TV Obsessive
The Suicide Squad Disc Release
Don: Aiming to continue the joy it was to get made, The Suicide Squad arrives on store shelves this Tuesday, October 26. Warner Bros. has produced a very celebratory disc edition with a decent selection of special features. Looking back months later, the hype of The Suicide Squad turned out to be hotter than the eventual reception.
If you remember, all kinds of commotion was generated from the rebound hiring of the Disney-dismissed Guardians of the Galaxy czar James Gunn. His crowd-pleasing potential and the promise of a proper R-rating sizzled the lukewarm anticipation that was the previous vibe of anything trying to follow the maligned 2016 film from David Ayer. Somewhere between the buzz and the box office, the crowds didn’t follow.
The Suicide Squad had a worldwide box office haul of just over $167 million versus a production budget of $185 million. Many reasons have been theorized, but the blame seems to be spread between COVID Delta variant fears, low public opinion of the DCEU, and the movie’s easy simultaneous availability on HBO Max. The film did however become the company’s third biggest debut of the year for the streaming service behind Godzilla vs. Kong and Mortal Kombat, ringing up 4.7 million households turning it on for at least five minutes. Take that for what it’s worth.
The finished soiree sure had its fun, and you can find my full review of the movie here on 25YL from August. The new disc set lets you into the filmmaking kitchen to see how the sausage was made. The Suicide Squad sure threw in some wild ingredients and maybe the home theater crowd will grow the movie’s following for another sequel. In the meantime, here’s a look at the special features from the new release.
For the first time in what feels like forever for a comic book movie, The Suicide Squad has a hearty director’s commentary, an item listed and buried last on the special features. James Gunn fills his recording time to the gills with little backstory notes from the production and bouquets of compliments to the cast and crew. His unbridled enthusiasm is what really shines through on his track. Even if some folks lag with the movie, James Gunn himself is never a dull moment. Seek it out.
Preceding that, The Suicide Squad disc begins with an unlabeled collection of deleted and extended scenes. Between a cast-sung ditty on the bus, Harley Quinn’s arrival picking out dresses before her political date, and more, they show a glimpse at the sheer volume of things thrown to the wall to see if they stick. Considering the movie was already 132 minutes, pretty much any cut was a wise cut. The cherry on top of that opening section is a gag reel highlighted by serious actors surrounded by hams like John Cena causing all kinds of broken moments of concentration.
Behind that appetizer, the disc goes nicely behind the scenes into Gunn’s leadership. Four featurettes and four scene breakdowns are the meaty middle. The scene breakdowns are about 6 minutes each and show how key sequences were created and shot.
It’s incredible how many enormous indoor practical sets were made for The Suicide Squad, including the entire opening beach setting and a 50,000-gallon water tank stage for the finale. In their six short minutes, the breakdowns touch on anything from the matching special effects to the actors’ recollections of putting themselves in those positions and the original concepts and storyboards that started the wild ideas in the first place. James Gunn, naturally, is front and center, but stunt coordinator Guy Norris and VFX head Dan Sudick get strong demonstrations time. These pieces are very interesting, and it’s a shame they’re not longer.
The four featurettes are slightly longer, averaging 8-10 minutes. They explore more of the genesis to their given subject. For example, “Bringing King Shark to Life” showcases the initiative of adding the human-eating man-fish to the roster with cast member Stephen Agee’s double-duty performance capture work and the first-choice desire of having Sylvester Stallone lend his voice. The “Gotta Love the Squad” chapter genuflects in the direction of Suicide Squad comic book creator Jon Ostrander and a roll call of the casting motivations to bring his characters to life. “The Way of the Gunn” stays on the whirling dervish director and “Starro: It’s a Freaking Kaiju” explains the big take on the film’s galactic and cartoonish monster villain.
Unfortunately, the first glance at the opening menus does not impress with style. Considering the super-creative ways James Gunn built or animated the title and location names into the foregrounds of the physical sets during the movie itself, one would think some of the same dazzle would follow here. Unfortunately, the plain Jane Warner Bros. trend of basic framework overlays lacks nearly all creativity. Luckily, the content inside makes up for that.
Those are our recommendations this week! What are yours? Let us know in the comments!
