Rating: A+
One of the big takeaways from 2016’s Suicide Squad was, whether you liked it or not, it was one corner of the DCEU that had limitless potential. Five long years later, that potential has been realized with The Suicide Squad, and we have James Gunn to thank.
Gunn’s affinity for the more absurd side of superhero lore has been apparent since he helmed Marvel’s Guardians of the Galaxy in 2014. He’s given a similar template here to work with here: a hodge-podge collection of z-list comic book characters forced to work together. The difference here is that Gunn said he was given carte blanche to do whatever he wanted, and he uses it with an unfettered mixture of glee and gore. No longer confined by ratings, studio interference, or a coherent cinematic universe, The Suicide Squad is Gunn’s sacred, profane love letter to the characters from the darkest, most obscure corners of the DC Universe.
Like director David Ayer’s outing, The Suicide Squad brings together a large roster of super-villains under the command of Amanda Waller, played by Viola Davis, one of only a few to reprise their role, alongside Joel Kinnamon’s Rick Flag, Jai Courtney’s Captain Boomerang, and of course, Margot Robbie as Harley Quinn — the lone breakout character from the first film. The roster grows considerably, however, adding in Gunn mainstays like Michael Rooker and Sylvester Stallone, along with Pete Davidson, Idris Elba, David Dastmalchian, John Cena, and about a half-dozen more.
Unlike the 2016 outing, however, Gunn’s version plays out somewhere between a 70s grindhouse war movie and the Troma films that the director cut his teeth on. Yes, before he was the revered comic book filmmaker he is today, he spent the 90s churning out screenplays for zero-budget gross-out fair like Tromeo and Juliet and directing Sgt. Kabuikiman in public service announcements. While that kind of overt, gross-out approach has been missing from his work since 2010’s Super, (a film very much worth checking out, by the way), it’s back now. And it’s dialed up to 11. Maybe 13.
Set largely on the island nation of Corto Maltese, which itself is steeped in DC lore, Task Force X (the squad’s formal, less derogatory name) are tasked with invading the island, fighting their way past the military, and ultimately blow up a big, important building. A far cry from the Enchantress-heavy storyline of the original film that culminated in a giant sky portal — the genre’s most overused trope — here, street-level villains (several without any actual superpowers) are given a mission that actually suits them: violent, bloody guerrilla warfare. With some slight deviation near the end.
Even though a number of them end up as cannon fodder, Gunn’s penchant for these black sheep bad guys, matched only by his ability to construct a note-perfect 70s soundtrack, is a big part of what makes The Suicide Squad succeed. His reverence for the source material, coupled with a full-on acceptance of just how ridiculous that source material often is, makes it a film viewers will invest themselves in despite (or probably because) it doesn’t always take itself that seriously.
The Suicide Squad is streaming on HBO Max until September 5. And also in theaters.Â
