The Suicide Squad Review: 9 Ups & 1 Down

Ups...

9. James Gunn's Stylish, Hilarious, R-Rated Direction

The Suicide Squad finds James Gunn at his most ferociously free and unrestrained, combining the gonzo insanity of his earlier movies with the tight ensemble character work of his Guardians of the Galaxy films.

Armed with an evidently massive budget but also an R rating, Gunn is able to go to places that Marvel would never let him, and because the 2016 Suicide Squad was such a miss with audiences, one feels like Warner Bros. basically gave him carte blanche to do whatever he wanted here.

And the result is one of the most appealingly loose, do-whatever-the-f**k-we-want superhero movies ever made.

The laughs come thick and fast but never at the expense of the genuine character work, and the film is packed to the gills with grotesque, over-the-top gore sure to have viewers laughing and wincing in near-equal measure.

All in all, it's another exemplary calling card for Gunn, who proves himself a highly capable director across distinct tones and different cinematic universes.