The Suicide Squad is a 2021 American superhero film based on DC Comics featuring the team Suicide Squad.
Produced by DC Films, Atlas Entertainment, and The Safran Company, and distributed by Warner Bros. Pictures, it is a standalone sequel to Suicide Squad (2016) and the tenth film in the DC Extended Universe (DCEU).
It was written and directed by James Gunn and stars an ensemble cast including Margot Robbie, Idris Elba, John Cena, Joel Kinnaman, Sylvester Stallone, Viola Davis, David Dastmalchian, Daniela Melchior, Michael Rooker, Jai Courtney, Peter Capaldi, Alice Braga, and Pete Davidson. In the film, a task force of convicts known as the Suicide Squad are sent to the island nation of Corto Maltese to destroy evidence of the giant alien starfish Starro the Conqueror.
Critical response
On ’Rotten Tomatoes’, the film holds a 91% approval rating based on 346 reviews, with an average rating of 7.5/10. The site's critical consensus reads, "Enlivened by writer-director James Gunn's singularly skewed vision, The Suicide Squad marks a funny, fast-paced rebound that plays to the source material's violent, anarchic strengths."
On ’Metacritic’, the film has a weighted average score of 72 out of 100, based on 53 critics, indicating "generally favorable reviews". Audiences polled by CinemaScore gave the film an average grade of "B+" on an A+ to F scale, the same score as the first film, while ‘PostTrak’ reported 83% of audience members gave it a positive score, with 62% saying they would definitely recommend it.
Reviewing for ’The A.V. Club’, Katie Rife gave the film a "B+" grade and said, "Now that superhero movies have gone from disreputable entertainment for children to global events ushered in with awed reverence, it was time for someone to come along and pop the balloon.
Pulpy and outrageous, irreverent and ultraviolent, ’The Suicide Squad’ does so with a smile." Writing for Variety, Owen Gleiberman called the film what "the first Suicide Squad should have been" and said that "The Suicide Squad comes sizzlingly alive as all-cylinders comic-book moviemaking. There's a frowsy destructive joy to the staging."
Clarisse Loughrey of ’The Independent ’also praised the film and considered it an improvement over ’Suicide Squad’, writing, "Gunn’s distinct and self-assured vision, which he’s said was left untouched and unbothered by studio interference, puts The Suicide Squad alongside the very best of modern comic-book filmmaking.
His film, which now comes with an all-important 'The' at the beginning of its title, functions both as a sequel and a fresh start." Brian Truitt of USA Today gave the film 3.5 stars out of 4 and said, "The Suicide Squad shifts superhero movies into a hilarious, gory and exceedingly bonkers new direction but writer/director James Gunn still makes time to show one goofy supervillain making sure another's buckled up for a plane ride headed for certain doom" and also said that the film "is a bloody marvel that blows up the superhero genre."
Justin Chang from ’Los Angeles Times’ said, "After 2016's ugly, bludgeoning ’Suicide Squad’, I couldn't imagine liking - and could barely stomach the idea of seeing - another movie called ’Suicide Squad’. I'm delighted to be proven wrong", and called the film "redemption for James Gunn and DC".
Richard Trenholm of CNET gave the film a positive review and praised it for its themes, writing "This irreverent comic book movie takes shots at very big and serious themes, raging against Western imperialism, American foreign policy and government deception as it indicts interference in foreign countries. Representing this chilling bureaucratic evil, Amanda Waller emerges as perhaps the most hateful villain in the DC universe — certainly the coldest."
Alonso Duralde of the ’TheWrap’ wrote: "The Suicide Squad is by no means perfect, but like the ’Deadpool’ movies, it's a showcase for what can happen when a superhero movie is allowed to be sprightly, self-aware, and sardonic while also indulging in hard-R violence, gore, and language. Gunn's latest creation is not without moments that drag, but when it pops, it pops brilliantly."
‘Entertainment Weekly's Leah Greenblatt gave the film a C+ grade and wrote: "The script, accordingly, herks and jerks along with a sort of forced-festive glee, its mounting body count buffeted by goofball banter and pounding soundtrack cues.
A good half of the jokes don't land, but unlike his predecessor's joyless slog, Gunn's version at least celebrates the nonsense." Peter Bradshaw of ’The Guardian’ gave the film three out of five stars, and called it "a long, loud, often enjoyable and amusing film that blitzes your eyeballs and eardrums and covers all the bases."