The Suicide Squad (2021) - Movie Review
I grew up an outsider. I was a shy, sickly kid. I had pneumonia twice in my sixth year of life. Needless to say, I had no friends. Good thing I had comic books. There are few positive things I can say about my parents style of parenting in absentia, but one thing I’ve always appreciated is that they didn’t attempt to censor my reading. At the age of six, I was at a high school reading level, and thus the books for “my age” were quite boring. So, I moved on to Stephen King, Clive Barker, and The Suicide Squad. Thus I’ve been a diehard Suicide Squad fan ever since. My favorite comic of all time is Gail Simone’s Suicide Squad Renaissance, Secret Six. This is part of the reason I detested the first Suicide Squad and had low expectations for a sequel. Then it was announced that James Gunn was writing. Gunn is a comics guy and after watching this film, I can tell he liked Gail Simone’s take as well.
This Sequel is shot like Quinten Tarantino on Molly. It’s a frenetic blood bath filled with neon colors and Gunn’s signature soundtrack wizardry. It’s ultra violent from minute one and starts with an iconic Suicide Squad opening spread. You see, Suicide Squad comics usually started with action. There was no build-up, no suspense, many times the first two pages were a spread of a battle scene going awry. I jumped with glee at Gunn’s opening sequence. It was the most Suicide Squad thing I’ve seen in live action form.
If you’re unfamiliar with The Suicide Squad, here’s the breakdown. Supervillains need to go to prison, but there aren’t many prisons outfitted to house meta-humans, aka super powered individuals. One of the main prisons for this type of offender is Belle Reve in Louisiana. Unfortunately for those prisoners, Belle Reve is run by a government spook named Amanda Waller, played by the incomparable Viola Davis. Waller is the nastiest piece of work in the DC universe. Imagine Donald Rumsfeld mixed with Omarosa, scary right? She’s an iron fisted fascist whose motivations are classified. She handles the government’s dirtiest secrets. Which usually requires deadly force and impossible odds. Therefore, she drafts inmates into Task Force X, which the inductees refer to as The Suicide Squad. The prisoners must join voluntarily and in exchange will get 10 years off of their sentences for each mission completed. If an inductee rejects the offer, Waller will find a way to encourage them. Maybe it’s extra years off, maybe she threatens to kill your entire family.
Enter Idris Elba’s Robert Dubois, aka Bloodsport. This film’s replacement for the iconic leader of the Squad, Deadshot.
Quick history lesson, Deadshot is the only member of the Suicide Squad that is ubiquitous over all incarnations. In the comics, he was an Australian asshole with a heart of gold who did everything in order to provide a safe life for his daughter. In the initial Suicide Squad movie, David Ayer decided to destroy what made the character unique and turned him into the same Will Smith character we’ve seen in a dozen films that have bombed. If David Ayer could retire now, it would be too late.
Bloodsport is a great choice to replace Deadshot. They are similar weapon based villains. Whereas Deadshot has a Meta-ability to never miss, Bloodsport is more of a gadgets guy. In the comics, the Robert Dubois version of Bloodsport uses a teleportation device to provide him infinite armaments including a Kryptonite bullet with which he nearly kills Superman. He’s also insane and imagined he was in the Vietnam War, even though he dodged the draft. Luckily, that part of his story isn’t in the movie. Instead, Gunn takes the best parts of Deadshot’s character and motivation and mixes it into the body and skillset of Bloodsport. This is a man who has accepted the consequences of his actions. He’s more disappointed he was caught than remorseful over his actions. That doesn’t mean he’s a bad guy. He doesn’t want any part of Waller’s offer, but when she threatens the life of his oft disappointed daughter. He has no choice.
He is the most complex of the group and Gunn did his usual—writing a multifaceted character. It helps when you have one of the greatest living actors playing the role. Next to Luther, this might be Idris Elba’s greatest role. He anchors this insane film with a Danny Glover-eque, I’m too old for this shit air. His interactions with each of the team members is so organic and real that it in turn builds those lesser actors up. This is exemplified by his back and forth with John Cena. I thought Cena was going to be the weak link here, but surrounded by the likes of Elba and Joel Kinnaman, he shines. His one note delivery fits perfectly with the multifaceted heroics of Harley Quinn and Col. Rick Flagg.
Margot Robbie is a goddess. She’s the rare mixture of Hollywood bombshell and character actress. She’s a leading lady with the comedic chops of a Groundling. She isn’t acting. She is Harley Quinn. Ms. Robbie, thank you for your service.
Elba and Robbie’s performances are as fantastic as advertised, but they don’t hold a candle to the breakout star of the film, Daniela Melchior. As far as I can tell, this is her first English language film. She has spent the majority of her young career in Spanish language features and TV. In the film she plays Ratcatcher II, a girl who inherited the rat controlling gear of her father, played to heartbreaking effect by Taika Waititi. Melchior is exotic to an extreme. She has National Geographic eyes that light up the screen. Her vocal delivery and accented tone are so beautiful and melodic that every time she delivered her lines, it was as if time stopped. It helped that her character and dialogue were the most lovably written. She of course has daddy issues as is James Gunn usual trope (See Guardians of the Galaxy 1 and 2), but the issue isn’t a bad or absent parent. It’s that of loving parent lost to addiction. If Melchior decides to stay in Hollywood, I expect to see her taking home some golden statues in the coming years.
Then there’s the real star of the film, King Shark. A giant shark man with the brain of a child and strength equal to the Incredible Hulk. His antics in the comics were always hilarious and I love that Gunn left him as is. The character is voiced by Sylvester Stallone. Honestly, I was shocked to hear that, because I could actually understand what the giant shark man was saying.
There are many more members of the team, but I don’t want to ruin the surprises. All of the actors are great. Gunn uses his usual troupe. Nathan Fillion, David Dastmalchian, Michael Rooker, and Sean Gunn make their normal appearances and, as always, are fantastic.
The film’s plot centers around the biggest recurring battlefield in the comics, Corto Maltese. For all intents and purposes it’s Cuba. The Suicide Squad Comics premiered in 1959 and the Cold War was on the horizon. So, using Cuba overtly after a certain point could prove to be problematic. There were missiles, look it up. So, Corto Maltese it is. In this case, The Suicide Squad is sent in to take out a research facility that houses an incredible bio weapon straight out of The Brave and the Bold #28, aka the first appearance of the Justice League. Needless to say, I was blown away by Gunn’s choice of villain here. It’s a villain that was once called impossible to bring to live action. Who was it? Watch the movie or google the comic above and find out.
The mission is never truly important in The Suicide Squad, it’s about the journey and who survives. Any character can die at any time. That’s what made the comics fun. You could have a brand new team after an issue as everyone died, except Deadshot or Harley that is. It’s not a spoiler, if Gunn killed Margot Robbie’s Harley Quinn, he’d be crucified worse than he was on Twitter for the bad jokes he posted a decade earlier. Don’t Google it—it was bullshit. This film is proof of how much better Gunn is when he doesn’t have to worry about Disney’s censors. I hope Gunn works with DC more. I miss the James Gunn who did Tromeo and Juliet, Slither, and of course Scooby Doo 2: Monsters Unleashed. I’d love to see Gunn tackle other underground characters like Catman, Etrigan, or Lobo. I know he had about a dozen Marvel projects in production, so the likelihood of this happening is miniscule. I can’t blame him though. As much as I hate Disney, if they offered to buy the Killing Heart from me, I’d sellout in a heartbeat.
Back to the movie.
The Suicide Squad is fantastic. Is it overlong—YES. It’s over 2 hours in length. Does it feel that long? No. It’s a blast.
The Suicide Squad is the comic movie equivalent of Apocalypse Now.
Yeah, it’s that good.
