“I want peace at all costs. It doesn’t matter how many men, women and children I have to kill to get it. »Free translation of Peacemaker’s entry in The Suicide Squad by James Gunn (2021). This represents the nature of the character played by John Cena, who is the subject of the first television series of the DC Extended Universe. In all, there are eight episodes, the first three of which arrive on January 13 on Crave, written by James Gunn who also directed five. On a forced break due to confinement relating to COVID, he created this series derived from The Suicide Squad. In eight weeks. In order to pass the time. To have fun.
And for fun, he has a lot of fun … forgetting to add substance for those who will consume the series. A certain number of them will indeed hope to have more to eat than of the “cartoony” violence, the saucy humor and the irreverent remarks which flow naturally from the mouths of these racist and sexist anti-heroes recalling, at DC Comics, the Deadpool and Venom of the Marvel team.
Anyway, in the post-credits scene of The Suicide Squad, Christopher Smith / Peacemaker survived the Bloodsport shot. Peacemaker – which the media were able to watch in full except for the last episode – explores the character’s origins, which can be found mostly in his relationship with his father’s white supremacist (Robert Patrick), and kicks off a few months after the events in the feature film.
Recovered from his injuries, the licensed killer is once again recruited by a secret government agency, this time to save the world on a mission ridiculously known as “Butterfly.” The “ridiculously” is his. Except that the term is more appropriate than he thinks.
The charisma of marble
His team is led by the hermetic Clemson Murn (Chukwudi Iwuji) and is made up – in a very agreed way – of the service geek (Steve Agee); of the competent agent and angry because, blonde syndrome obliges, too often not taken seriously (Jennifer Holland); of the naive newcomer parachuted there, but who turns out to be more useful than initially imagined (Danielle Brooks). Oh, and don’t forget Eagly: Peacemaker’s pet eagle is the most immediately endearing character in the bunch. To look at it is to adopt it.
To them is added, by force, Adrian Chase, who fights crime under the identity and uniform of Vigilante. Incarnated by Freddie Stroma, he in fact soon carries the repulsive values of Peacemaker who, in this new context, loses in “douchebaguerie” and appears a little in search of redemption, as if the series and James Gunn were trying to make him likable. Weird? Enough.
At the same time, it was successfully done for Harley Quinn, thanks to the formidable Margot Robbie. John Cena, former professional wrestler turned actor, is he capable of such magic? Strangely, in his own way, yes. Charismatic, but in a different way from Dwayne “The Rock” Johnson (another defector from the ring), the one we saw as Vin Diesel’s brother in F9 is able to deliver the most aberrant aftershocks by displaying a marble face. Except when his character cries-but-does-not-cry-: he rather trains his facial muscles, he assures those who witness it (to reassure them).
This “talent” and his absolute disposition to do anything and everything, even if it means risking being ridiculous, are also exploited from the opening credits: followed by the various small groups making up the cast, John Cena also appears in a choreography. absurd that his uniform on Do Ya Wanna Taste It of Wig Wam, which they all deliver with unpayable impassibility and seriousness.
James Gunn, it’s James Gunn
The tone of the soundtrack of the series, stuffed to explode with hard rock from the 1980s (James Gunn does not go without) is thus given. And it is a pity that the stupid pleasure felt in this introduction does not continue at the same level in the episodes.
The developments of the plot indeed give the impression of appearing here and there, forced, when the filmmaker feels the duty to return to his story. We can guess that he especially has fun in the countless dialogue parentheses and asides intersecting the action, making the tension fly in bursts of laughter … when you like sarcastic, juvenile, vulgar humor – à la James Gunn, what. From where the feeling to remain on our hunger for what is the intrigue and, after a few episodes, to trample.
Despite everything, you don’t have to be a masochist to continue: the persevering viewer, especially if he is familiar with the DC universe, will appreciate the biting references to the superheroes of the team (who do not quite taste them) and will be captivated by some of the links created here. The most fascinating, rich and sincere being that of Peacemaker with Leota Adebayo (Danielle Brooks ofOrange is the New Black is fantastic). They are poles apart, both physically, psychologically and morally. A white man with a muscular figure, a black woman with assumed curves. A vain man without complexes, an embodiment of the complex of the impostor. He’s killed hundreds of times, she’s never taken the life of anyone. And so on.
Let’s say their only things in common are that they have a strained relationship with their parent figures and both love women. But then again, she is married; he’s just trying to get a good shot. That too is James Gunn.