If you’re already familiar with director James Gunn’s work with the Guardians of the Galaxy movies, you might expect the same from his take on The Suicide Squad. While there are some similarities- both feature a group of misfits forced to work together and even care for another- this movie is very much its own beast.
When a South American nation named Corto Maltese undergoes a military coup and the new government is strongly anti-American, Amanda Waller (Viola Davis) sends two squads of Task Force X (aka the Suicide Squad) to infiltrate the research facility for Project Starfish, which supposedly houses an alien organism, and destroy it. Familiar characters, like Harley Quinn (Margot Robbie) and Rick Flag (Joel Kinnaman) return, but the film is mostly helmed by new characters such as Bloodsport (Idris Elba), Ratcatcher 2 (Daniela Melchior), Peacemaker (John Cena), Polka-Dot Man (David Dastmalchian) and King Shark (Sylvester Stallone).
The opening sequence with the decoy squad starts the film off on the right note, with a massacre that highlights why they are called ‘the suicide squad’. Once the main team is established, we get a great rivalry dynamic between Bloodsport and Peacemaker, who seem to have the same origin story and a desire to outdo one another. Early on, there is a great scene where the team slaughters a camp full of people before discovering that they were killing the wrong people.
It would be hard to talk about each character because almost all of them get great moments and have arcs of their own throughout the film. Harley Quinn gets a whole sequence to herself where we see flowers spout off around her as she escapes a prison and kills the guards in the process. King Shark is adorably simple, but he is also looking for connections and friendship. Ratcatcher is the heart of the film, while Polka-Dot Man makes great use of his limited (but effective) material.
The actors are also firing on all cylinders, especially John Cena, who more than holds his own against veterans like Elba. Peter Capaldi is also electric as The Thinker, though he doesn’t get much to do.
The Suicide Squad manages to stay engaging throughout its runtime. There’s a conflict near the end of the second act where two characters face off against each other, and while the resolution for that is unexpected, it also elevates both of these characters.
James Gunn finally gets to make a movie that fits his sensibilities completely, as opposed to the Guardians of the Galaxy movies which were made under the watchful eyes of Kevin Feige. The action sequences are flashy and impactful when they need to be, handily earning the film’s R rating. There are a lot of fun stylistic touches, and for the first time in a while, the film manages to make the obligatory epic finale feel necessary and earned rather tacked on.
The Suicide Squad might just be the best DC live action film of the last five years. It’s definitely a step up from the original.
Hopefully, it’s an encouraging sign for things to come.