Before the release of “The Suicide Squad,” many people were skeptical when it came to viewing the movie due to how underwhelming the first “Suicide Squad” was. However, the new film has received a mostly positive response. As of now, the new “Suicide Squad” has a 91% score on Rotten Tomatoes compared to its predecessor with 26%. This jurassic difference leads many to  question: What makes the new one so great?

First things first, let’s look at the making of these films. The 2016 version directed by  David Ayer was only given six weeks to write the script for the movie. This led to a very basic plot that takes place in mostly one spot as well as corny dialogue and forced humor. To avoid this mess a second time, Warner Bros gave the 2021 version director James Gunn a ton of freedom to make the best movie possible. Gunn took this power and ran with it. He created a film that takes place in multiple locations, and has its fair share of slap-stick humor as well as meticulously planned out jokes that take time to play out. 

Next, the characters. The 2016 versions cast honestly had pretty good chemistry. Will Smith and Margot Robbie each shined in their roles, however the poor writing of the script held everyone back. Meanwhile in the 2021 version, every character is great. Robbie is back and is even better than before, as well as Joel Kinnaman who actually makes you care about his character unlike in the first one. Along with top notch performances from Idris Elba, John Cena, and even Sylvester Stallone as a shark.

The soundtracks of both movies are great, but they are handled completely differently. The 2016 version features songs from numerous big names such as Queen, Twenty One Pilots, and Kanye West. However, the way the music was used became very distracting, due to them jumping from one big name song to a new one of a different genre every couple of minutes. The new version’s soundtrack is mostly underground in a way, and the songs are placed nearly perfectly going along with the tone of the scene they are in. 

In the end, the 2016 “Suicide Squad” had all the potential in the world to be great, but the questionable decisions of giving Ayer only six weeks to write a script as well as its sloppy editing held  it back to be a mediocre film at best. The 2021 version took all of these problems and learned from them, producing an extremely fun and enjoyable movie that gives the people the “Suicide Squad” they deserve.