‘The Suicide Squad’ may singlehandedly revive your (my) interest in comic book movies
Warner Bros.
The only thing dumber than redoing a movie five years after its last iteration is the previous “Suicide Squad,” the 2016 abomination that made a ton and deserved none of it.
So it’s more than a little fantastic that “The Suicide Squad,” writer-director James Gunn’s (“Guardians of the Galaxy”) move across the Marvel/DC aisle that takes another spin on the latter’s gang of united and quite strange heroes, more than earns its do-over. It is no small achievement to rework the wildly overextended world of comic book movies, in which we must (not always, but often) choose between generic and shallow or dark and grueling, into something that feels proudly weird and boldly silly. It’s not just delivering strong fight choreography and action directing, which should be standard but aren’t. It’s remembering these stories need to feel personal, not an example of broad themes converted into one-liner delivery systems, portrayed by massive celebrities. In “The Suicide Squad,” you like and care about the characters. You are interested in what the filmmaker will do. Rather than settling for the usual shrug of a studio, there is an invitation to an athletic symphony, a violent cartoon, a gleeful, lively, funny, nasty fight for what’s right.
Which is not to say that there isn’t a degree of familiarity, either from the last version of this gang or from the way King Shark (voiced by Sylvester Stallone) sometimes recalls the lovable innocence and verbal limitations of Groot. Yet the sensation is even more loose and inspired, the tone more welcoming and less self-congratulatory, than “Guardians.” There is such energy, such undeniable intent, that Gunn makes it seem far easier than it actually is to get us to invest in this extreme world and who’s battling within it. That doesn’t happen through predictable set pieces or token moments of generic feeling. Rather, the characters receive detail that ground them with relatable experiences like loneliness and resentment, and delivered as real, undeniable art. I generally agree with Scorsese’s complaints about these movies but would really like to hear his review of this.
The team includes the ever-appealing Margot Robbie as Harley Quinn, a spinoff star herself but given plenty of deserved opportunity to establish/reestablish herself here; Idris Elba, a great grumbler as Bloodsport; John Cena giving brash a good name as Peacemaker; David Dastmalchian as the seemingly ridiculous, unexpectedly winning Polka-Dot Man; a breakout turn from Daniela Melchior as Ratcatcher 2, another character you’ll like better than you think (trying to befriend the Shark, she says, “If I die ‘cause I gambled on love, it will be a worthy death”); and the returning Joel Kinnaman, doing some of his sturdiest work as leader Rick Flag. Add in the great Peter Capaldi as villainous the Thinker (and a variety of others taking solid, brief turns in a sharp opening sequence) and there is simply constant enjoyment to be had with the entire ensemble, something I almost never find myself saying with this sort of thing. By the way, the mission involves infiltrating and shutting down a secret program in South American Corto Maltese believed to involve an extraterrestrial, and there’s a clean, rewarding sense here of how stories like this celebrate the uphill battle of finding good against an onslaught of hypocrisy and negativity.
Full disclosure: I spent a long time seeing all of the comic book movies and have skipped most of them in the last few years. It’s invigorating how Gunn allows space for quiet, for moments of the camera giving characters room to breathe and grow, and then transitions to the mayhem without suggesting that something for adults has to be humorless or cruel or excessive in every moment (just some of them).
The visual creativity and ability to remain in control goes a long way in making up for spotty pacing. I wouldn’t say “The Suicide Squad” has momentum. But it does have flair, with many oddly beautiful shots and several flourishes that nod to Edgar Wright’s onscreen surplus of ideas. This movie is a lot, and a lot of it rules.
B+
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