Holy shiitake mushrooms, we are doing an R-rated movie review, and it’s going to be positive? Yes, you read that right. As much as I was hoping for a gritty version of the Suicide Squad when the sequel was announced (#releasetheayercut) the other option was to give it to James Gunn (Guardians of the Galaxy) and give him full control and that’s what he did. So far post of the HBO Max same-day theater releases movies haven’t been great but I took the risk and saw “The Suicide Squad” in IMAX for this review. Here we go!

“The Suicide Squad” jumps right into the action with Amanda Waller (Viola Davis) picking out a new team (sorry Will Smith) with some familiar faces like Colonel Rick Flag (Joel Kinnaman) and Harley Quinn (Margot Robbie) and a whole bunch of new faces in which SPOILER ALERT most of them don’t make it past the opening credits. Fortunately, the other half of the team lands on an empty beach of the island nation of Corto Maltese, led by the marksman Bloodsport (Idris Elba). He along with Peacemaker (John Cena), Ratcatcher (Daniela Melchior), Polka-Dot Man (David Dastmalcian), and King Shark (Sylvester Stallone) must finish the mission of destroying the remains of Project Starfish – some sort of extraterrestrial technology that is super top secret and that the US Government wants to be destroyed. During their mission, they begin to realize how deep this Project goes and they must make choices that turn them from super villains into superheroes… or at least super villains who decided to do the right thing.  

I loved this movie. It was an adrenaline rush and worth the price of admission! James Gunn brings his fun yet twisted style to these characters and builds a movie that is just a blast to watch. I found the best part of the movie was the characters – from their funny quirks to their backstories and what makes them tick. You get attached to them and hope Gunn doesn’t kill them off in which case most likely your favorite character will die. That’s the other thing I loved about the movie – while I kind of could guess certain plot points, other parts were unpredictable and the parts that were predictable, it didn’t matter! “The Suicide Squad” is exciting! Think of it as a more mature version of the “Guardians of the Galaxy”. Great action, cool soundtrack, and just a fun time at the movies. I wished this is the first movie I saw back in theaters but unfortunately for me, I saw Black Widow a few weeks ago. Warner Bros let “The Suicided Squad” redeem itself by just letting go of its control for once and letting the director make decisions and not interfere (cough cough the first “Suicide Squad”, cough couch “Justice League”). James Gunn took a bunch of comic book nobodies like he did with Guardians and made another awesome comic book movie. He makes this film his own and totally runs with it and brings the audience along for the ride.

Since this is a Christian website, I have to put the content issues here: there is a lot of language, some brief nudity, and gore. Lots and lots of gore. My issues with the film itself are minor, but I do have some- that the movie can be predictable at times (thanks to trailers) but it makes up for it so don’t let that discourage you. My other concern is the critique of American Imperialism and interference in developing weapons technology. I think the criticism is valid but suggesting, most likely unintentionally, of the US knowingly let horrible testing on humans happen, even in a comic book movie, is kind of a point I find slightly off-putting but nothing I’m not going to dock my score down for since Flag embodies an American spirit I can get behind. I do think Gunn should have had more fun with the characters that didn’t last too long – or at least lie to us in the trailers as the Avengers movies did.

“The Suicide Squad” is definitely worth seeing if you like wacky adventures, great action, and a great lesson in why studios should let their directors have full reign on a movie (LOOKING AT YOU WARNER BROS). It’s loud, gory, and unapologetically insane and you won’t want to miss a minute of it! Go see it in theaters right now. And there is one after-credits scene for those of you who are wondering.  5/5.