The Suicide Squad Parent Guide

In this James Gunn directed off-beat superhero action/comedy, a gang of unlikely heroes with criminal backgrounds are brought together to fight a common enemy: A dangerous alien with powers that pose an existential threat to life as we know it – wait, sorry. My mistake. That’s a synopsis for Guardians of the Galaxy. Let me try again. In this James Gunn directed off-beat superhero action/comedy, a gang of unlikely heroes with criminal backgrounds are brought together to fight a common enemy: A dangerous alien with powers that pose an existential threat to life as we know it. Except this time, they can say the f-word and an anthropomorphic shark man eats people. Better?

I’m struggling to think of something nice to say about this film. I mean, it’s considerably less annoying than the similarly titled original entry, Suicide Squad, but that’s like saying your root canal was less unpleasant than your colonoscopy. At the end of the day, it’s still a root canal. The first movie felt like an incoherent jumble of bad DC tropes with a killer soundtrack. This one is a more coherent mix of D-list minor heroes and a worse soundtrack, but it doesn’t take itself half as seriously. That’s a blessing.

Margot Robbie continues to be the best part of this franchise, which explains why she got a standalone movie and, say, Captain Boomerang (Jai Courtney) did not. Robbie’s take on the demented Harley Quinn is loud, abrasive, and completely in character. Although, and it pains me to admit this, watching Sylvester Stallone voice Nanaue (the aforementioned shark man) was kind of fun.

Parents undeterred by the R-rating may wish to consider the following: People are eaten from the inside out by rats, messily torn apart by a giant shark-man, and have their faces melted off. There are over 50 f-bombs. Some guy gets shot with his genitals out. This isn’t a family film and attempts to watch this with grandma and the kids may result in some changes to the will that aren’t in your favor, or some uncomfortable questions from your child’s teacher.

But provided you’re all adults and have a high tolerance for gore, profanity, and the haunting image of what happens to a man’s genitals when you shoot him in the chest…you may still want to skip this. The Suicide Squad is what happens if you get a visual migraine in the middle of a fever dream. More to the point, it’s over two hours long, and sitting through that much mediocrity isn’t entertainment. It’s cruel and unusual punishment.