It’s crazy to think that the original Suicide Squad managed to get any sequel or continuation, let alone have James Gunn direct it. However, if at first it doesn’t work then try again is really the story here. Yes, the first Suicide Squad film is a whole story on its own with the film not actually be David Ayer’s version of the film but on Warner Bros part it wasn’t exactly critically successful. In steps James Gunn and his fresh take with The Suicide Squad. For those who have only know James Gunn for Guardians of the Galaxy well, you’re in for a violent shock.
The Suicide Squad follows an almost entirely new team make up for the Squad with most members either not returning or simply they died in the first film. The new, and fantastic, additions include Idris Elba’s Bloodsport, John Cena’s Peacemaker, David Dastmaichian’s Polka-Dot Man, Daniela Melchior’s Ratcatcher 2 and of course King Shark, voiced by Sylvester Stallone. These five get singled out amongst a whole lot of new characters because this team is what makes The Suicide Squad a great movie. Adding in the always fantastic to watch Margot Robbie’s Harley Quinn and Joel Kinnaman’s Rick Flag and you can see how the build-up of the team and the chosen actors can really make or break a movie like this.
The team are dropped onto the remote island of Corto Maltese which is filled with enemies and the home base of a mysterious evil project run by Peter Capaldi’s The Thinker. The story is set over the course of just a few days as the team progresses across the island taking you, the audience, on this manic and suicidal mission with them.
The film’s best element is this for me, having a simple set-up and getting from point A to point B as the story develops. The story doesn’t need to be more complicated than that for it to be successful. The Suicide Squad tells its small story which is set against a large backdrop of consequences if the team fails its mission. Too many comic book movies are about saving the world or a planet or time and space. Yes, The Suicide Squad can technically fit into one of those categories but it does it over time and it isn’t in your face the entire time. The script has fantastic dialogue that focuses more on the development between the characters and each of their goals over the unrealistic mission they’re actually on.
Visually The Suicide Squad is a lot more appealing than every other DCEU film so far as well. With the exception of parts of Birds of Prey, The Suicide Squad is the only film in the DCEU that is actually bright and colourful. This addition of colour helps the film have its own voice and its own style instead of being bland and dark all the time. The darkness of shots in previous DCEU would make me question how good the visual effects are if you brightened everything up, this was relevant in Aquaman which was filled with CGI and a lot of darker underwater scenes.
The Suicide Squad shows why James Gunn is a great director. the film does falter at times but that’s only because it had a film before it which had already explored the likes of Harley Quinn and Rick Flag. The addition to the team is great, the other new characters serve their purpose in terms of the idea of what the team is but a lot of characters and actors I was excited to see be ridiculous are barely in it so keep your expectation low for some actors further down the cast list. It would’ve been great to see these characters in different situations, and maybe we will one day, maybe, but for now, I think even more ridiculousness wouldn’t have been too much.
James Gunn has proved he can create a great team-based movie and I’m excited for Guardian’s of The Galaxy Vol 3 but The Suicide Squad also makes me want an original film by him because he can clearly make gold out of something I would’ve presumed was dead. The Suicide Squad may not be the greatest film of all time, and it doesn’t need to be, it isn’t even the best DC movie of all time but what it really is, and what the Suicide Squad should’ve always been, is a good old fun adventure with some crazy characters instead of just being world-saving bad guys. James Gunn has saved the Suicide Squad and he used a giant hilarious shark man to do it as well, icing on the cake is what they call that.