Preview: The Suicide Squad

Nearly five years after the release of the original film, director and writer James Gunn has released the first trailer for the upcoming sequel/soft reboot. Boasting a much larger ensemble cast, an R rating in the United States, and no “damaged” tattoos in sight, The Suicide Squad seeks the rebrand and revision itself for its jaded viewers ahead of its August 2021 release.

James Gunn, who signed onto the project after he was temporarily fired from Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 3 back in 2018, has already talked about bringing the team back to its 1980s roots. The trailer goes all out in highlighting its roster of expendable villains, with silly names and creative power sets. To give you an idea of how committed Gunn is to this, we have David Dastmalchian playing Polka Dot Man and Sean Gunn playing Weasel – an anthropomorphic weasel. Yes, really.

The inmates of Belle Reve being offered to join Task Force X in order to reduce their prison sentences by 10 years per a mission.

While David Ayer’s Suicide Squad drew more from the New 52 era – grittier, darker and a little less funny – Gunn has clearly taken a lot of inspiration from original writer John Ostrander’s work, who even has a cameo in the trailer as the nano-bomb implanter. What remains the same, however, is the supervillain-Dirty Dozen premise. The inmates of Belle Reve being offered to join Task Force X in order to reduce their prison sentences by 10 years per a mission.

The red band trailer shows that these missions will be no cake-walk and revels in its own violent delights, with the Sylvester Stallone-voiced King Shark ripping a man in half length wise (this film won’t be for the faint of heart and is going to rival the upcoming Mortal Kombat’s fatalities). Keen watchers will also notice that there appears to be two separate squads in the trailer, and one set doesn’t quite have the same screen time as the Harley featured one. As the posters are tag-lined, “don’t get too attached” this time around – The Suicide Squad is highlighting that everyone is expendable.

Unlike the first film, Will Smith is not returning as Deadshot due to a scheduling conflict, with Idris Elba instead taking his position as Bloodsport. Returning members of cast include: Viola Davis (Amanda Waller), Joel Kinnaman (Rick Flagg), Margot Robbie (Harley Quinn), and Jai Courtney (Captain Boomerang).

The movie-going audience has been burnt before by fabulous trailers for the worst heroes ever, but people should be happy to know that The Suicide Squad is fully completed, with no trailer company being brought in to edit the film to pieces. Gunn’s reinvention of the series comes out on August 6^th 2021.