The Suicide Squad

Directed by James Gunn

Starring Idris Elba, Margot Robbie, John Cena, Joel Kinnaman, Sylvester Stallone, Viola Davis, David Dastmalchian, and Daniela Melchior.

Backstory

It’s very appropriate that Guardians of the Galaxy director James Gunn is doing the next installment of Suicide Squad. 2016’s Suicide Squad always struck me as DC’s reaction to Guardians of the Galaxy. “Hey, kids, you like wacky bands of misfit superheroes? Well, we’ve got one over at DC, too!” At the end of the day, my biggest complaint with Suicide Squad was how overwhelmingly average it was. If Gunn could inject some of the same heart and humour into The Suicide Squad that he did with Guardians of the Galaxy, then it might turn into something special. So that’s the big question. Is The Suicide Squad something special?

Plot

Task Force X. Unofficially known as the Suicide Squad. Super-villains doing black ops missions for the government in exchange for reductions on their sentences. There’s been a revolution in the South American nation of Corto Maltese. A secret Corto Maltese project known as Project Starfish has officially fallen into the wrong hands. The Squad’s mission: infiltrate Corto Maltese and destroy Project Starfish. Our latest recruits: Bloodsport, an assassin doing time for trying to take down Superman with a kryptonite bullet; Peacemaker, a man who fights for world peace and doesn’t matter how many people he has to kill to make it happen; Ratcatcher II, who can control rats; Polka Dot Man, who shoots dots at people; and King Shark, a giant half-human/half-shark. Joining them from the last film are commander Rick Flagg and Harley Quinn. But, as is the case with missions like this, things quickly go sideways and our heroes find themselves in over their heads. Will they be able to pull off the mission and save the day?

What I Liked

As already revealed in the trailers, Project Starfish turns out to be Starro…a giant mind-controlling starfish from space. I can’t believe we finally got Starro in a movie. He’s portrayed as the perfect blend of absurd and horrifying. I’m glad DC’s starting to stop taking itself so seriously and embracing more of its absurdities. Margot Robbie continues to be absolutely prefect as Harley Quinn. Idris Elba gives Bloodsport the right blend of humour and anger at the situation. And he starts developing a good father/daughter relationship with Ratcatcher. Each of our characters if given a moment to shine, and thus grow. And they take full advantage of that R-rating to give us some 1980s-action-movie-style over-the-top violence.

What I Didn’t Like

Sometimes it does feel like Gunn is trying too hard to recapture what he did with Guardians of the Galaxy. I’m thinking whenever a classic pop song pops up on the soundtrack, or some of King Shark’s antics can feel a little like Groot.

Final Verdict

Feels like DC is finally starting to find their own path, and not just to mimic Marvel. The Suicide Squad is finally something special.

3 Nibs