The Suicide Squad Movie Review - A Child-like Gory Blast!

Warning! This film is rated R for: strong violence and gore, language throughout, some sexual references, drug use, and brief graphic nudity. Make your viewing choice with this in mind.

In The Suicide Squad, a number of insane yet capable villains are kept for life in Belle Reve, a hell-on-Earth prison. The inmates would do anything to get out including joining Task Force X, a very shady and super-secret group sent on bigtime missions by Amanda Waller (Viola Davis) a cold-hearted government operative.

Bloodsport doesn't want to go on Waller's missionCourtesy of Warner Bros. Entertainment Inc.

The assembled force; Colonel Rick Flag (Joel Kinnaman), Bloodsport (Idris Elba), Peacemaker (John Cena), Captain Boomerang (Jai Courtney), Ratcatcher 2 (Daniela Melchior), Savant (Michael Rooker), King Shark (voice of Sylvester Stallone), Blackguard (Pete Davidson), Javelin (Flula Borg), Polka-Dot Man (David Dastmalchian), Weasel and of course Harley Quinn (Margot Robbie) are dropped on the enemy-packed island of Corto Maltese to destroy a secret project led by a crazed geneticist called The Thinker (Peter Capaldi). As usual, odds are against them.

New Mission

A group of inmates at Belle Reve is gathered by Amanda Waller and dropped in the sea off the isolated island of Corto Maltese. Some of them don’t survive. Who knew one couldn’t swim? They are there to destroy Jotunheim, a Nazi-era lab/prison where prisoners are part of Project Starfish, using an alien being captured by astronauts in the hope of weaponizing it. The Thinker is chief scientist. The cons are divided into two groups; one a diversion on the beach and the other, led by Bloodsport, tries to find Thinker. Only Harley and Flag are left of their force. She is captured by the army and Flag takes off.

The Thinker is a heartless scientist in charge of Project StarfishCourtesy of Warner Bros. Entertainment Inc.

Find Flag and Rescue Harley

Bloodsport’s group is told to rescue Flag and after killing most of them, manage to convince a group of Rebels led by Sol Soria (Alice Braga) to join forces to destroy Jotunheim and remove new President Silvio Luna (Juan Diego Botto) and his General Suarez (Joaquin Cosio) from power. Meanwhile Harley is at the Presidential Palace being treated like royalty by Luna who has the hots for her and respects her feisty abilities. 

Harley is tortured by President Luna's menCourtesy of Warner Bros. Entertainment Inc.

He proposes, they hook up but she kills him on learning he plans to torture political prisoners including kids. She shoots the place up and escapes after being tortured by Luna’s guards. The Squad is at a nightclub hoping to catch The Thinker to help them get into Jotunheim. They grab him but agree to free Harley first…. Oh, she already escaped?  Okay then let’s break into Jotunheim.

Harley escapes and shoots up the Presidential guardsCourtesy of Warner Bros. Entertainment Inc.

At Jotunheim

The Squad sneaks into Jotunheim, is freaked by all the horrible experiments and begins to rig the building with explosives while Luna’s army surrounds the building. The group splits into two groups to complete their tasks. They are attacked by soldiers, and their bombs trigger prematurely. As the building begins to collapse, Bloodsport is separated from the rest as he falls down the building with the debris. Flag, Ratcatcher, Peacemaker and The Thinker are in the underground laboratory where the subject of Project Starfish, the ginormous extra-terrestrial Starro the Conqueror, is being held and tortured by The Thinker. The Thinker reveals how much the U.S. government knew about this torture. Anything to weaponize the alien captive. Flag finds a computer drive with all this info and wants to release it to the press. Peacemaker, under orders from Waller, tries to stop him and they fight.

Flag, Harley, Peacemaker, Thinker and Bloodsport on the marchCourtesy of Warner Bros. Entertainment Inc.

Building Collapse

The ceiling collapses when the bombs go off early. Gigantic Starro is freed and kills Thinker. Ratcatcher takes the drive and Peacemaker chases her. He’s about to kill her when Bloodsport falls through the ceiling and shoots him in the neck.

King Shark, Ratcatcher, Bloodsport, Harley and Polka Dot Man in crumbling buildingCourtesy of Warner Bros. Entertainment Inc.

The surviving Squad members reunite as the giant Starro breaks out of the lab releasing tiny copies of himself that attach to the faces of soldiers and control them. In the city, Starro starts “infecting” the innocent populace but Waller doesn’t want the team to help. They destroyed the lab so their mission is over. Will the Squad stand down and leave or will they stay to destroy the giant menace to the innocent citizens of Corto Maltese?

Ratcatcher and Bloodsport want to help the citizens of the islandCourtesy of Warner Bros. Entertainment Inc.

A mid-credits scene reveals one of the supposed dead Squad members to be alive. Another credit scene reveals a wounded Peacemaker in the hospital. Waller's team visits him and hints at more missions.

Wrapping Up

The Suicide Squad is full of non-stop action, humor, strange teamwork, inventive if gore-packed action that is often so cartoony that it isn’t a gross-out and the film even contains some nice character-developing scenes. We see Bloodsport spar with his teen daughter. There is a warped love there. King Shark cracked me up and was strangely lovable as was Ratcatcher 2 and her pet rat Sebastian who frightens Bloodsport.  Polka-Dot Man with his extreme Mother complex was a nice addition. The giant Starfish Villain is something right out of a Saturday morning cartoon. The movie could be super kid-friendly if it wasn’t full of profanity.

Ratcatcher's buddy Sebastian rides on her shoulderCourtesy of Warner Bros. Entertainment Inc.

It’s a surprise who lives or dies and in what creative manner. Harley is still a kick-butt wonder and well-played by Margot Robbie and Idris Elba makes a sympathetic Bloodsport.

Flag and squad with Rebel leadersCourtesy of Warner Bros. Entertainment Inc.

Stopping a giant alien Starfish from running amok on the world is a wacky plot to be sure but only the Suicide Squad could take such a mission seriously…..while they joke at one another’s expense and gleefully blow up everything and everybody.  Hey, it’s fun and way more fun than the 2016 original film. We give it four stars.

The Suicide Squad Movie Rating: 

See The Suicide Squad in theaters and on HBO Max August 6^th