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The Suicide Squad (2021)
The Suicide Squad (2021)
2021 | Action, Comedy, Crime
Hmmm ... not Suicide Squad, but 'The Suicide Squad'.

Like Aliens and not Alien.

A sort-of sequel to the earlier movie (here, Suicide Squad), with some of the same characters - most noticeably, Margot Robbie's Harley Quinn - although it is by no means necessary to have watched that earlier movie.

This is also a fair bit bloodier/messier than I remember said earlier movie being, and has absolutely no mention of either Batman or the Joker (unless you count Quinn's aversion to personalised number plates? See The Jokers car ...) to distract from the plot here, which sees the group of super-villains (all with a tracker and bomb implanted in their head) all sent on a mission to the island of Corto Maltese to destroy a Nazi-era prison and laboratory.

Of the 2 movies, I think this is the better.

It's definitely a James Gunn film through and through!
  
Villains (2019)
Villains (2019)
2019 | Comedy, Drama, Horror
This one struck a chord with me, and hit all the right notes along the way.

Villains is a witty, often funny, often dark thriller, with a sprinkling of horror for good measure. It's beautifully shot from start to finish and has fantastic performances all round from its small cast. Bill Skarsgård and Maika Monroe are extremely likeable "protagonists", as two amateur crooks on the run after robbing a gas station hoping to gather enough cash to start a new life together. The chemistry between the two of them is wonderful. When they run out of fuel during their getaway, they break into a nearby house in an attempt to either siphon some gas, or straight up steal a car but are quickly embroiled in a life or death situation when the homeowners return, two people who aren't quite as they seem. Jeffrey Donovan and Kyra Sedgwick are just as great as the two homeowners, both playing up their parts with villanous glee. Donovan's character may just be one of the most likable "bad guys" in recent history.

What follows is an incredibly entertaining and suspenseful film, with a few shocks and the odd splash of violence. The screenplay is brilliant, the pacing is perfect, and the music score is beautiful.
Underneath all of the craziness though, is a story I found to be incredibly sad. None of these people are perfect, some worse than others, but even the worst of the bunch aren't completely awful. These characters are well fleshed out, and are easy to sympathise with. This ensures some well earned emotional moments that really land and the cast are just fantastic sharing the screen together.

I wasn't quite sure what to expect from Villains but it really got me. I can safely say it's one of my favourites of 2019, which is something considering how many excellent movies there were that year.