'Peacemaker' lets John Cena and James Gunn cut loose in a silly 'The Suicide Squad' spinoff
CNN
The opening credits for "Peacemaker" feature John Cena and the rest of the cast in a choreographed dance number that is joyously goofy, setting the tone for what's to come. If only this HBO Max series spun out of "The Suicide Squad" was consistently as good, despite (and partly because of) the freedom afforded writer-director James Gunn to utterly cut loose.
In what feels like a very Marvel-ous maneuver, Gunn planted the seeds for the show in the "Squad" movie released in August, moving Cena's weapons-expert assassin from an ensemble to center stage, surrounded by new characters and bizarre sci-fi-style threat to humanity, albeit at a very slow-moving pace.
Cena's bulky physique belies just how comfortable he is playing the clown, and "Peacemaker" allows both him and Gunn an opportunity to indulge that in the most R-rated manner possible with precious little adult supervision.