In this week’s episode of The Cinematic Schematic, we take another trip into the DC Extended Universe(DCEU) to provide our spoiler-free review of THE Suicide Squad before jumping into a spoiler-filled analysis discussion of the film.

In August 2016 Suicide Squad became a massive box office success, grossing over $746 million worldwide. Despite being seen by so many people, the movie received hugely negative reviews (it’s currently sitting at 26% on Rotten Tomatoes) and has largely been remembered as a disaster by audiences.

Following his temporary firing from Disney, Warner Bros. tapped writer/director James Gunn to make a movie in the DCEU. With the promise he’d have near-total creative freedom from WB executives, Gunn chose to make an R-rated Suicide Squad film with a budget of $185 million. The film is stacked with a star-studded cast including returning stars Margot Robbie, Joel Kinnaman, Viola Davis, and Jai Courtney alongside newcomers Idris Elba, John Cena, Daniela Melchior, Sylvester Stallone, Pete Davidson, Nathan Fillion, and many others.

Taking a stab at a sequel to a much-maligned (yet commercially successful) DCEU film would be total suicide without the right squad. *Release the tomatoes* Much like Captain Boomerang or Rick Flag, it’s only appropriate for this review to reunite me with one former guest co-host from a review of 2016’s Suicide Squad on a loosely affiliated podcast, Dalton Stuart. Rejoining us from our Wonder Woman 1984 and Zack Snyder’s Justice League discussions is Chelsea Ratterman from Geek Girl Features. To complete our roundtable is a comic book scholar who specializes in Z-grade DC villains, also my An Animated Discussion-DCAU podcast co-host, Joshua Unruh from Pulp Diction Productions.

Is Gunn’s clean slate enough to grant this DCEU franchise renewed life with audiences? An underwhelming opening box office weekend indicates the future isn’t so bright despite receiving universal praise. Does the table think it’s worth your time on HBO Max? Tune into our full review!

Special Guests

Chelsea Ratterman

Writer, Geek Girl Features

Oklahoma Film Critics Circle Member

Twitter @cinephilechels

Dalton Stuart

Co-host of GoodTrash Genrecast and GoodTrash Media co-founder

Follow GoodTrash Media on Twitter @Good_Trash

Check out Dalton and Caleb’s discussion of 2016’s Suicide Squad

Joshua Unruh

Comic Book Scholar, Pulp Diction Productions