Squandered Squad

Movie Reviewed: The Suicide Squad

Director: James Gunn

Date Watched: 28 August 2021

jamesintexas rating: *

Just not very good. Despite Margot Robbie's game, fun performance as Harley Quinn, a walking shark person, and Idris Elba's intensity, the film seems sloppy, lazy, and lacking in fun, especially when Robbie is not onscreen. 

James Gunn's Guardians of the Galaxy, for me, was one of the top films of that year, a master class is silliness, fun music, quirky storytelling, and kinetic filmmaking. This film lacks that imagination and verve, I think, and it seems hung up on presenting lots and lots of characters, far more than we can care about. John Cena's Peacemaker is a silly highlight, but the giant special effects extravaganza is not as much fun as just watching characters riff and dig on each other. 

The Suicide Squad is not incredibly memorable, and so it goes in 2021. I am still searching for the best (or I'll just take simply a good) film to hang my hat on. This ain't it. Margot Robbie, to be clear, is a national treasure in her committed wackiness, though Birds of Prey was much more fun and stylized.