The Suicide Squad

 

First off, can I just say how ironic it is that this films exists? James Gunn's The Suicide Squad? If you go back and look at the marketing for the David Ayer Suicide Squad movie - especially after the disastrous reception of Batman v Superman: Dawn of Justice - it was clearly trying to ape the aesthetic of Gunn's Guardians of the Galaxy. And even some parts of the actual film seemed to be headed in that direction too, particularly with the abundance of needle-drops. But after the initial film's less-than-desirable reception and James Gunn's almost fortuitous firing (then eventual rehiring) by Disney, one can just hear the wheels turning in a WB executive's head: "Y'know we tried and failed to copy that James Gunn aesthetic with our heavily-edited cut of the first Suicide Squad. So now that Gunn is actually free, why don't we just get the real thing?" The result: a gleefully violent, funny, heartfelt romp of a comic book film that unfortunately almost lost me during the third act. 

Functioning as a kinda-but-not-really sequel to the first film, our story concerns government official Amanda Waller (Viola Davis) once again assembling Task Force X, a consortium of superpowered convicts who participate in black ops missions and get reduced prison time for their service if they succeed or get their heads blown up if they go off-mission. The roster this time includes returning players like Harley Quinn (Margot Robbie) and Rick Flag (Joel Kinnaman), but also newcomers such as Bloodsport (Idris Elba), Peacemaker (John Cena), Ratcatcher II (Daniela Melchior), Nanaue/King Shark (Sylvester Stallone) and the Polka-Dot Man (David Dastmalchian). There are also a lot of other members too, but they don't really deserve discussion because...well, you'll know why when you see the film. 

Anyway, the mission this time requires the squad to infiltrate the island of Corto Maltese to face off against an anti-American regime and destroy a Nazi-era experiment known as "Project Starfish", which is being held in a tower fortress called Jotunheim (guess Gunn wasn't the only Marvel thing DC took, eh?). No prizes for guessing that there's more to the mission than they realize and that all will be revealed towards the beginning of the third act climax. 

Speaking of which, this provides a great segue for me to talk about my biggest problem with the film before talking about the good stuff. The third act climax actually starts off very strongly with a plot twist that I won't reveal (but you can probably guess if you've seen one movie with this kind of story) that causes conflict within the squad. And this would have served as a wonderful climax in and of itself as it harkens back to the likes of Captain America: Civil War and is a far cry from the previous Squad's tacked on message about family and friends. Unfortunately, the climax then turns into a generic "Good Guys must Stop Giant Monster from Killing Everyone" sequence that wasn't nearly as interesting for me and just kept going on and on. Now, thankfully, this isn't enough to completely ruin the film for me, but it would be enough to knock 4 stars down to 3.5 stars if I rated film like that. 

Thankfully, that was my only major gripe with the film. Everything else is completely amazing! Much like with the Guardians films, James Gunn's script does a great job balancing irreverent humor and splatter-fest gore with sincere heartfelt moments and characters that we grow to really care about, even when some of them (without mentioning names) go down less-than-empathetic paths. DP Henry Braham (Gunn's cinematographer from Guardians Vol. 2) gives the film a unique feel with a rich, high-contrast color palette and multiple whip pans and crash zooms, while composer John Murphy brings his guitar, new wave chops to the film's score; both of these elements combine to create a kinetic energy to the film that brings to mind the films of early Matthew Vaughn (particularly Kick-Ass). 

And the cast is top-notch as well. Margot Robbie could play Harley Quinn in her sleep at this point, Joel Kinnaman is way more interesting here than he was the first time around, and Viola Davis gets to indulge in the more devious/morally compromised version of her character, demonstrating the corrupt nature of U.S. black ops missions. Idris Elba infuses Bloodsport with enough wry humor and empathy for us to connect with him, David Dastmalchian is particularly tragic as the mentally abused Polka-Dot Man, Daniela Melchior is endearing as Ratcatcher, Sylvester Stallone as King Shark...well, you get exactly what it says on the box and it's great. And John Cena...hoo, boy! This is probably Cena at his most funny but also his most unlikeable. In interviews, Cena described his character as "a douchey Captain America," and that fits Peacemaker to a "T". At first, it's very funny, but when the shoe drops in the third act, it gets very intimidating and even a little tragic. He proves to be a very layered character, and you can definitely see why he served as prime fodder for deconstruction in Alan Moore's Watchmen - no seriously, the Comedian is basically a pastiche of Peacemaker.

So, unsurprisingly, given the pedigree of everyone involved, The Suicide Squad is a very good movie that I highly recommend even while admitting the third act climax felt a little stale for me. Check it out, either in theaters or HBO Max, whichever is safest for you at this point. 

One more thing...

I saw this film in 4DX...don't do it. It is completely distracting! For the first few minutes, it's kinda fun, but after a while, it got really annoying!

Real talk: how am I supposed to enjoy a movie if my chair is rocking me back and forth constantly, spraying me with water, and shooting air bursts at me when guns go off? This 4DX gimmick is another attempt by the theaters to try and immerse the audience in a film. Well, you wanna know what immerses me in a film? Good writing, three-dimensional characters, a compelling story, great music, and interesting cinematography - all of which The Suicide Squad has in spades and none of which I need a roller-coaster chair to really enjoy. All that was going through my mind during that was Martin Scorsese's "theme park films" comment concerning Marvel movies. And I feel like that's where these 4DX chairs belong: theme parks. 

Anyway, that's my rant for the day. See you next week!