Poster © Warner Bros. Pictures. Shown at reduced size for review and commentary.
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GenreAction, Adventure & Comedy
RatedR
Runtime2 hr 12 mins
ReleasedAugust 6, 2021
StreamingSee Where to Watch
DirectorJames Gunn
StarringMargot Robbie, Idris Elba, John Cena
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The Suicide Squad (2021)
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| iIMDb Profile | %Rotten Tomatoes |
| WWikipedia | LLetterboxd |
| TTMDB | +Add to Top 8 |
| The Suicide Squad's Details | |
| Genre | Action, Adventure & Comedy |
| Rated | R |
| Released | 07/30/2021 (United Kingdom); 08/06/2021 (United States) |
| Streaming | See Where to Watch on this page. |
| Running Time | 2 hr 12 mins |
| Budget | $185M (reported) |
| Box Office | Updated daily from Box Office Mojo. See the numbers below. |
| Based On | Characters from DC |
| Country | United States |
| Language | English, Spanish |
| The Suicide Squad's Interests | |
| General | Rats, polka dots, tropical jungles, Belle Reve prison, a giant shark who just wants friends. |
| Music | John Murphy, plus the kind of needle drops James Gunn is known for. |
| Movies | Guardians of the Galaxy (2014). Gunn's other band of lovable outcasts. |
| Television | Peacemaker. John Cena's shiny helmet got its own show. |
| Heroes | Ratcatcher 2 and her rat Sebastian, the true heart of the team. |
| The Suicide Squad's Crew | |
| Director | James Gunn |
| Writers | James Gunn |
| Producers | Charles Roven, Peter Safran |
| Cinematography | Henry Braham |
| Music | John Murphy |
| Edited By | Fred Raskin, Christian Wagner |
| Production | Warner Bros. Pictures, DC Films, Atlas Entertainment, The Safran Company |
| Distributed By | Warner Bros. Pictures |
A reported $185 million went into a movie whose emotional center is a guy who throws polka dots and sees his mom everywhere. That’s not even the weirdest choice James Gunn makes. The middle drags once the team splits up, and the plot is basically ’go blow up the lab’ stretched across 132 minutes. It made $168.7 million worldwide, so the math was not friendly. But man, Gunn loves these losers. Idris Elba and John Cena turn a one-upping contest into a full comedy routine. Daniela Melchior’s Ratcatcher 2 gives the movie a real heart, rats included. King Shark is a giant toddler with Sylvester Stallone’s voice and the vocabulary of a golden retriever. And the opening scene is a bait-and-switch I refuse to spoil. It’s violent, but in a cartoon way, more Looney Tunes than gritty. A 7.4 because it’s the rare superhero team-up that’s actually about the team. $13 says you say ’nom nom’ to your lunch tomorrow and nobody gets it.
What works: James Gunn’s affection for oddball characters, the Elba and Cena rivalry, Ratcatcher 2’s heart, and King Shark.
What doesn’t: The middle stretch sags once the team splits up, and the mission plot is too thin to fill 132 minutes.
Who it’s for: People who root for the weirdest character in any group, and anyone who wanted a superhero movie with actual jokes in it.
Spoilers
The opening team is a decoy and most of them don’t survive the beach. Peacemaker turns on Rick Flag to bury a government secret, and the finale is a giant alien starfish stomping through the city until Ratcatcher 2’s rats and Harley bring it down.
Amanda Waller (Viola Davis) runs a government program that turns imprisoned supervillains into very expendable soldiers: finish the job, get time off your sentence, and do not even think about running, because the tiny explosive in your head will notice. Her newest mission sends a crew to the island nation of Corto Maltese to wipe out a mysterious Nazi-era lab called Jötunheim. The roster includes Bloodsport (Idris Elba), Peacemaker (John Cena), Harley Quinn (Margot Robbie), Ratcatcher 2 (Daniela Melchior), Polka-Dot Man (David Dastmalchian), King Shark (Sylvester Stallone) and soldier Rick Flag (Joel Kinnaman). James Gunn directs. One hundred thirty-two minutes, zero job security.
Anyone who can keep a team of misfits on schedule. Rats are welcome.
Digger Harkness / Captain Boomerangphoto: Gage Skidmore, CC BY-SA 2.0, via Wikimedia Commons
the voice of Nanaue / King Sharkphoto: The White House, Public domain, via Wikimedia Commons
| Margot Robbie | Dr. Harleen Quinzel / Harley Quinn |
| Idris Elba | Robert DuBois / Bloodsport |
| John Cena | Christopher Smith / Peacemaker |
| Joel Kinnaman | Colonel Rick Flag Jr |
| Sylvester Stallone | the voice of Nanaue / King Shark |
| Viola Davis | Amanda Waller |
| David Dastmalchian | Abner Krill / Polka-Dot Man |
| Daniela Melchior | Cleo Cazo / Ratcatcher 2 |
| Michael Rooker | Brian Durlin / Savant |
| Jai Courtney | Digger Harkness / Captain Boomerang |
| Peter Capaldi | Gaius Grieves / The Thinker |
| Alice Braga | Sol Soria |
| Pete Davidson | Richard "Dick" Hertz / Blackguard |
- (cur | prev) 14:30, 18 October 2026 DataBot +40 Numbers refreshed: IMDb users 7.2 / 10 (467,739 votes) → 7.2 / 10 (467,787 votes).
- (cur | prev) 14:30, 17 October 2026 DataBot +480 Numbers refreshed: Worldwide box office $168.7M; Domestic box office $55.8M; Opening weekend $26.2M; Profit / loss (est.) -$193.1M; Rotten Tomatoes 90%; CinemaScore B+; box office chart updated; Rotten Tomatoes critics 90% (386 reviews); Metacritic 72 / 100; CinemaScore B+; IMDb users 7.2 / 10 (467,739 votes); movie.guru score 7.3.
- (cur | prev) 12:00, 17 October 2026 DataBot +2,000 Profile created from Wikipedia and Box Office Mojo: cast, crew, release dates, budget, official trailer.