The Suicide Squad (2021)

Suicide Squad (2016) simply wasn’t a good movie for all the hype and anticipation it’d gotten up until its release—and frankly, it didn't give DCU the greatest look in comparison to the MCU. However, despite the reviews, it did well enough at the box office to warrant a sequel. As is evident from the title of this review, The Suicide Squad (2021) was simply a much better film than the first—having made a genuine effort to connect with the source material while still ensuring that it would be enjoyable for audiences. Despite being the sequel, The Suicide Squad does everything the original film should have—giving each character the respect and depth they deserve, all written within a thrilling yet easy-to-follow plotline.

The Suicide Squad follows Amanda Waller (Viola Davis) as she assembles two Task Force X teams—aptly nicknamed "The Suicide Squad"—from dangerous metahuman inmates from Belle Reve penitentiary in exchange for reduced sentences. She sends these teams specifically to Corto Maltese, a Southern American island nation—which, due to a separate force overthrowing their government, was no longer aligned with the United States—to destroy Jotunheim, a lab that contained a secret experiment known as Project Starfish. When the first team makes it to island, the majority of them are killed by the Corto Maltese military—all but Harley Quinn (Margot Robbie), who is captured, and Rick Flag (Joel Kinnaman), who manages to escape. In another part of the country, the second team—consisting of Bloodsport (Idris Elba), Ratcatcher 2 (Daniela Melchior), Peacemaker (John Cena), King Shark (Sylvester Stallone), and Polka-Dot Man (David Dastmalchian)—are able to enter without any problem, as the first team had been a clear distraction. Waller then orders the team to find Flag, and they slaughter their way through the rebel base he’s being held at only to find that the leader of the rebels Sol Soria (Alice Braga) had saved him, not captured him. Even so, Sol Soria agrees to assist the group to sneak into the capital to where Project Starfish is, where they’re able to take the lead scientist, the Thinker (Peter Capaldi), hostage.

Meanwhile, Harley is taken to Corto Maltese’s new dictator, Silvio Luna (Juan Diego Botto), who wants to marry her. After she finds out about Silvio’s plan to use Project Starfish on any politicial opposition, just as the previous regime had done, she kills him and is immediately captured by the military. She is then tortured extensively by her Corto Maltese captors under orders of the new president, Mateo Suarez (Joaquín Cosío), who try and fail to get information from her. As Harley is escaping her own with flashy acrobatics and gymnastics, the rest of the Suicide Squad plans to take a detour to save her. Harley walks out of the building and into a taxi to watch the rest of the Suicide Squad attempting to save her, and casually walks up to rejoin them.