The Suicide Squad (2021)
“Robert DuBois. He’s in jail for putting Superman in the ICU with a Kryptonite bullet.” – Amanda Waller.
The Suicide Squad (2021)
Directed by: James Gunn
Written by: James Gunn
Starring: Margot Robbie, Idris Elba, John Cena, Viola Davis, Joel Kinnaman
The DCU is back!
Now, before you get too carried away, it’s still not on Marvel’s level, but I think that Birds of Prey and now this show that things are tracking in the right direction.
Writer and director James Gunn has done his absolute best to distance this movie from the absolute trainwreck that was 2016s Suicide Squad. Even the name THE Suicide Squad seems to emphasise that this isn’t the same pile of garbage David Ayers served up five years ago. Instead, this is the THE movie we were promised.
Once again, the film focuses on a taskforce of antiheroes – a collection of the world’s worst felons - who have been assembled by the government to clean up problems deemed too messy for the headline superheroes. Bribed with a reduction of their prison sentence for each mission they complete, the group are dropped at the remote island of Corto Maltese to secure US secrets.
First of all, a massive round of applause for James Gunn. The Guardians of the Galaxy’s writer and director has his fingerprints all over the rejuvenation of this franchise. The plot well and truly cleans the slate of past indiscretions within ten minutes of the films opening. The squad is renamed ‘Taskforce X,’ and is reduced to only six members this time. The main carryovers from the previous film are Amanda Waller (the fearsome taskmaster), Colonel Rick Flag, and Harley Quinn. So Gunn basically got rid of all the dead weight from the first film and retained the best parts. Good start.
Reducing the squad to only six key members is another key takeaway from the failings of 2016. That film had nine or ten members of the squad, which is just too many characters to explore – some were completely ignored and others were really cool characters that were killed before we even met them. Even though I’m not a huge fan of some of the powers the new squad has, at least you get to connect with them on a personal level. Humanising these downright terrible individuals is the main quirk Suicide Squad has going for it, so I’m glad Gunn gave them some development this time around.
The stylistic elements in this film are, for the most part, incredibly impressive. The visuals are stunning, and Gunn made sure to make each scene as colourful as possible. Unlike the almost pitch-black 2016s film - where you couldn’t see what was going on - most of the film is set during daylight, and Gunn adds an energetic score throughout. The most memorable scene of the entire film is a Harley Quinn action set piece, with an extended long shot placing us inside her colourful yet insane mind while she mows down waves of soldiers. The CGI is also pretty good. I wasn't a huge fan of the massive monster at the end, which we’ll get to in a second, but I thought that the CGI for King Shark was fantastic. Within a scene I didn’t think about the fact that he was a CGI character.
For the most part, the script is impressive, with Gunn understanding the best way to feature the best characters and utilise the funniest actors. Margot Robbie steals every scene she’s in once again, and Bloodsport and Peacemaker’s friendly competition throughout the movie is funny. Viola Davis once again exudes power as the fearsome boss.
The most difficult character to write in any superhero movie is the villain. They dictate the motives and development of the heroes. This is even more difficult in Suicide Squad, as they need the villain to be both interesting AND so evil that we think the antiheroes are the good guys. Gunn decided to mix this up here, with the identity of who the actual human ‘villain’ was a bit of mystery due to the fact that the plot revolves around a military coup. He throws in a few twists and this aspect of the story works well.
The part that didn’t work for me was the big bad monster the group has to go up against at the end. Purely CGI, I thought this was a bit clunky, and honestly a bit ridiculous. Screw it, I’ll just come out and say it…it's a giant space starfish. Yep...that’s the character. But at least James Gunn is selfaware of how ridiculous this is, with one of the characters yelling “there’s a fucking Kaiju up in this bitch” – a Pacific Rim reference. The whole thing felt shoehorned in for an over-the-top final fight scene, and it just added 20 minutes we didn’t need.
In summary, it’s not a perfect movie, but James Gunn has righted the ship and the DCU is finally on the right track. A touch too long, but you’ll enjoy this if you love superhero movies.
Rating: 7.5/10
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