'Peacemaker' review: A barmy balm for tormented times

'Your gun's bigger, so you need to take 11 paces instead of just 10 before we turn and fire. Trust me, it's fair that way.' Photos: Handout

Peacemaker is the spin-off we don't deserve from the movie sequel we never knew we wanted.

Fresh off his slaughter-filled turn in last year's The Suicide Squad, WWE icon turned actor John Cena is back in the role that proved he could play a total d-bag with the best of them.

Yes, an even more contemptible variety than his various heel turns as a pro wrestler; but hold off on the hate (and the "John Cena sucks!" chants, to the tune of his entrance music) for a moment.

True, overzealously patriotic vigilante Christopher Smith aka Peacemaker did kill Squad leader Rick Flag in the movie; but, as we find out at various points in the first half of his eight-episode solo series, he's all broken up about it.

And to boost our sympathy for the dude, we also learn that he is a textbook example of nurture over nature, through flashbacks that show what a monster (and gadget wiz) his father August "Auggie" Smith (Robert Patrick) was... and how he has more than likely become even worse with age.

The show is basically a skewering of the whole idea of costumed vigilantes, as seen through the twisted-genius lens of series creator James Gunn (who wrote all eight episodes of this show between completing The Suicide Squad and starting on Guardians Of The Galaxy Vol 3).

Don't expect much of the Peacemaker(s) you may know from the comics – or Vigilante, another second-tier DC Comics hero who shows up here, for that matter.

This version of Adrian Chase/Vigilante is a sociopathic costumed killer (winningly played by Freddie Stroma) who looks up to Peacemaker and constantly seeks his approval. (Good thing I never held on to my Vigilante comics from the 1980s or the urge to set them all on fire might have been too great to resist.)

Of course, you can't build a "superhero" show simply around oddball relationships.

There's got to be a mission, and a team, some of the latter being carryovers from The Suicide Squad: namely Harcourt (Jennifer Holland) and Economos (Steve Agee), joined by newcomers Clemson Murn (Chukwudi iquji) as team leader and Leota Adebayo (Danielle Brooks) who has, well, a connection the others aren't aware of.

The mission is simply called Project: Butterfly (hmm, an emerging pattern after the movie's Project: Starfish) and the team dynamics are... well, let's start with "fluid" and see where that takes them, and us.

'For the last time I am NOT one of the Inhumans! That's over at Marvel, got it?'

Make no mistake, the content of this HBO MAX series puts it firmly in the NSFW bracket.

It's an ensemble show but it is also defined and held together by its title character, thanks to sharp writing that allows Cena to show off his considerable range, which goes well beyond anything his in-ring persona allowed him to express.

Also, underneath all the swearing, gore and raunchiness is a quirky, oddball charm – the kind we've seen in Gunn's other work (on a more PG-rated level), the type that results from a bunch of misfits finding their individual and group groove – that takes the edge off the nastier moments.

'Like the man said, give peace a dance, ooh yeah... a *dirty* dance.'

Between its bizarre opening-credits dance number (you will not be able to turn away) involving most of the cast and post-credits scene in every episode, Peacemaker is also peppered with numerous jaw-dropping moments woven into an overall mood that taps into the universal zeitgeist.

You know, the feeling of being let down or having no confidence in governments, institutions and authority figures and being reluctant to trust anything (even the facts). One could say it's the perfect WTF show for the WFH era – as in "Whatda freakin' hell?" Only I didn't mean freakin'.

New episodes of Peacemaker are available to stream on HBO GO or Astro On Demand every Friday.