So I watched Suicide Squad (2021). I never watched the first one. The movie is fun, but it never felt as great as James Gunn's Guardians of the Galaxy movies. I can't help but make the comparison given that they are also movies based on a relatively unknown super hero team from a major comic book company. Suicide Squad has some genuinely hilarious moments and some decent action scenes, but there are also moments when the jokes fall flat. There's a lot of MCU/Joss Whedon style humor in the movie. Sometimes it works, sometimes it doesn't.
I hate John Cena as a pro wrestler and as a person, but he's pretty good in this movie much like how former wrestler Batista does a good job in the Guardians of the Galaxy movies.
I'm sick of Margot Robbie's Harley Quinn and just sick of Harley in general. DC seems to have a major hard on for her these days and it's getting old. A good chunk of this movie is wasted propping her up as a badass and a feminist icon. There's a whole section of the movie surrounding her that's kind of boring and I felt like the movie just got put on hold until we finally got past this part. It was like, okay now that we're done eating out Harley and convincing you that she is the baddest woman in comic books we can actually get back to the movie. ALL of her jokes were TERRIBLE by the way. She is just NOT funny. I know she's in the Suicide Squad in the comics, so she had to be in the movie, but I just found her annoying. Harley just doesn't work for me when she's not paired up with the Joker. She's not an interesting character and she's not funny. I feel like her whole character is, "I'm about to say something really stupid, and everyone is just going to smile because I'm hot and everyone wants to have sex with me"
Idris Elba is awesome because he's Idris Elba. When is he NOT awesome? Him and Cena have some good scenes and some good chemistry
Rick Flag was a cool character played well by Joel Kinnaman
Ratcatcher 2 is the best character in the movie and her little pet rat is cuter than Groot ever was in the Guardians movies. Every scene featuring him is great
King Shark is wasted in this movie. He has a few cute and funny scenes, but never does anything really useful and doesn't progress as a character at all. He is just sort of...there. Like the simple fact that there is a man eating, CGI, shark is such a cool idea that it justifies him being in the movie even though they never do anything interesting with him. Visually though, he DOES look amazing.
Amanda Waller is a BITCH. I know she's always been a shady, morally grey character in the DC universe, but this movie really goes overboard making her a monster...far from her more nuanced portrayal in other DC related things I've watched. I don't like it personally. Waller is a character who makes tough choices, often feeling that the ends justify the means. She's by no means a saint, but she's not exactly a monster either...but in this movie she very much is. Her portrayal in Justice League Unlimited...even some of her stuff on CW's Arrow is much better IMO. This movie's Waller is like a caricature of the character
Polka Dot Man is a weird-ass character, but he's kind of funny. He's probably the most charming character after Ratcatcher 2
There's a lot of clever visual things the movie does that may feel a bit gimmicky, but I think Gunn was maybe trying to give the movie a comic book like quality. There's a lot of words being put onscreen in clever ways as if to recreate the look of an actual comic book. I found it annoying after a while as it felt overdone, but I think hardcore comic book fans will appreciate it
I hated that the movie
and was mildly annoyed that
Also, the movie needed more action. There's a few good scenes, but it just never felt like enough. Course, that's probably cause they wasted an entire scene on JUST Quinn kicking ass by herself in what is supposed to be a team based movie
Overall, the movie is fun, but it feels like a bargain bin Guardians of the Galaxy movie. Not enough action, comedy that ranges from great to cringy, questionable use of some characters, and way too much Harley, The Guardians movies are sooooooo much better. Can we just kill off Harley in the next movie? Please?
I'd rate it a 6 or 7. By comparison, I'd rate the first guardians movie a 9 or 10 and the second one probably an 8.5. I loved those movies. The reception I'm seeing for this in some circles I follow reminds me of the first Wonder Woman movie with Gal Gadot, a decent comic book movie that people said was fantastic. Suicide Squad is decent, but not great.