The time is finally upon us. Director James Gunn’s The Suicide Squad has arrived. The R-rated DCEU flick once again centers on Task Force X, though this is a markedly different movie than what we got in 2016. It also essentially ignores that movie in many ways and is its own thing. In any event, fans can now head to a theater to see the carnage, or watch it from the comfort of home.
The Suicide Squad is currently in theaters in the U.S., as well as in many countries throughout the world. It is also available to HBO Max subscribers in the U.S. at no additional cost. This has been the case with every Warner Bros. movie released in 2021. The idea was to both mitigate box office returns due to the pandemic, and grow HBO Max’s subscribers base.
Several actors from 2016’s Suicide Squad return, including Margot Robbie as Harley Quinn. Joel Kinnaman’s Rick Flag and Jai Courtney’s Captain Boomerang are also back, with Viola Davis reprising her role as Amanda Waller. But it is largely a cast of entirely new characters.
The movie is expected to perform reasonably well at the box office with an expected $70 million global opening. However, concerns over the delta variant have left Hollywood, once again, on very uncertain ground. It’s hard to know how this movie would have done under better circumstances. Especially since it has been roundly praised by critics thus far.
Here is the synopsis for The Suicide Squad.
“Welcome to hell—a.k.a. Belle Reve, the prison with the highest mortality rate in the US of A. Where the worst Super-Villains are kept and where they will do anything to get out—even join the super-secret, super-shady Task Force X. Today’s do-or-die assignment? Assemble a collection of cons, including Bloodsport, Peacemaker, Captain Boomerang, Ratcatcher 2, Savant, King Shark, Blackguard, Javelin and everyone’s favorite psycho, Harley Quinn. Then arm them heavily and drop them (literally) on the remote, enemy-infused island of Corto Maltese.
Trekking through a jungle teeming with militant adversaries and guerrilla forces at every turn, the Squad is on a search-and-destroy mission with only Colonel Rick Flag on the ground to make them behave…and Amanda Waller’s government techies in their ears, tracking their every movement. And as always, one wrong move and they’re dead (whether at the hands of their opponents, a teammate, or Waller herself). If anyone’s laying down bets, the smart money is against them—all of them.”
The massive cast includes Idris Elba (Avengers: Infinity War), John Cena (Bumblebee), Peter Capaldi (Doctor Who ), David Dastmalchian (Ant-Man and the Wasp), Daniela Melchior (Parque Mayer), Michael Rooker (Guardians of the Galaxy), Alice Braga (Elysium), Pete Davidson (The King of Staten Island) and Joaquín Cosio (Spider-Man: Into the Spider-Verse). Juan Diego Botto (The Europeans), Storm Reid (A Wrinkle in Time), Nathan Fillion (The Rookie), Steve Agee (Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 2), Sean Gunn (Guardians of the Galaxy), Mayling Ng (Wonder Woman), Flula Borg (Ralph Breaks the Internet), Jennifer Holland (Brightburn) and Tinashe Kajese (The Inspectors) round out the ensemble. Last, but certainly not least, Sylvester Stallone provides the voice of King Shark.
The Suicide Squad is in theaters and streaming on HBO Max now.
What do you think? Are you excited for this one? Do you want to see James Gunn do more work on the DC universe? Join in on the conversation over on Facebook or Twitter!
