The Suicide Squad

Rating

Director

James Gunn

Screenplay

James Gunn

Length

2h 12m

Starring

Idris Elba, Margot Robbie, John Cena, Joel Kinnaman, Sylvester Stallone, Viola Davis, David Dastmalchian, Daniela Melchior, Michael Rooker, Jai Courtney, Peter Capaldi, Alice Braga, Pete Davidson

MPAA Rating

R

Original Preview

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Review

How do you take a concept and re-configure it without it being a sequel or without it seeming like a reboot? That’s the challenge Warner Bros. faced when they decided to rephrase their Suicide Squad with new characters and storylines, but bringing forward previously popular figures. The Suicide Squad is the end result and it’s a more significant success than its predecessor even if categorizing it is difficult.

When Warner Bros. first tapped the Suicide Squad for filmic adaptation, they did so with Will Smith as their box office draw. Margot Robbie, Viola Davis, David Harbour, and Jared Leto, though decently well known, weren’t figures to hang the film’s chances of success on. The 2016 film was poorly received by critics and all but the most ardent fans, yet managed to pull out a massive $325 million domestic gross. This 2021 release got better reviews and was better appreciated by fans, but suffered from its mid-pandemic release.

The film doesn’t really address much of the first film’s events and goes to great lengths to re-establish the narrative of a bunch of super villains with implanted exploding devices in their heads forced to perform a service to the American people as mercenaries and disposable assets against their will. Back for another bite at the apple are Robbie as everyone’s favorite psychopath Harley Quinn, Davis as the government official picking and choosing which villains live and die, Joel Kinnaman as the military man put in charge of the team, and Jai Courtney as the sexist pig Captain Boomerang.

Several actors are new to the series, but the five that matter most are Idris Elba as an ex-military weapons expert who must lead a covert team of villains into the heart of a fictional island nation for unrevealed reasons, John Cena as super patriot and super thug Peacemaker, Daniela Melchior as rat-whispering Zennial Ratcatcher 2, and David Dastmalchian as a man who controls polka-dots. Then there’s Sylvester Stallone as the voice of King Shark providing comic relief.

In this kind of movie, the plot doesn’t matter much, since most people are going to sit down to the movie just for the carnage. That said, the plot is well fleshed out and easy to follow even if absurd to an extreme degree. Matter of fact, it’s that overall feeling of absurdity that makes the film so much fun to watch. Director James Gunn has done wonders with his reinvigoration of the property. What seriously lacked from the prior film was a general lack of whimsy and a distinct lack of body count. This is supposed to be an array of super villains who are grist for an imperialist sawmill, not preservable characters who must survive to please fans. That doesn’t mean there isn’t plenty of survival. Some of the most important characters make it through unscathed, but to say that the villain death count isn’t over 50% would be a lie.

The Suicide Squad, an absurd title considering they only added the word “The” to distinguish itself from its predecessor, only serves to highlight the film’s lack of credibility. It isn’t that you don’t believe the people in the film, but that the situations are so outlandish, they could have only originated on the comic page and that alone should be worth the price of admission. Gunn’s rampant devil-may-care attitude only improves the content rather than distracts from it.

Review Written

April 19, 2022