Tuesday, July 3, 2018

Suicide Squad: Hell to Pay

Obviously inspired by the "Unhinged" story arc from Gail Simone's Secret Six, Suicide Squad: Hell to Pay offers us the Suicide Squad after a mystical artifact in a grunge house style animated straight-to-video movie. Lacking the broader personalities of the Secret Six, the film does offer appearances of half their number with Deadshot (Christian Slater) working for the Suicide Squad and both Scandal Savage (Dania Ramirez) and Knockout (Cissy Jones) working for a competing interest that wants a mystical Get Out of Hell Free Card which will offer one lucky villain a trip to Heaven.
Opening with an unrelated mission featuring team members turning on each other, strippers, and a bloody body count, the tone for the film is set early on. Vandal Savage (Jim Pirri) and the Reverse-Flash (C. Thomas Howell) both seems an odd choices to be interested in the card, and I'm guessing they were used more as villains of convenience (which ties in the previous films and also allowed for Scandal's inclusion). Taking it on its own, it works as a sleazy B-movie. But comparing it to Simone's original tale, it's hard not to be disappointed.

Available on both Blu-ray and DVD, extras for Suicide Squad: Hell to Pay include commentary from James Tucker and Alan Burnett, sneak peeks at past and future films, a pair of animated episodes from Young Justice and Beware the Batman, and featurettes on Deadshot and Captain Boomerang (Liam McIntyre).

[Warner Bros. Home Entertainment, Blu-ray $24.98 / DVD $19.98]

No comments: