Suicide Squad is already available on Digital HD, but on Tuesday, December 13th, the Blu-ray will be available. It comes with the Extended Cut of the movie, which features an extra Joker and Harley scene and about 11 more minutes of extra footage. The Blu-ray features superior image and audio quality over the Digital HD version, as well as about 90 minutes of special features. I’m going to talk about them all in my review to give you an idea of what to expect.
Video and Audio
The picture quality of Suicide Squad is great. Everything looks crisp and detailed on my 1080p TV. I watched the Digital HD version last month, and one of the benefits of buying the Blu-ray is for the quality. Digital is convenient, but nothing beats the quality of a physical disc.
Suicide Squad sounds great as well. I have a 5.1 surround sound system, but the Blu-ray supports 7.1 if you have the right equipment to take advantage of it. All of those guns going off will give your surround sound system a workout!
Special Features
Task Force X: One Team, One Mission
This segment explores the history of Suicide Squad in the comics. We get to hear from Geoff Johns, David Ayer, producers, and comic book writer John Ostrander, who wrote Ayer’s favorite take on the characters. Ostrander explained that he didn’t want to work with mainstream villains because he wanted the freedom to do whatever he wanted. People had to die.
We also get some character highlights and facts for characters like Amanda Waller, Rick Flag, Deadshot, Harley Quinn, Killer Croc, Boomerang, Diablo, and Katana.Each actor talks about their role here too.
There’s awesome behind-the-scenes footage sprinkled in throughout as well. It’s cool to see David Ayer directing each scene. This segment ends by showing how close the actors became during the shoot.
Chasing the Real
In this segment we hear from production designer Oliver Scholl and get to see all of the real sets that were built for the movie. They also focus on the costumes and look of the characters, and even the tattoos. Tattoo artist Rob Coutts worked with David Ayer to come up with the designs.
Speaking of tattoos, you heard the stories of Margot Robbie giving the cast tattoos on set, and we actually get to see video of her in action here as she gives director David Ayer a tattoo. We also see Will Smith give his co-star Joel Kinnaman a crooked tattoo!
There’s cool behind-the-scenes footage of the cast doing rehearsals here too.
Joker and Harley: The “It’ Couple of the Underworld
In this segment we get to hear from Jared Leto, Margot Robbie, David Ayer, and Geoff Johns. This was my favorite part of the special features because we got to see some behind-the-scenes footage of Leto in action, including tiny scenes that weren’t even in the movie.
There’s footage of David Ayer cutting Jared Leto’s long hair, and Leto’s first makeup test as he explored the look of the character. Leto even shaved off his own eyebrows!
We also hear from cast and crew, and even Jared Leto himself, about how he was in character 24/7 while making the movie.
Squad Strength and Skills
Here we get to see the cast working out and preparing for their roles. All of the actors did the majority of their own stunts. One producer said that Margot Robbie did 97% of her own, and the stunt coordinator said he could count on one hand the number of times a stunt double had to come in.
Speaking of Margot Robbie stunts, she was very proud of the fact that she got to do a lot of the Joker car crash scene herself. She was able to hold her breath for a whole 5 minutes for that scene.
Cara Delevingne, Karen Fukuhara, Jai Courtney, and Jay Hernandez trained so hard to prepare for their roles, they earned yellow belts in karate during their training.
Armed to the Teeth
We get to meet Dan Sissons in this segment. Sissons was the prop master on the movie. David Ayer insisted that everything be real, so even Deadshot’s wrist magnums could fire real bullets if it was actually loaded. We get to see test footage of it actually in action, which was really cool.
We get to see prototypes of Deadshot’s mask and monocle too. David Ayer was very hands on in the entire process to make sure everything was just how he wanted it.
They also go through all of the gear that Rick Flag used. Because of David Ayer’s military background, this was all extremely thought out and realistic. Katanas sword, Captain Boomerang’s boomerangs, and Harley’s bat and gun are also highlighted.
This Is Gonna Get Loud: The Epic Battles of Suicide Squad
This segment covers the major action scenes of the movie. The first action sequence where the Suicide Squad comes up against the “creatures” was shot on a backlot over the course of three weeks.
Next we get a look at the making of the next big action scene in the office building. After that we see Diablo use his powers for the first time, and that was all real. They used a real flamethrower and actually set stunt guys on fire. That wasn’t CGI!
Finally, they show how they made the final battle against Enchantress. This part focused on the special effects and “visual language” that was created for this scene.
The Squad Declassified
This short 4 minute segment gives us briefings on the enemies (Enchantress’s “creatures”), and then highlights each Suicide Squad member and their strengths and weapons.
Gag Reel
The gag reel is just two minutes long, but it’s really funny to see everyone mess up their lines and just have a bunch of fun, all while in costume. Even Jared Leto improvised some funny bits that obviously had to be cut.
Wrap Up
Most of you probably already bought the Digital HD version of Suicide Squad in order to watch it at home a few weeks before the release of the Blu-ray. I would still recommend you pick up a physical copy as well. You’ll get better video and audio quality, and nearly 90 minutes of entertaining specials features filled with cool behind-the-scenes footage.
Suicide Squad is available for pre-order on Amazon, and will be released on Tuesday, December 13th. Warner Bros. provided me with an early copy for this review.
