Although I feel tired-out more than usual these days with all of the Superhero/IP/Franchises plaguing theatre screens, there’s something just fun and tangible about THE SUICIDE SQUAD which un-does a lot of the misery of the 2016 debacle SUICIDE SQUAD, a movie where it’s only redeeming qualities were a few gorgeous shots of Yonge Street and a few key Subway stations like Bay Lower and Downsview (now Sheppard West station) in Toronto. Where that one seemed to have too many cooks in the kitchen, the 2021 James Gunn picture pokes fun at the reaction that movie had and takes on a life of its own.
THE SUICIDE SQUAD has a personality, an attitude and also a stunning visual design where it features a mostly-new team of special agents under hire (by the wonderfully talented Viola Davis no less) that all have their bizarre quirks. There’s a recent Disney/Marvel movie that I reviewed that also tried doing this to poor results, but here it’s my kind of weird. With most of the original cast totally gone and with new interesting characters (in particular Idris Elba having a LOT of fun here) and plenty of adults-only gore and action throughout, THE SUICIDE SQUAD is a blast. Send the kids out of the room for this one and enjoy.
About the 4k Release:
Warner really has provided an outstanding visual and aural feast here with an absolutely mind-blowing 4k, 2160p transfer that will really want to make you upgrade your home theatre if you haven’t done so yet. I attended a very solid 4k presentation in theatres earlier this year and this disc does the theatrical experience very well. Shot on high-end RED Cameras, there is a slight digital-tinge at times in some of the office sequences but they are never distracting. Special praise goes to the “polka-dot” sequences along with the final Starfish where my 4k monitor could hardly contain all the stunning colors and contrast. Bonus points to Warner for now embracing the 1.85 aspect ratio instead of condensing the image down to 1.78/16×9, which they have done for so many years. On the sound-front, both the Dolby Atmos and Dolby Digital 5.1 tracks are VERY powerful and aggressive at times especially in the action sequences, and the fun soundtrack selections also had a great presence. This is a reference-level presentation in every way.
As per usual, the 4k disc houses the movie itself where all the extras are on the Blu Ray with the exception of James Gunn’s commentary, which is on both discs. On the Blu, there’s a fun gag reel, deleted/extended sequences that thankfully didn’t get cut back into the movie (it’s long enough as it is at 132 minutes) and a LOT of production featurettes breaking down scenes, the director’s vision, retro trailers and more. These additional features aren’t really mind-blowing nor worth watching more than once. There is a Digital Copy here that redeems to Google Play and DOES upscale to 4k/HDR, despite the package saying otherwise. It also looks and sounds great when I tested a few scenes, but of course the 4k disc is the way to go.
Overall, if you were a fan of THE SUICIDE SQUAD in theatres this is an easy purchase and one that I’ll definitely show to friends to showcase the power of the UHD format.
THE SUICIDE SQUAD is now available on 4k UHD from Warner. Many thanks to Warner PR for sending along a copy for review.