Title: The Suicide Squad
Director: James Gunn
Starring: Margot Robbie, Idris Elba, John Cena, Joel Kinnaman, Sylvester Stallone, Viola Davis, Jai Courtney, and Peter Capaldi
Movie length: 2 hours 12 minutes
What it is: The James Gunn helmed sequel (albeit it is a standalone sequel) to 2016’s Suicide Squad, that sees a mostly new group of characters on a mission that they may not all survive.
What Dan thought: It’s a James Gunn helmed R-rated movie, so you can expect a few things…lots of violence, and a good soundtrack. It delivers both of those in loads. The movie also has a some great visual shots and CGI to cover up the copious amount of blood that would be in one scene involving Robbie’s Harley Quinn. The fight choreography was well done thanks to veteran stuntman/stunt and fight coordinator Richard Norton.
The standout star of the movie in my opinion is Daniela Melchior‘s Ratcatcher 2 who easily steals the scenes she is in. David Dastmalchian as Polka-Dot Man was used well for a character that is “one of the dumbest ever”, and the banter between Elba’s Bloodsport and Cena’s Peacemaker was definitely a highlight in my opinion. Nanaue / King Shark was also a highlight between Steve Agee’s (who did double duty as both the On-Set King Shark and John Economos) and Stallone handling the voice work, he may not have said a lot during the movie, but was well used when he did.
The song choices that Gunn and composer John Murphy fit the scenes quite well, including The Jim Carroll Band song “People Who Died”, and Johnny Cash’s “Folsom Prison Blues”.
Dan’s Grade: A. As I said above there are somethings you can expect from a James Gunn movie when he’s given free reign to do what he wants. And this movie delivers on all of them, good story, good action, good soundtrack, and over-the-top violence that one would expect from a R-Rated movie based on comic book stories. I plan on watching it again, albeit on HBO Max so I can pause and see if there are any Easter Eggs I might have missed, but for a first viewing I highly recommend a big screen for the full experience.
Here’s our own Darren Shulman along with Peyton Ennis‘ audio review of the movie: https://anchor.fm/darren-shulman/episodes/The-Suicide-Squad-Review-e15h9e2
The Suicide Squad will premiere in theaters in the United States on August 6th, after having premiered in the United Kingdom on July 30th. It will also be available on HBO Max beginning August 6th.
Do you plan to watch it? Let us know in the comments!
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Watched for the third time this morning 😀