good chunk of the budget for Gunn's version went to that ridiculously massive cast, so this a bit of nit pick.

Pacing, The off-putting Animal Cruelty, and Unnecessary Character Deaths: Ok, before I start, the whole Animal Cruelty thing, it's a nitpick also, I just didn't really understand why it needed to in the film, but this is coming from James Gunn's twisted mind, so I guess I should've expected it, but it just a tad too much. Now the pacing was a little slow when it came to the 2nd act of Gunn's version, but there was a lot of character development that needed to happen, but Ayer's version flowed better in my honest opinion given it was shorter. Finally, them character deaths, when they killed Slipknot in Ayer's version it sucked but it needed to happen, but when Boomerang, Flagg, and Polka Dot Man were killed off, it really didn't make much sense to me, especially Boomerang and Polka Dot Man.

Overall, I loved The Suicide Squad, it was an insanely fun and hilarious film packed to the brim with some awesome bloody and gorey action sequences some surprisingly outstanding VFX and a great cast with some awesome on screen chemistry was damn near perfect, but that second act slowed it a tad too much and some of the characters should of have more screen time, but James Gunn delivers it in style.