The Suicide Squad
One of the things that works so beautifully in James Gunn’s films in that they are true ensembles. Whether it’s “Slither” of “Super” or the “Guardians of the Galaxy” films, there may be an “in” character that represents our entrance into the world he’s creating, but when it’s all said and done, how much the film succeeds relies on how each character fits into the story he’s telling. That’s why it made sense that, when he was fired from “Guardians of the Galaxy, Vol. 3,” DC made a push for him to do a soft reboot of Suicide Squad after the largely negative reception of the 2016 film. Not long into “The Suicide Squad,” it pays off well.
The reason that “The Suicide Squad” will never work as successfully as “Guardians” does, even with Gunn writing and directing, is that this isn’t a collection of rogues and outcasts who become family- the heart is what makes Gunn’s best work bliss to watch. As with the first film, his “Suicide Squad” is a group of killers and rogues gallery villains doing what they do out of coercion; that they happen to end up saving people is side effect of the job, and because Amanda Waller (Viola Davis) is a world class bitch. That makes it entertaining as Hell, though.
The film begins with a squad including Harley Quinn (Margot Robbie), Mongal (Mayling Ng), T.D.K. (Nathan Fillion), Captain Boomerang (Jai Courtney), Savant (Michael Rooker), Javelin (Flula Borg), Blackguard (Pete Davidson), Weasel (Sean Gunn) and Colonel Rick Flag (Joel Kinnaman) storming the beach of a Latin American country. By the time the fighting is done, most of them are dead. Then the real heroes arrive. Well, I say heroes, but it’s hard to consider Bloodsport (Idris Elba), Peacemaker (John Cena), Ratcatcher 2 (Daniela Melchior), King Shark (voiced by Sylvester Stallone, performed by Steve Agee) and Polka-Dot Man (David Dastmalchian) heroes; they just happen to be the ones doing the actual mission, involving overthrowing a military government and destroying a science experiment used to control the population. Would it be a “Suicide Squad” film, though, if it were that simple.
This is a great cast for these characters. Even in single moments, Rooker, Fillion and Davidson land jokes and character beats that work, and we come to enjoy the characters played by Elba, Cena, Melchior (probably the strongest emotional anchor of the film), Stallone and Dastmalchian. If there’s one thing Gunn understands, it’s creating unusual characters that we can’t help but have affection for. (And I’ll go to bat for Weasel any time.) It would have been very easy for a filmmaker to just lean into making Harley Quinn the center and skimp on the rest of the characters (like the first one did), but we feel like all of these characters add something to the story, especially when it becomes a delightfully weird kaiju movie at the end. I’ll let you figure out how that happens, though.
Gunn’s use of music remains strong, although this time, John Murphy’s score honestly stood out more than the song choices. I love how wickedly violent this movie is, and how he uses Harley’s personality to tone down the blood in one sequence to- likely- avoid an NC-17. You’ll see what I mean. Gunn seems like a rejuvenated filmmaker, and I hope some of that energy sticks around for him to stick the landing on “Guardians of the Galaxy, Vol. 3.” I love that trolls got him fired from one job, but he ended up not only getting that one back, but being given something fresh to explore, as well.
That’ll do, trolls. That’ll do.
