The Suicide Squad is made by the James Gunn you used to think about when you thought about James Gunn. The James Gunn before Guardians of the Galaxy… the James Gunn behind the splatter-ific alien parasites of Slither and the anarchic, mean-spirited comedy Super. The James Gunn who got into trouble with old Tweets because that was more him than Guardians (even though I think he’s perfect for Guardians of the Galaxy too). And that might make this flick not your kind of movie… maybe it’s so far from mainstream, it might hurt itself. But I kind of adored it.
The Suicide Squad is the sequel to Suicide Squad… but if you happen to have not seen or liked that movie, I think they are ok with that. This is largely a new team with some returning cast members… namely Harley Quinn, Flag, Captain Boomerang, and Amanda Waller (all with their original actors). The new crew is being sent into a South American country to deal with a problem that has arisen since a military coup toppled the America-friendly government. Things get weird.
This movie has both a Shark Man (King Shark) AND a Weasel man… and a girl who communicates with rats and a guy who flings polka-dots as weapons. This movie just goes for it. It’s a bright shiny comic book world we’re living in now… ignore any previous DC attempts to establish any kind of realism. And I loved that go-for-broke abandon.
The movie just doesn’t care if it’s too outlandish… and what I love about its outlandishness is that it’s otherwise completely earnest. A little manic and crazed, but earnest. This flick isn’t interested in giving us hero moments and then winking knowingly at the camera. Like it gets this is all silly. No… it’s taking this nutty stuff seriously and it’ll give earnest hero moments. And then it’ll explode a few heads and have a Shark Man grumble about nom-noms while staring at dead bodies.
It’s also shed itself of it PG-13 ratings and goes for bloody broken bones all the way down. This movie is about gleeful carnage, mass casualties, amoral characters running amok, and a lot of exploding heads and broken bodies. All done with chaotic glee… but it doesn’t mean it’s any less gory. Don’t see it if squeamish and maybe don’t see it you want ethics… or have your kids with you. These are the bad guys and they really do come across that way… even if they do wind up saving the world.
I thoroughly enjoyed myself watching this flick. I think maybe it gets a little saggy in the middle and some characters disappear early or for too long and it’s not the high point of action film making, but it’s a really fun manic time. If you like your movies weird and you can handle carnage and a twisted sense of humor, this movie is for you.
Score: 88