THE SUICIDE SQUAD Review
Writer/director James Gunn may in fact be some sort of comic book movie wizard. After successfully bringing the B-Team of Marvel Comics, The Guardians of the Galaxy, to the big screen, Gunn’s unabashedly tongue-in-cheek aura found itself a hot commodity. Even after a few minor controversies surrounding some rough jokes on Twitter and a brief banishment from the overlords at Disney (and a just as quick un-banishment), Gunn still found another opportunity to bring his unique mindset to another B, or at least by this point, C-Team, this time across the street at DC Comics with THE SUICIDE SQUAD.
After the well presented terrible-ness that was David Ayer’s SUICIDE SQUAD resulted in a critical and box-office bust — which to be fair may be another case of toxic studio meddling — and even more subsequent failures offered by Warner Bros. and DC, it wasn’t long before the B-Team of comic book movie producers decided to pivot. Starting with Todd Phillips’ TAXI DRIVER-impersonating R-rated JOKER and most recently, Cathy Tran’s uber-stylish Harley Quinn/Margot Robbie vehicle, BIRDS OF PREY, DC and Warner Bros were focused less on universe building and moreso on allowing filmmakers to come in and actually leave somewhat of their unique imprints on DC’s most beloved and known characters. So here we are, with THE SUICIDE SQUAD (note the addition of the word “The”), a soft reboot/soft sequel that lets James Gunn be James Gunn.
Like many of Gunn’s other works, THE SUICIDE SQUAD is first and foremost an ensemble piece that rides or dies on the interactions of its mismatched guns-for-hire and their uncaring handlers. As in the GUARDIANS franchise, Gunn is at his best in this space, allowing his impressive cabal of performers to bump and bicker with one another entertainingly for about 2 hours. As it goes, the basic gist is this: Amanda Waller (Viola Davis) gathers a clump of random criminals and supervillains with a ride range of powers and talents and forces them to do the dirty work for the American government. In this go-round, Waller sends in two units; one led by returning military pawn Rick Flagg (Joel Kinnaman) with Harley Quinn (Margot Robbie) and other D-list villains such as Pete Davidson’s Blackguard and the also returning Captain Boomerang (Jai Courtney) among others, in tow. The second unit, this one led by the Deadshot/Will Smith-replacing Bloodsport (Idris Elba), leads another group of bad guy losers like the walking thumb of supposed peace, Peacemaker (John Cena) and the rat-controlling, Rat-Catcher 2 (Daniela Melchior) to a small island-nation that has its hand on a mysterious superweapon. As in the last film, the catch for these imprisoned villains is that if they ever so much as try to disobey Waller’s orders, she’ll pop their heads like a Gallagher watermelon, hence their moniker, THE SUICIDE SQUAD.
Benefitting from a now unobtrusive studio and the bloody powers offered by an R-rating, Gunn quickly lets his film live up to its title as things go hilariously wrong for the two groups of B through Z bad guys as they are quickly ambushed as soon as they step foot on the island. With his patented knack for needle drops providing a darkly humorous soundtrack, it’s not long before new and returning Suicide Squad members alike are brutally offed, giving the illusion of a film that isn’t afraid to take out high caliber characters and actors (well, at least for a SUICIDE SQUAD movie). After the dust settles, the remaining members left carry on with their mission in the vulgar and violent ways Gunn showcased in his earlier filmmaking days, which works well when we see the likes of Elba and Cena butt heads and discuss hard hitting topics like jerking off a beach of dicks in the name of freedom.
Each member, no matter how long they last on screen gets a moment to shine, thanks in part to Gunn’s entertaining dialogue and character development (see Polka Dot Man’s (David Dastmalchian) mommy problems or the cheesy if effective metaphorical father-daughter bond between Bloodsport and Ratcatcher 2) and exquisitely vibrant visuals, all the way from the sunny and bright tropical setting to the character’s unique costumes. If anything, a film based off a comic as wacky as this finally gets the first thing right by being just a grand old time reveling in the hyper violence and vulgar humor that its conceit offers. While Gunn succeeds at putting some genuine effort in personalizing these cast-offs it does at times come at the cost of other established characters getting less run and development with a particular journey involving Harley Quinn — still overcoming her obsession with her ex, The Joker — feeling underdeveloped and a tad redundant, especially in lieu of her solo film which focused almost entirely on the fact that she was now her own woman. Even so, she, along with her teammates get to participate in actions sequences that are dazzling and humorous in equal measure with Polka Dot Man and Bloodsport and of course, the walking talking shark that is King Shark (Sylvester Stallone, Groot-ing it up here), getting some standout moments of gleefully bonkers carnage.
As a retool of a previously underwhelming film, THE SUICIDE SQUAD works even as it dials back in terms of scope and seriousness. The mission here is smaller sure, but the interactions between characters and the growth they experience together is entertaining to see, even if it does allow Gunn to play the hits of “misfits coming together in the end” rather than experimenting a bit outside of that GUARDIANS mold. Nonetheless, there are some moments where Gunn throws out betrayals and literal backstabs that keep the audience on their toes. However, the film never fully embraces (outside of one or two deaths that did emotionally hurt this writer) its “anything can happen” mantra; at this point, you can probably guess correctly who will bite the bullet and who will wear the plot armor. But that’s just a bit nit-picky when Gunn offers a movie that puts humorously has people yelling about empanada distribution and most surprising of all, offering a last minute villain who still manages to come with a genuinely tragic backstory.
So yes, long story short, THE SUICIDE SQUAD is another example of James Gunn coming into a middling source material and embracing the weirdness that can be found within. It’s more a reworking of a bad initial product moreso than a new stepping stone for a very solid filmmaker but that doesn’t make THE SUICIDE SQUAD and all it crass energy any less fun.
3.5/5
