Not much needs to be said about the 2016 celluloid dumpster fire that was “Suicide Squad.” While a few performances stood out and its notable for casting Margot Robbie (“The Wolf of Wall Street,” “Once Upon a Time in Hollywood”) as Harley Quinn and Viola Davis (“Doubt,” “How to Get Away with Murder”) as Amanda Waller, casting choices just as perfect as Robert Downey Jr. as Tony Stark or Ryan Reynolds as Deadpool, the film as a whole has been widely forgotten and panned from critics and fans alike.
Yet, thanks to a series of social media misunderstandings in 2018, James Gunn, the much-lauded director behind Marvel’s “Guardians of the Galaxy” films found himself out a job with Disney. And in walked Warner Bros., hoping to recapture the misfit success of the “Guardians” with their own squad of lowlifes.
That’s exactly what Gunn has delivered audiences, though not in exactly the way many would expect. “The Suicide Squad” is a lot of things, and the most obvious is an exploitation film that most closely resembles Gunn’s early works with B-movie studio Troma Films. Gore and violence are excessive, with exploding heads, severed limbs, and all manner of viscera being sprayed haphazardly throughout. It’s not for the faint of heart, and it does deliver some of the sickest moments of dark humor since Gunn’s previous R-rated feature “Super.”
Yet, this is not just a blood bath, as Gunn knows that none of this bloodshed is effective without stakes. As the death toll racks up, this is a group called “The Suicide Squad” after all, it would be all for not if we didn’t care about these characters putting their lives on the line. The film is choked full of as many heartbreaking and tearful moments of dread and death as much as it is silly exploding viscera and cartoonish violence. There’s a reason the tagline is “Don’t Get Too Attached.”
Gunn’s script weaves together jokes, character moments, and plot expertly, so that every laugh teaches you something about a character, building them and the world around them. It means that there’s really no excess to the film. It’s a lean mean adventure, clocking in at a little over two hours that breezes by. Pacing is also rock solid, despite flipping back and forth between different characters and locations almost constantly.
Gunn’s script may be excellent, but his casting choices alongside casting directors Yiniva Cardenas (“Kimura,” “Salta”) and John Papsidera (“Tenet,” “Inception”) are sheer genius. While Margot Robbie and Viola Davis as just as good as the previous film, even actors reprising their roles are given new and more interesting depths thanks to Gunn’s more assured direction and script.
Davis turns Amanda Waller from an angry boss to a nearly demented control freak, Robbie’s Quinn is the most tragically insane she’s ever been, and even Joel Kinnaman (“The Killing,” “RoboCop (2014)”) who previously played his character Rick Flag in the previous “Squad” film delivers more depth and nuance to a character who was previously just a blank faced military man.
Yet let’s not forget the new members of the Squad who make up the beating heart of this film. Idris Elba (“Luther,” “Molly’s Game”) as Bloodsport is an absolutely ruthless killer and terrible father, and Elba delivers a performance that shows just how much weight you can give a character as seemingly two dimensional as this. John Cena’s (“Blockers,” “Bumblebee”) Peacemaker will likely ruffle some feathers of fans expecting a Captain America like freedom fighter, when instead he’s a deadpan college frat boy obsessed with violence and obtaining peace by any means necessary. And he might just be Cena’s final transformation from “movie star” to “actor.” Sylvester Stallone (“Creed,” “First Blood”) voices King Shark, a big bloodthirsty teddy bear who’s clearly destined to be an adorably ruthless breakout star.
Yet, for all the machismos being thrown around, the film would be nothing without Daniela Melchior (“Ouro Verde,” “A Herdeira”) as Ratcatcher 2 and David Dastmalchian (“The Belko Experiment,” “Ant-Man and the Wasp”) as Polka-Dot Man. Yes, seriously. Dastmalchian provides the film’s most apathetic character but also delivers a sense of hidden care and good. He seems like the only person who doesn’t deserve to be there but also the only one actually wishing for death, and the inevitable growth and friendships that he establishes are both tragically funny and also legitimately heartwarming.
Melchior, in her English language debut, plays Ratcatcher 2 with a delightful sense of fun and optimism. She and Elba’s Bloodsport but heads frequently but their evolution of care as the film progresses is truly sweet and endearing. Its all to say that Gunn firmly establishes these as characters you care about, which makes the hits hit harder and the beating heart at the center of the film that much more palpable.
Cinematographer Henry Braham (“Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 2,” “The Golden Compass”) and Gunn have given this film a distinct handheld look to everything. While there are certainly big VFX shots with overhead cameras, there are just as many small manual turns and tricks to the look of the film that give it a guerilla, hand crafted feeling. Gunn has mentioned that this film was inspired by “The Dirty Dozen,” and Vietnam war films, and if nothing else, it certainly looks the part.
What Gunn has managed to craft here, more so than ever before, is a movie that feels like it shouldn’t exist. There are rampant anti-government and anti-America plotlines, moral ambiguity at every turn, waves of gore and viscera, and just general weirdness, all coasting along on a score from John Murphy (“Sunshine,” “Kick-Ass”) that’s equal parts harmonizing choirs and shredding guitar riffs. It all somehow works and transforms what is an otherwise pretty standard plot into a big ball of creative gumption. It isn’t perfect, but it flies by so fast and has all the energy of a secretly made film that its impossible not to smile at least once.
The best way to summarize “The Suicide Squad” is a movie where death is a laughing matter, except when it isn’t. How Gunn manages to deliver that tone is anyone’s guess, but it doesn’t matter as long as it works. And work it does, as he’s delivered a film that overcomes and plot derivativeness with an absolutely stellar cast, wonderful playfulness, rock solid tone, and big beating heart underneath all the blood and gore. Its an excellent guerilla style blockbuster and easily one of the best DC outings in decades. 4.5/5
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