A marked improvement upon the original, The Suicide Squad delivers upon its promise as a whacky, gore infused counterpart to the usual DC universe fair, although director James Gunn’s enthusiasm for bloodshed can overshadow the superhero adventure on hand.

The 2016 David Ayer directed Suicide Squad promised an adult fuelled alternative to the usual superhero movie, only to falter as a bloated, albeit well performed, disappointment. Now with James Gunn (Guardians of the Galaxy) calling the shots, DC have an answer to Marvel’s Deadpool: a violent, funny, absurd bad guys on a mission action comedy, that owes as much to the Stallone/Schwarzenegger action films of the ‘80s as it does the DC comic books. No surprise to find that Stallone appears in The Suicide Squad as one of the films best characters, King Shark.

He is a part of a new team of villains turned mercenaries, hand picked by their ruthless handler Amanda Waller (Viola Davis) for a mission to take down a military leader on the island nation of Corto Maltese who has come into possession of a destructive weapon.

Among the new batch of anti-heroes are Bloodsport (Idris Elba), Peacemaker (John Cena), Ratcathcer 2 (Daniela Melchior), Polka-Dot Man (David Dastmalchian), and the previously mentioned King Shark who is literally a walking, talking, man-eating shark. They are joined by team leader Colonel Rick Flag (Joel Kinnaman) and clown princess of death Harley Quinn (Margot Robbie).

All are terrific in their roles, embracing the shackles off approach to what has become a rather formulaic sub-genre. John Cena is a standout as a deranged patriot who will do anything and kill anyone in service of his country. Great too is Viola Davis whose Amanda Waller makes Nick Fury look like a boy scout, especially when in full blown, spit rage mode.

The biggest star of The Suicide Squad, though, is filmmaker James Gunn. The Suicide Squad is very much an amalgamation of Gunn’s pre-mainstream work seen in cult favourites Slither and Super, and his recent experience with IP in Guardians of the Galaxy. The story, which is very similar to the first Expendables movie, is straight forward enough for Gunn to allow the characters and their violent escapades to shine.  

The blend of superhero filmmaking and horror-esque visuals works, to a certain degree. Much like Matthew Vaughn’s Kick-Ass and TV series The Boys before it, the focus on hyper-violent visuals for shock value over story development is distracting at its best and repulsive at its worst, especially for those not initiated to the horror-tinged violence on hand. Exactly how this will affect box-office draw for those wanting to watch something more, say, mainstream in nature will be interesting to see.

Comic book fans and gore hounds however will get a kick out of what Gunn has to offer, and there is enough in The Suicide Squad to counter when Gunn pushes those boundaries, as he is so skilled at doing.