‘Suicide Squad’ a big, bloody improvement
It isn’t saying much much to declare “The Suicide Squad” from writer/director James Gunn (“Guardians of the Galaxy”) as a huge improvement over the 2016 version of the DC Comics property.
The 2016 “Suicide Squad,” which features an especially miscalculated performance from Jared Leto as The Joker, barely functions as a movie; it strings together clumsy character introductions for 45 minutes before it collapses into repetitive and incoherent action.
For “The Suicide Squad” (the “THE” being the key distinction) Gunn tosses out everything from the first film for this sorta sequel/reboot, with the exception of a few key characters — chiefly Margot Robbie’s mercurial Harley Quinn and Viola Davis’ icy-evil Amanda Waller. Gunn mixes the old parts with a sharper script to deliver a cartoonishly violent and viciously funny anti-superhero movie.
The setup remains largely the same: Davis’ Waller recruits D-level supervillains for a dangerous, borderline impossible mission to stop a heavily-armed and tyrannical regime. If they die, oh well. If they live, they lose some time on their prison sentences. If they abandon the mission, then an explosive device lodged in the skull makes an instant mess of things.
Gunn spills plenty of blood in the opening minutes of “The Suicide Squad,” and, as the tagline for the film warns, don’t get too attached to anyone.
Actually, you’ll still get attached to a few key players here — Robbie’s pitch-perfect depiction of Harley Quinn is the centerpiece of several standout scenes, Idris Elba’s Bloodsport serves as the film’s exasperated straight-man, Joel Kinnaman returns as conflicted squad leader Rick Flag and Daniela Melchoir is the surprise moral center as a character named Ratcatcher 2. She talks to rodents.
All four get strong character arcs, though much of Harley’s adventure plays out independent of the main crew. Gunn’s knack for writing distinctive characters also pays off in some of the more comedically-focused supporting roles — Sylvester Stallone voices the monstrous-but-childlike King Shark, and David Dastmalchian plays a meek villain named Polka-Dot Man (his superpower is predictably dopey).
Then there’s John Cena as the jerky, Captain America wannabe, Peacemaker. After delivering such a stiff, underwritten role in this summer’s “F9: The Fast Saga,” it’s nice to see the former wrestler re-flex his comedic chops. Peacemaker’s toxic masculinity leads to many of the film’s biggest laughs, but he also acts as one of the most dangerous and unpredictable members of the group. Cena will appear in a spin-off series written by Gunn for HBO Max early next year.
“The Suicide Squad” doesn’t try to be about much beyond opportunities for these evil weirdos to interact with each other. It’s a bit overstuffed, and the gore-centric comedy certainly won’t suit every taste (thankfully, audiences will be able to determine their own tolerance for the violence within the first couple minutes). The climax digresses into a whole new dimension of silliness, but Gunn at least never loses sight of his dynamic characters. Just don’t think for a second everyone makes it out in the end.
“The Suicide Squad” is now playing in theaters and streaming on HBO Max.
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Tyler Wilson has been writing about movies for Inland Northwest publications since 2000. He can be reached at twilson@cdapress.com.
