Y.M.I.
2004
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Rating
Rated 3.5/5 Stars • 04/08/23. Sam Liu. Director. Christian Slater. Deadshot. Tara Strong. Harley Quinn. Vanessa Williams. Amanda Waller. Billy Brown. Bronze Tiger. Liam McIntyre. Captain Boomerang....
- (97)
- Sam Liu
- R
- DC Entertainment
- If you wanna get to Heaven, you gotta raise a little Hell.
- Suicide Squad Hell to Pay Images
- Awesome Cosplay from WonderCon 2018
- Verdict
By Jim Vejvoda
Updated: Mar 29, 2018 3:32 pm
Posted: Mar 24, 2018 9:26 am
Suicide Squad: Hell to Pay made its world debut at WonderCon 2018. It arrives on Digital on March 27, 2018, and on Ultra HD Blu-ray Combo Pack, Blu-ray Combo Pack and DVD April 10, 2018.
The road to hell isn't exactly paved with good intentions in Suicide Squad: Hell to Pay, the bloody, darkly funny new DC animated feature film from Warner Bros. Home Entertainment.
Life is both very precious and also very, very cheap in this R-rated adventure that sees Task Force X sent by Amanda Waller on a secret mission to obtain a supernatural McGuffin, whose nature is too spoilerish to reveal but suffice to say it offers something every character wants. And for this cross-section of DC supervillainy, that’s plenty reason to be even more cutthroat than usual.
If this is a dysfunctional family then think of Deadshot and Bronze Tiger as the bickering parents who have different ways of handling their difficult brood, which includes Harley Quinn, Captain Boomerang, Killer Frost, and Copperhead. Deadshot is the grizzled, Eastwood-esque pragmatist, while Bronze Tiger, although a man with a violent past, is ultimately a good guy who believes in a higher order and divine justice.
The rest of the characters, good (ok, mostly bad) and bad (all bad), all hold varying degrees of belief depending on their individual circumstances. It’s this exploration of faith and redemption that sets Suicide Squad: Hell to Pay apart from other DC animated fare and makes for a more intellectually engaging comic book flick than most.
Hell to Pay is also distinguished by its dark, droll wit, which is evident not only in Alan Burnett’s script (which he claims is his last one before retirement) but also by Sam Liu’s direction. Whether it’s the glib, cutting one-liners or the cheekily placed sight gags (sometimes involving Gideon Emery 's Copperhead), Suicide Squad: Hell to Pay proves to be one of the more grimly amusing DC animated films. That humor helps make the film’s larger dramatic points more palpable.
The voice cast help deliver these much-needed laughs to lighten what is ultimately a rather heavy story about sin and salvation. Christian Slater makes for an appropriately sardonic Deadshot, while Billy Brown imbues Bronze Tiger with a gravitas and dignity befitting a character far too honorable to be among a team this bad. Liam McIntyre’s Boomerang and Tara Strong’s Harley get the lion’s share of notable one-liners, although Hell to Pay still does little to convince one why the baseball bat-wielding, incessantly mercurial Harley is needed on a team tasked with obtaining a supernatural item — besides the film needing comic relief.
Hands down, Greg Grunberg gets the movie’s biggest scene-stealing role as Maxum Steel, a d-bag with ties to the mainstream DC Comics that will hilariously surprise you. He provides a key to the puzzle that Task Force X needs to solve. The movie’s handling of all that proves to be one of its highlights. Kristin Bauer van Straten is also notable in a less comedic role as the always chilly Killer Frost.
Less effective are Vanessa Williams, who never quite manages to make Amanda Waller command your attention the way a character nicknamed “The Wall” should, and Jim Pirri as Vandal Savage, a raspy, vaguely foreign-sounding heavy who isn’t terribly interesting or dynamic.
Suicide Squad: Hell to Pay is populated with a slew of familiar DC characters in roles of varying degrees of significance: Steel Savage, Knockout, Professor Pyg, Zoom, Silver Banshee, Blockbuster, Tobias Whale, Count Vertigo, Punch & Judy, and even Two-Face all pop up. The movie could almost work as a stand-alone film if needed as it has no problem killing off characters you’d suspect might be too notable to dispatch. But then a movie called “Suicide Squad” wouldn’t have much impact if no one died.
These deaths certainly lend weight to the overall story as the prospect of a permanent demise — and what, if anything, may await them on the other side — looms large over the entire story. The saying goes that everyone wants to go to heaven but no one wants to die and that holds true even for comic book characters.
Suicide Squad: Hell to Pay is marked by its dark sense of humor and its willingness to explore the concept of salvation, a theme that would be notable in any movie let alone an animated comic book movie. Its over-the-top violence also serves to underscore the viciousness of its characters and the cheapness of life in the world they’ve chosen to inh...
Top Critics. All Audience. Verified Audience. Jeffrey Lyles Lyles' Movie Files. It's a far superior film than its live action counterpart that's uncompromisingly violent and dark. The tone is...
Super-violent, bloody animated tale meant for adults. Read Common Sense Media's Suicide Squad: Hell to Pay review, age rating, and parents guide.
- Sam Liu
- Renee Schonfeld
- Warner Bros. Animation
Apr 19, 2018 · The bookends of Hell to Pay are solid, however, even as the half-baked middle carries the heavy emotional lifting. There are enough characters (including some surprise cameos) to keep things...
- Dave Trumbore
Read Review. Summary. Suicide Squad: Hell to Pay finds Amanda Waller's top secret "Task Force X" - Deadshot, Bronze, Tiger, Killer Frost, Captain Boomerang, Harley Quinn and Copperhead - on...
Apr 10, 2018 · Rating: 4 out of 5. |. Comment: Animation DC Suicide Squad Superhero. Written by. Mike Cecchini | @wayoutstuff. The latest DC animated movie, Suicide Squad: Hell to Pay is bloody, violent,...
