‘The Suicide Squad’: Early Reactions Hail ‘Hilariously Violent and Heartfelt’ Movie

Warner Bros. gave select fans and critics an early look at “The Suicide Squad” on Wednesday night at LA Live in downtown Los Angeles, and the first reactions spilling out on social media are enthusiastic bordering on hyperbolic.

Now first, as always, it’s wise to take these things with a grain of salt. Studios curate very early movie previews — “The Suicide Squad” doesn’t hit theaters until Aug. 6 — to maximize hype. Plenty of times fans have poured out of a screening of a movie with gushing praise, only for the film to turn out to be terrible.

But uh, that said, this movie was written and directed by the always excellent James Gunn. And frankly, we’re highly inclined to assume whatever praise comes in for the guy behind “Sliver,” “Super” and of course the “Guardians of the Galaxy” franchise is, if anything, not extravagant enough. Which is to say, in this case, we believe the hype.

So, back to the hype. People who saw “The Suicide Squad” were positively freaking out on Twitter after, calling it “hilariously violent and heartfelt,” an “epic all out war story,” “weird and wonderful,” and “complete mayhem” with real “emotional stakes.”

Fans were particularly happy that, in their telling, the film’s R-rating is very much deserved. Sounds fun. See a selection of reactions below.

Got to see @JamesGunn #TheSuicideSquad tonight! A hilariously violent and heartfelt story that’s surprising in all the right ways. Enjoyable for everyone — hardcore DC comics fans and newbies alike. Go see this movie.

— Vanessa Armstrong (@vfarmstrong) July 15, 2021

#TheSuicideSquad is an epic all out war movie that demands to be seen on the big screen. Gunn does it again with a hilarious cast of oddballs and under used comic characters.

Big laughs, bigger action. DC has another winner on its hand. pic.twitter.com/zogxvQAZo3

— Dorian Parks (@DorianParksnRec) July 15, 2021

@JimmytotheO just checked out @SuicideSquadUK and calls it “weird and wonderful! There are laughs aplenty and some of most outrageous and original visuals you’re likely to see in the cinema this year! This is #TheSuicideSquad we’ve been waiting for! Bravo @JamesGunn “ pic.twitter.com/dU5kAghInf

— JoBlo.com (@joblocom) July 15, 2021

Absolutely loved #thesuicidesquad. The movie is super violent, extremely funny, and a huge home fun for @JamesGunn and #DC. Tons of surprises and things I wasn’t expecting. Just a great movie. pic.twitter.com/sTchKRvU4Y

— Steven Weintraub (@colliderfrosty) July 15, 2021

#TheSuicideSquad is complete mayhem. Similar themes and heart to Guardians, but tonally much more similar to Gunn's pre-Marvel work (it's real bloody). Hilarious, but be warned: the emotional stakes are real. It's not the care-free romp the trailers promise.

— Christopher Gates (@ChrisWGates) July 15, 2021

#TheSuicideSquad is probably the wildest, wackiest, bloodiest comic book movie I've ever seen. Very clear they let James Gunn run wild and not hold back. Definitely gives Harley one of her best scenes period.

— Kirsten (@KirstenAcuna) July 15, 2021

Idris Elba plays Bloodsport, John Cena plays Peacemaker, Peter Capaldi plays Thinker, Pete Davidson plays Black Guard, Alice Braga plays Sol Soria, Sean Gunn plays Weasel, Mayling Ng plays Mangal and Michael Rooker plays Savant. And yes, that’s we want to remind you that Stallone is the voice of King Shark.

Meanwhile, from the 2016 first film, Margot Robbie returns as Harley Quinn, Joel Kinnaman returns as Rick Flag, Viola Davis once again plays ARGUS head and Suicide Squad handler Amanda Waller, and Jai Courtney once again plays Captain Boomerang.

As the title card in the trailer says, “From The Horribly Beautiful Mind of James Gunn” comes the not-a-sequel to 2016’s “Suicide Squad” hits theaters Aug. 6, 2021. No word of course, on whether or not the cast got silly “Skwad” tattoos like with the last movie, but we just wanted to make sure you know we remember that happened.

As TheWrap first reported, Gunn wrote the script for the completely new take on the property, in which DC supervillains are recruited by the government to carry out secret missions too dirty for the likes of Superman and Batman.