James Gunn, the Director of the two Guardians of the Galaxy movies for MARVEL now delivers a very wild DC movie: The Suicide Squad. Viola Davis plays the manipulative Amanda Waller who offers prisoners freedom in exchange for their participation in kamikaze missions. The previous Suicide Squad sucked (you can read my review here), but Gunn’s The Suicide Squad is a completely different kettle of starfish.

Amanda Waller assembles a team whose mission is to destroy a facility in a hostile South American country that houses a space alien: an extraterrestrial giant starfish. Gunn doesn’t hesitate in killing off the members of the team. If fact, you have to wonder while watching The Suicide Squad who is going to survive the mission to the end.

If you’re in the mood for a Summer Popcorn Action movie, The Suicide Squad delivers plenty of mayhem and chaos! GRADE: B+

CAST:

• Margot Robbie as Harley Quinn:
  A crazed criminal and former psychiatrist.^[5] Robbie said the film would show a new side of the character compared to her previous DC Extended Universe (DCEU) appearances due to her being in a new place and surrounded by new characters.^[6] Director James Gunn likened Harley’s relationship with Bloodsport to the comedy duo Abbott and Costello, with Harley being Costello.^[7] Robbie wears a new costume that features Harley’s traditional red and black color palette, with Gunn taking inspiration from the character’s costume in the video game Batman: Arkham City (2011). He wanted her jacket to have “motorcycle gang style”-writing on the back, and chose “Live fast, die clown” over other potential options “Clown AF” and “World’s Best Grandpa”.^[8] Gunn also removed Harley’s “Rotten” facial tattoo from previous DCEU films because both he and Robbie disliked it.^[9]
• Idris Elba as Robert DuBois / Bloodsport:
  A mercenary with a technologically-advanced suit and weapons that only he can use. After being convicted of shooting Superman with a Kryptonite bullet, he shortens his prison sentence by joining Task Force X so he can reunite with his daughter Tyla.^[10] Gunn said each member of the Suicide Squad in the film was inspired by a different film genre,^[10] and described Bloodsport as an unsentimental portrayal of a 1960s action hero like Steve McQueen, without the “moral repercussions” of those characters.^[7] Elba was reportedly originally cast to replace Will Smith as Deadshot, but the character was changed to Bloodsport to allow Smith to reprise his role in the future;^[11][12] Gunn did not change the story that he had written for Elba, and just chose Bloodsport because he liked the character in the comics. The character’s comic book ability to manifest weapons is adapted in the film as different gadgets and transforming weaponry that come from his costume.^[8]
• John Cena as Christopher Smith / Peacemaker:
  A ruthless, jingoistic killer who believes in achieving peace at any cost.^[5][7][13] Gunn told Cena not to read any Peacemaker comics before filming, and Cena originally approached the role with an “angular, drill sergeant, Full Metal Jacket-esque personality” before Gunn told him to act like a “douchey, bro-y Captain America“.^[14] Gunn added that the character was straight out of a 1970s television series like Wonder Woman.^[10]
• Joel Kinnaman as Col. Rick Flag:
  The field leader of the Suicide Squad.^[5] Kinnaman said the film was an opportunity to give the character a blank slate, and said Flag was sillier, less jaded, more naive, and funnier compared to his portrayal in the first Suicide Squad (2016).^[15]
• Sylvester Stallone as the voice of Nanaue / King Shark:
  A man-eating fish-human hybrid.^[16][17][18] Steve Agee developed King Shark’s portrayal as a stand-in on set,^[19][20] with the character then created with visual effects.^[21] Gunn initially used a hammerhead shark design from the comics, but found it awkward to film the character with other actors due to his eyes being on the sides of his head.^[22] Gunn settled on a great white shark design similar to the one seen in the Harley Quinn (2019–present) animated series, though this was a coincidence as that series was released after filming for The Suicide Squad began.^[20] Gunn gave King Shark a dad bod to make him look less like a mammal,^[23] as well as small eyes, a big mouth, and a small head to avoid the “cute anthropomorphic beast” design seen in popular characters like Baby Groot from his Guardians of the Galaxy films and The Mandalorian‘s Baby Yoda.^[24]
• Viola Davis as Amanda Waller: The director of A.R.G.U.S. who runs the Task Force X program.^[25]
• Jai Courtney as George “Digger” Harkness / Captain Boomerang:
  An unhinged Australian thief who wields boomerangs.^[26] Courtney stated that unlike Rick Flag, Captain Boomerang has not changed since the events of Suicide Squad, being “the same shitbag liability we came to learn about in the first one. He’s out there causing trouble as you would expect.”^[27]
• Peter Capaldi as Dr. Gaius Grieves / The Thinker: A highly-intelligent supervillain who works with the Corto Maltese government on Project Starfish.