‘The Suicide Squad’ is everything the first film wanted to be, but wasn’t

Posted on August 13, 2021

By MARK VIOLA

The 2016 DC Comics adaptation, “Suicide Squad” from director David Ayer, is a classic example of a film that on paper should have worked. Unfortunately, that wasn’t the case once it hit theaters, disappointing critics and fans alike.

The concept is sound for a comedic action film. Take a bunch of second- and third-tier comic book villains and force them to work on the side of good, both to get some time off their sentences and to avoid having the explosive devices installed in their heads detonated.

What exactly went wrong is something we’ll likely never know for sure, although Ayer insists there is a version of the movie that works much better than the one audiences got to see. So far, however, Warner Bros. hasn’t shown much interest in an “Ayer Cut” like they were with the Snyder Cut of “Justice League.”

Instead, five years after the original film’s release, Warner Bros. and DC are back with a sequel/soft-reboot in the form of “The Suicide Squad.” With a mostly new cast and James Gunn (“Guardians of the Galaxy”) at the helm, this new movie is much closer to what fans were expecting the last time. And, for good reason, as this movie is a bloody fun time.

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