THE SUICIDE SQUAD

Directing: B+
Acting: B
Writing: B+
Cinematography: B+
Editing: B+
Special Effects: B+

I cannot deny it: The Suicide Squad exceeded my expectations. To be fair, that was not a difficult task, after the 2016 film Suicide Squad was so roundly panned by critics, combined with underperforming at the box office (if you want to call $300 million at the box office “underperforming”). I never even bothered to see that other film, as by all accounts it was a waste of time—disliked by critics and fans alike—but evidently it doesn’t matter, as The Suicide Squad can easily be considered a reboot, even though it’s all of five years later. This film does have two actor carry-overs from the previous one, though: Margot Robbie as Harley Quinn (now her third time portraying the character); and Viola Davis as specialist Amanda Waller, the woman who tasks the titular squad with what often turn out to be literal suicide missions.

Such is the case with the opening sequence of The Suicide Squad, which turns out to be quite the effective bait an switch. I won’t spoil anything more, except to say that with one major exception, the “squad” we get introduced to is very much a cheeky distraction. This proves from the start that James Gunn, who previously directed and co-wrote the Guardians of the Galaxy movies, was a great choice for this film, infusing it with the cleverly twisted humor it needed, at just the right amount. I might even say The Suicide Squad is by some measure better than both the Guardians films, as though they served as practice for hitting his stride here. This movie is one of the few truly creatively successful DC movies on all levels, silly in all the right ways and never being self-serious. This is a movie that understands how ridiculous it is.

And that, my friends, is how you make a good superhero movie. The editing and pacing are unusually well done, with a plot that unfolds in a way that keeps the story that stands on its own and, although the climactic sequence is still typically large in scale, it avoids the cliché of being about battling a global, intergalactic or universal threat. I mean, okay, there is a giant alien starfish that serves as a sort of acid trip version of Godzilla, and obviously that has global implications. But, the focus of the story remains local—on the fictional island of Corto Maltese, as it happens, a fun shoutout to the original 1989 Batman film (and previously in original Batman comics).

Gunn reportedly made the deliberate decision to use lesser-known supervillains to make up “The Suicide Squad,” another choice that only enhances the experience of this movie, without the distractions of Batman or even mentions of The Joker. In addition to Harley Quinn, Idris Elba as Bloodsport; John Cena as Peacemaker; Joel Kinnaman as Rick Flag; David Dastmalchian as Polka-Dot Man; Daniela Melchior as Ratcatcher 2; and even Sylvester Stallone as the voce of the impressively CGI rendered King Shark, all make up a nice group of messy criminal misfits, granted time out of prison in order to pull off jobs others can’t do—and in some cases actually die trying.

I mean, a lot of people die in this movie. In one sequence, a well choreographed attack takes place in which the Squad winds up dispatching numerous people in all sorts of creative ways, almost as a competition, only to discover they had mistaken the wrong people for their enemies. This gets blithely gleaned over, but whatever; The Suicide Squad never pretends to have a solid moral core. It’s an exaggerated cartoon, its hyperviolence something in the school of Quentin Tarantino’s Kill Bill movies. You’ll see a lot of blood and dismemberment. A quasi-humanoid shark picks up live people and eats them.

And, somehow . . . it’s delightful. I had a great fun watching this movie. The humor lands consistently, and there are no lulls in the narrative, no point that you might find yourself checking the time. It also has better CGI than it really could have gotten away with, just thanks to its smart script and winning performances—there’s a man-weasel character (called . . . Weasel) that is both disturbing to look at, and rendered with memorably intricate detail. I don’t know how dated the visuals of this film might look in ten years, but right now it’s far better than a lot of other effects-heavy contemporary films. Overall, The Suicide Squad is just a fun hang, with plenty of laughs and a uniquely compelling story, thanks in large part to its twisted silliness.

A bunch of dork criminals will win you over.

Overall: B+