Suicide Squad: Hell to Pay is the latest DC Animated feature and another in a line of R-rated original films targeting a more adult audience. Warning, spoilers ahead…
There’s a mystical black playing card emblazoned with the words, “Get Out of Hell Free,” and a terminally ill Amanda Waller (Vanessa Williams) wants it at any costs. Waller enlists a new squad called Task Force X led by Deadshot (Christian Slater) to retrieve this card from a man named Steel Maxum. Deadshot leads a team that consists of Harley Quinn, Captain Boomerang, Killer Frost, Copperhead, and Bronze Tiger. To complicate their mission after locating Maxum Task Force X need to fend off Professor Zoom, Silver Banshee and Blockbuster who also want Maxum and the card it possesses. It turns out that Maxum is the former Doctor Fate and explains that the card allows you to bypass Hell and gain access to Heaven instead. The only caveat being that it could be used once.
The problem is Maxum doesn’t have the card. It was stolen by Scandal Savage and Knockout who had kidnapped Professor Pyg for an unknown task. The team locates Scandal and Knockout but they’re intercepted by Scandal’s father Vandal Savage and his men who take the card for themselves. As Vandal escapes, Zoom places a tracker on Savage’s ship. With opposing teams vying for the card, Zoom kidnaps Killer Frost, removes the bomb implanted in her neck and convinces her to join him. Together they lure Task Force X into a trap where a bomb goes off that injures Tiger. Feeling betrayed, Scandal informs Deadshot of her father’s location, and Task Force X infiltrates his lair but they are captured.
Vandal Savage reveals to Deadshot and the others that he had Pyg implant the card into his chest cavity. Zoom and his henchmen attack the lair and kill Savage and remove the card from his body. Zoom explains that in another timeline he was killed by Batman. In order to stay alive, Zoom has been using the Speed Force to stay ahead of his own demise. Killer Frost then double-crosses Zoom, killing Silver Banshee and Blockbuster and stealing the card that she plans to use to gain her freedom from Waller. Copperhead fights Frost and a listening Waller decides to detonate his bomb to kill them both. An injured Tiger fights Zoom, but in his condition he is no match. With the card now in his hands, Zoom demands Deadshot to kill him so that he can ascend to Heaven in peace. With the last bit of strength that he could muster, Tiger cuts the card from Zoom’s hand allowing Deadshot to kill Zoom. Deadshot then hands the card to Tiger, who then dies and ascends to Heaven. Knowing the secret of the card and its use, Deadshot gives the card to an unsuspecting Waller. In turn, Waller honors her word and gives Deadshot his freedom. The closing moments shows Deadshot visiting his estrange daughter Zoe but this time as a free man.
Next up for DC is The Death of Superman coming out in this Spring.
SUICIDE SQUAD: HELL TO PAY – *** (out of 5 Stars)
Directed by: Sam Liu
R 86 Mins
Voiced by: Christian Slater, Billy Brown, Liam McIntyre, Kristin Bauer van Straten, Gideon Emery, Tara Strong, Greg Grunberg and Vanessa Williams
May the Dork be with you,
JPB
The Dork Knight
