It sure was quite the journey to get to this point, wasn’t it? From the awkward combination of commercial success yet critical beating that the first Suicide Squad took to the sudden hiring of James Gunn, who at the time was fresh off the sudden – but ultimately, temporary – firing from helming the third Guardians Of The Galaxy, it seems like the film serves as not only a chance to redeem this franchise, but also the director himself. I won’t get too deep into that whole mess, but it’s hard to ignore the impact that such an experience on putting together a film like this.
James Gunn’s The Suicide Squad, emphasis on the “the,” is technically a sequel to the 2016 film, but it basically stands on its own. Once again, Amanda Waller (Viola Davis) puts together a team of villains pulled from their prison cells, and injected with an explosive device in their heads, so that they can complete a covert mission that, upon its success, would knock off a decade from their sentence. The team this time around is led by Robert DuBois aka Bloodsport (Idris Elba), who is working alongside Harley Quinn (Margot Robbie), Rick Flag (Joel Kinnaman), Peacemaker (John Cena), Ratcatcher 2 (Daniela Melchior), Polka-Dot Man (David Dastmalchian), Nanaue aka King Shark (performed on set by Steve Agee, voiced by Sylvester Stallone), and numerous other colorful characters.
The mission this time around involves infiltrating a small South American island called Corto Maltese, which has recently experienced a coup, and the new folks in charge are planning on taking advantage of a research project known as Project Starfish as a way to put the island, and their power, on the map. Task Force X must go into the facility, with the help of The Thinker (Peter Capaldi), destroy everything relating to Project Starfish, and get out. Naturally, things don’t go as smooth as Waller would have hoped, and the team is forced to confront not only the challenges of the militarized government, but also the reality behind Project Starfish.
It’s amusing to see James Gunn tackle this project because the first Suicide Squad notoriously felt like it was made to have the feel of one of his Guardians movies during its infamous re-editing phase in post-production by the same company that made its pop-song-heavy trailers, which garnered a lot of popularity, especially after Batman v Superman’s reception. Gunn shows here that his style is not one that is easy to replicate. However, I don’t want to go on and on about how this compares to the first because, frankly, it wouldn’t be fair to just how wonderful this film is just on its own merits.
I will admit, James Gunn is a filmmaker who really speaks to me, and he’s done so from the very beginning from his Troma days (yes, there is a Lloyd Kaufman cameo) all the way to his work on films like Slither and Super, even before he became a household name through his work with Marvel. There’s a special touch he has, particularly when he explores the lives of people on the fringe, the outsiders who don’t fit in, the assholes who try but struggle to change their ways. His combination of crass and cynical humor with sincerity is often a tough pill to swallow for some, but I often find them bringing not only personality, but a lot of heart to the proceedings. And The Suicide Squad is no different.
We get to know a lot of these characters, and it does so without relying on an exorbitant amount of exposition. The film has smartly placed character beats that offer some depth to these characters. Sometimes they’re small, but the film takes those small moments, and builds upon it through action, framing, and killer dialogue. I found myself quite moved by several sequences here. Ratcatcher 2 especially, was someone who really stole the show for me, at least when it comes to bringing the heart and soul to the picture.
Of course, the humor is also a big part of the film, and it largely works. The film is frequently funny, and does a good job at balancing the need to be funny and the need to really slow down be more earnest. It often shouldn’t work, but Gunn’s sheer glee and force-of-will as a filmmaker pushes through, and it made for a really good time. The action is quite solid as well, often relying on decent hand-to-hand choreography and gun fights than pure CG spectacle, though there is plenty of that too, as well as some incredible gore, which I feel is featured more in here than in the recent Mortal Kombat movie.
The Suicide Squad is a ton of fun, that is no surprise. What is a surprise is how much I was able to connect with the characters. The cast is uniformly terrific, and clearly having a blast. And I was also surprised by how much the film had to say about American interference on foreign countries, about how we exploit resources, about American imperialism, specifically as it got into the true nature of Project Starfish. It doesn’t say enough to make any grand or heady gestures, but there’s clearly more on this movie’s mind than just pure entertainment, which it already excelled at. It is in many ways the complete package, it’s sweet, it’s emotional, it’s nasty, it’s vulgar, it’s violent, it’s mean, it’s thoughtful, it’s smart, it’s funny, it’s unabashedly weird; it’s so many things that many modern blockbusters are not able to be due to the nature of the Hollywood machine. It’s impressive, and I’m really happy that James Gunn was really able to bring together all his best qualities as a storyteller in an environment that allowed him to go totally unhinged. I had a great time, and I’m sure you will too.
The Suicide Squad is now out in theaters and HBO Max for 31 days.