Image provided by Warner Bros
The Suicide Squad comes from the glorious mind of James Gunn (Guardians of the Galaxy, Slither) and is Warner Brothers latest addition to the DC universe as the follow up to 2016's Suicide Squad. While the first film was a complete mess due to an incoherent tone, terrible CGI and infamously massive studio interference, James Gunn's take on The Suicide Squad is a refreshingly new, gory and profanity laced iteration on the worlds worst heroes.
The Suicide Squad works mainly because Warner Brothers finally gave audiences what they wanted to see from a movie called "The Suicide Squad." Director James Gunn was given free reign to do whatever he wanted with the movie and he gives an entertaining and hilarious film that far exceeded my expectations. The first film was notably restrained by an enforced PG-13 rating, tamed humor/violence and creative decisions that went against the core elements that made this team of villains enticing in the first place. This time around, they go in a completely different direction. Early on in the film, I thought "Wow, I can't believe they let James Gunn do that." Decisions were made that most definitely would not of been made years ago and it's refreshing to see the superhero genre take chances like this film does.
The film features the return of fan favorite characters like Harley Quinn, Amanda Waller, Captain Boomerang and Rick Flagg from 2016's film. The Suicide Squad also introduces us to many new characters such as King Shark, Bloodsport, The Polka Dot Man, Peacemaker and many more. The film doesn't hold back when it comes to violence, no character is safe and this is established from the beginning. Characters don’t just go down; they get sliced and diced, incinerated and exploded with blood and guts everywhere. Sometimes these over-the-top deaths are done for shock value, sometimes for humor, and at times to inspire our heroes. But they'll always inspire some kind of significant reaction, and that’s why the film works so well.
The Suicide Squad allows Gunn to lean into everything that he knows best. He masterfully weaves action and drama with wit and humor, which we’ve seen in numerous films of his from Guardians of the Galaxy to Slither. The Suicide Squad however, is Gunn's funniest film. The humor isn't only creative, but it's so well worked into plot elements and the dialogue that its hard to imagine someone not laughing from this movie. While this film isn't the funniest movie I have ever seen, the outlandish nature and humor of it reminded me quite a bit of Deadpool.
As much of a great time this movie is, The Suicide Squad does falter a bit. The final act of the film is a bit anti-climatic from what is set up in the first two acts. The final action sequence feels nonconsequential and is breezed through fairly quickly. A few characters comedic elements don't mesh with what the film has going on and feels awkward at times. Without going into spoilers, the final "monster" at the end of the film was quite weak in it's setup and like the movies predecessor is just a big CGI monster that is meant to unite the squad together.
With all that said though, The Suicide Squad provides a grand time at the theater full of blood, guts and many laughs. James Gunn absolutely knocks it out of the park with his take on The Suicide Squad and takes us on a thrilling and chaotic ride that isn't going to go the way you think.
Grade: B+
The Suicide Squad releases in theaters and on HBOMax August 6th.