![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
Entry tags:
Review: The Suicide Squad (2021)
This movie was fine. It was something that was slightly different from the usual MCU film. I think this is probably what the original Suicide Squad movie was supposed to be, except that movie took itself too seriously (and also apparently had a lot of last minute changes that derailed its entire intended vision). Anyway this movie was a mindless superhero movie that had a bit of comedy. Like many modern superhero movies, it did have a political angle.
Spoilers.
Story
The hero of our movie was Bloodsport/Robert Dubois. He was blackmailed by Amanda Waller to lead a mission to the fictional Corto Maltese to kill the secret experiment Project Starfish. It turns out the project was developed by the Americans, who had paid Corto Maltese to conduct the grotesque experiments on their soil. But Corto Maltese was going through political instability, and the Americans were worried about Project Starfish coming to light.
The movie began with Bloodsport getting his team of heroes together. Unlike the suicide squad in the first movie, his squad was nowhere near as cool, made of up heroes whose powers were odd or a little useless, plus Peacemaker who had the exact same skills as him.
Project Starfish was revealed to be Starro the Conqueror, an alien who grew in power as their little starfish would "infect" humans. The humans would then become extensions of Starro and do their bidding.
Sol Soria was the leader of a rebel group who wanted to take down the political authorities, and allied with the Suicide Squad to carry out her goals.
Peacemaker was revealed to have had a separate mission as assigned by Waller to ensure that evidence of Starro being an American experiment never left the facility. He and Rick Flag fought to the death over the hard drive of information but he was later taken out by Bloodsport.
A subplot involved Harley Quinn being wooed by Luna, the original political leader, but she killed him because of his part in the experiments. She joined forces with the Suicide Squad and later helped take down Starro.
Bloodsport motivated his teammates in various ways to take out Starro and they ultimately killed him.
Using the hard drive of evidence, Bloodsport bargained for the release of him and his teammates. In the post-credits scene, it was revealed that Peacemaker did not die and Waller assigned her subordinates to manage him.
Production
The production was fine. It generally looked like a regular superhero movie. The places where this movie differed included the chapter title cards, as well as various musical scenes, which were reminiscent of some of the trailers for the original Suicide Squad movie.
The acting was fine. This wasn't a highly emotionally complex movie so not much was required imo.
Characters
Bloodsport/Robert Dubois
Bloodsport was in prison and he had a poor relationship with his daughter. At the beginning, she was caught for stealing and Bloodsport and her got into an argument because she clearly wanted more attention from her father who made it clear that he never wanted a daughter.
Bloodsport's fatherhood character arc was not well done. He showed concern for his daughter when Waller made him join her mission by threatening jail time for her, in the jail he was at that had a high mortality rate. During the mission, Bloodsport bonded a bit with Ratcatcher 2 who still somewhat grieved for her dead father. And at the end of the movie, Bloodsport's daughter saw that he had saved Corto Maltese. But that didn't negate the terrible things he said to her. That wouldn't have been enough to convince his daughter that he loved her because he straight up said he didn't want a daughter.
Bloodsport also had a leadership story arc. Bloodsport insisted that he wasn't a leader and Waller said she would make him one because she saw the traits in him. During the movie, Bloodsport got to know his teammates and then were able to motivate them to take down Starro. I guess he did end up becoming a leader but eh, it was a little corny.
All that being said, Idris Elba was still a very charismatic superhero. We know he's a good actor so both the (few) serious parts and the comedic parts of the movie were easy peasy for him. I would probably consider watching another movie where he plays Bloodsport.
Peacemaker/Christopher Smith
Peacemaker was Bloodsport's nemesis, having the same skills as him. His schtick was the competition between him and Bloodsport.
It was later revealed that he had a separate mission and he clashed with Rick Flag and the other teammates over the hard drive of information.
He killed Rick Flag and was going to kill Ratcatcher 2 but Bloodsport came in time and killed him, using the smaller bullets, which Peacemaker had said at the beginning made him a better shooter.
It was revealed that Peacemaker did not die and that Waller had other plans for him to save the world. So maybe he'll be the hero of a later Suicide Squad movie.
Ratcatcher 2/Cleo Cazo
Ratcatcher 2 had the power to speak to rats. She was shown as a kind but tired young woman.
We got a deeper look into her character during her conversation with Bloodsport. Her father was smart and kind but they struggled to make a living. But he passed down the love of rats to Cleo. And that was probably why Cleo grew up such a sympathetic woman.
She befriended King Shark when he was still a dangerous being, and turned him into a friend. In the end, the rats of Corto Maltese helped take down Starro by eating him from within.
King Shark/Nanaue
Nanaue was a humanoid shark who ate humans. At the beginning he was kind of dangerous and almost ate Cleo but she believed in him and befriended him and from then on he didn't eat the teammates, though he did eat other people they had to take down.
King Shark was treated like a child/pet by the other teammates.
Polka-Dot Man/Abner Krill
Polka-Dot man was a melancholy man who had an interdimensional illness. Polka dots would grow in his skin and he would have to release them or else he would die. They would be released in violent bursts.
It was revealed that his mom was obsessed with her kids becoming superheroes and had exposed him and his siblings to the interdimensional virus. Some of the siblings died and some like Polka-dot man lived. However, he carried with him trauma from the experience and he saw everybody as his mother.
Polka-dot was also a bit of a sympathetic man, who bonded with Milton despite the others totally forgetting he was there.
In the end, he took out one of Starro's legs with his polka-dot bursts.
Rick Flag
Rick Flag was the leader from the original suicide squad, and was coincidentally a former colleague of Bloodsport's. The Suicide Squad found Rick Flag with Soria.
Rick Flag asked the team to help him save Harley Quinn before they went to take down Starro. Rick Flag died in the scuffle with Peacemaker.
Harley Quinn
Harley Quinn was brought to Luna because he wanted to marry her. Apparently she was a symbol of anti-Americanness and that was why he wanted her. However, Harley Quinn killed him after realizing he experimented on kids.
Harley Quinn joined the crew to take down Starro.
Amanda Waller
Waller as usual played the administrative person who assigned the Suicide Squad to the mission. She was shown to be rather cruel, with her subordinatars worrying that she would actually hurt innocent people for the mission. They ultimately knocked her out when she was about to kill the members of the Suicide Squad. I thought more would be made of that but apparently Waller just took revenge by assigning her subordinates to take care of Peacemaker.
Themes
I think the movie wanted to acknowledge American war crimes by highlighting that Starro was an American experiment. But still, it ended up portraying America in a positive light, showing how the Suicide Squad helped Corto Maltese gain democracy. Yeah, eye roll.
Overall
Overall, it was an okay movie. It was fun and not boring because it didn't take itself too seriously.
Spoilers.
Story
The hero of our movie was Bloodsport/Robert Dubois. He was blackmailed by Amanda Waller to lead a mission to the fictional Corto Maltese to kill the secret experiment Project Starfish. It turns out the project was developed by the Americans, who had paid Corto Maltese to conduct the grotesque experiments on their soil. But Corto Maltese was going through political instability, and the Americans were worried about Project Starfish coming to light.
The movie began with Bloodsport getting his team of heroes together. Unlike the suicide squad in the first movie, his squad was nowhere near as cool, made of up heroes whose powers were odd or a little useless, plus Peacemaker who had the exact same skills as him.
Project Starfish was revealed to be Starro the Conqueror, an alien who grew in power as their little starfish would "infect" humans. The humans would then become extensions of Starro and do their bidding.
Sol Soria was the leader of a rebel group who wanted to take down the political authorities, and allied with the Suicide Squad to carry out her goals.
Peacemaker was revealed to have had a separate mission as assigned by Waller to ensure that evidence of Starro being an American experiment never left the facility. He and Rick Flag fought to the death over the hard drive of information but he was later taken out by Bloodsport.
A subplot involved Harley Quinn being wooed by Luna, the original political leader, but she killed him because of his part in the experiments. She joined forces with the Suicide Squad and later helped take down Starro.
Bloodsport motivated his teammates in various ways to take out Starro and they ultimately killed him.
Using the hard drive of evidence, Bloodsport bargained for the release of him and his teammates. In the post-credits scene, it was revealed that Peacemaker did not die and Waller assigned her subordinates to manage him.
Production
The production was fine. It generally looked like a regular superhero movie. The places where this movie differed included the chapter title cards, as well as various musical scenes, which were reminiscent of some of the trailers for the original Suicide Squad movie.
The acting was fine. This wasn't a highly emotionally complex movie so not much was required imo.
Characters
Bloodsport/Robert Dubois
Bloodsport was in prison and he had a poor relationship with his daughter. At the beginning, she was caught for stealing and Bloodsport and her got into an argument because she clearly wanted more attention from her father who made it clear that he never wanted a daughter.
Bloodsport's fatherhood character arc was not well done. He showed concern for his daughter when Waller made him join her mission by threatening jail time for her, in the jail he was at that had a high mortality rate. During the mission, Bloodsport bonded a bit with Ratcatcher 2 who still somewhat grieved for her dead father. And at the end of the movie, Bloodsport's daughter saw that he had saved Corto Maltese. But that didn't negate the terrible things he said to her. That wouldn't have been enough to convince his daughter that he loved her because he straight up said he didn't want a daughter.
Bloodsport also had a leadership story arc. Bloodsport insisted that he wasn't a leader and Waller said she would make him one because she saw the traits in him. During the movie, Bloodsport got to know his teammates and then were able to motivate them to take down Starro. I guess he did end up becoming a leader but eh, it was a little corny.
All that being said, Idris Elba was still a very charismatic superhero. We know he's a good actor so both the (few) serious parts and the comedic parts of the movie were easy peasy for him. I would probably consider watching another movie where he plays Bloodsport.
Peacemaker/Christopher Smith
Peacemaker was Bloodsport's nemesis, having the same skills as him. His schtick was the competition between him and Bloodsport.
It was later revealed that he had a separate mission and he clashed with Rick Flag and the other teammates over the hard drive of information.
He killed Rick Flag and was going to kill Ratcatcher 2 but Bloodsport came in time and killed him, using the smaller bullets, which Peacemaker had said at the beginning made him a better shooter.
It was revealed that Peacemaker did not die and that Waller had other plans for him to save the world. So maybe he'll be the hero of a later Suicide Squad movie.
Ratcatcher 2/Cleo Cazo
Ratcatcher 2 had the power to speak to rats. She was shown as a kind but tired young woman.
We got a deeper look into her character during her conversation with Bloodsport. Her father was smart and kind but they struggled to make a living. But he passed down the love of rats to Cleo. And that was probably why Cleo grew up such a sympathetic woman.
She befriended King Shark when he was still a dangerous being, and turned him into a friend. In the end, the rats of Corto Maltese helped take down Starro by eating him from within.
King Shark/Nanaue
Nanaue was a humanoid shark who ate humans. At the beginning he was kind of dangerous and almost ate Cleo but she believed in him and befriended him and from then on he didn't eat the teammates, though he did eat other people they had to take down.
King Shark was treated like a child/pet by the other teammates.
Polka-Dot Man/Abner Krill
Polka-Dot man was a melancholy man who had an interdimensional illness. Polka dots would grow in his skin and he would have to release them or else he would die. They would be released in violent bursts.
It was revealed that his mom was obsessed with her kids becoming superheroes and had exposed him and his siblings to the interdimensional virus. Some of the siblings died and some like Polka-dot man lived. However, he carried with him trauma from the experience and he saw everybody as his mother.
Polka-dot was also a bit of a sympathetic man, who bonded with Milton despite the others totally forgetting he was there.
In the end, he took out one of Starro's legs with his polka-dot bursts.
Rick Flag
Rick Flag was the leader from the original suicide squad, and was coincidentally a former colleague of Bloodsport's. The Suicide Squad found Rick Flag with Soria.
Rick Flag asked the team to help him save Harley Quinn before they went to take down Starro. Rick Flag died in the scuffle with Peacemaker.
Harley Quinn
Harley Quinn was brought to Luna because he wanted to marry her. Apparently she was a symbol of anti-Americanness and that was why he wanted her. However, Harley Quinn killed him after realizing he experimented on kids.
Harley Quinn joined the crew to take down Starro.
Amanda Waller
Waller as usual played the administrative person who assigned the Suicide Squad to the mission. She was shown to be rather cruel, with her subordinatars worrying that she would actually hurt innocent people for the mission. They ultimately knocked her out when she was about to kill the members of the Suicide Squad. I thought more would be made of that but apparently Waller just took revenge by assigning her subordinates to take care of Peacemaker.
Themes
I think the movie wanted to acknowledge American war crimes by highlighting that Starro was an American experiment. But still, it ended up portraying America in a positive light, showing how the Suicide Squad helped Corto Maltese gain democracy. Yeah, eye roll.
Overall
Overall, it was an okay movie. It was fun and not boring because it didn't take itself too seriously.