This opinion isn’t is exactly controversial, but the first Suicide Squad movie just wasn’t my jam. Like, how can you take a story that’s supposed to be about a motley crew of villains being forced under pain of death to save the day, and make it dark, serious, and slow? I defended the theatrical cut of Batman Vs. Superman, and even I had a hard time watching Suicide Squad. Even worse, this was the live action debut of Harley Quinn, a character who is immensely popular and highly anticipated considering she was only introduced to the Batman canon in the early 90’s. Of course, there was no way Harley is ever going to be a 100% perfect betrayal to the diehard fans of hers. But…well, even with the seemingly perfect casting of Margot Robbie, Harley was not quite how she was supposed to be. And I was prepared to be as forgiving as possible with her.
When it was announced that director James Gunn (of Guardians of the Galaxy fame) would be taking over the next Suicide Squad film, I was relieved…yet cautious. I’m a huge fan of the Guardians films, of course, and of his older (and far less restrained) works with Troma. But can Gunn’s unique style of film making fit with the ever so serious DCU? The latest Suicide Squad film takes place some time after the original. Harley Quinn (Margot Robbie) is back behind bars and is tasked by the ever staunch Amanda Waller (Viola Davis) to join another task-force of second rate super villains on a suicide mission. a second “Task Force X”, also put together by Waller has landed on the island. Lead by ultra jaded killer Bloodsport (Idris Elba) and not so jaded killer Peacemaker (it’s John Cena!), and including Polka-Dot Man (David Dastmalchian), Ratcatcher 2 (Daniela Melchior), and King Shark (Sylvester Stallone). This time, the mission takes place on the island of Corto Maltese, which has been recently been taken over by a violent, insurrectionist army, and is hiding a terrible secret Waller want’s her teams to destroy at all costs. But even with two “uniquely gifted” teams of villains assigned to the task, this mission may be more than any of them can handle.
As one could expect from Gunn writing and directing this installment, The Suicide Squad is not only a HUGE departure from the previous film, but for DC films in general. While it is technically a sequel, Gunn made sure that you don’t necessarily have had to seen the first one in order to get this. And the new film is such a “rebranding” that even the most severe haters of the first film should be able to give this one a chance. For starters, the writing feels like a breath of fresh air. Both the dialogue and the action are quickly paced, while still allowing the audience to be able to figure out what the hell is going on — which is exactly the opposite of the first film! Also unlike the previous Suicide Squad, the characters actually have charm to them. This time, I actually care about each of their motivations and backstory, even the would be less than likable characters. I even found myself cheering for the doofy King Shark, who really doesn’t have much to him, other than being a powerful man-eating shark man.
Harley Quinn may be the biggest improvement. While she may have been the most likable character in the first film, I still had many problems with how she was written. But Gunn is a rare example of a man who actually knows how to write female characters. He understands that while Harley is, and will always be a “sexy” character, being “sexy” isn’t part of her core personality. Instead, he allows her to play up her child-like insanity, her master manipulation skills, and her inner struggle with morality. Like I said, Robbie was always a perfect casting choice for Harley, but just needed the right script and direction to get there. I might also mention her costumes feel much more accurate to her original vision. (Sorry, call me basic, but I’m a huge Harley fangirl, so it’s pretty important to me that they get her right!)
Visually, while still being impressive, The Suicide Squad felt almost absurdist. Like the CGI was very good, but made us feel more like we are watching an actual comic book movie, rather than a world of dark realism like DC has been going for in most of it’s main films. It’s easy to compare it visually to the Guardians of the Galaxy films, but I could almost say it goes a step beyond them. In fact, in almost every aspect, you can get the sense that Gunn was stretching the creative freedom he got as far as he could. The result? A chaotic, irrelevant mess that somehow works perfectly. Deaths in this movie come fast, cheap, and unexpected. Because of this, you really get a sense of Gunn’s gross-out, B-film origins. And yet, through all the cartoony chaos, it managed to tell an entertaining story that stayed true in spirit to the source material.
It’s not often that we get a sequel that is not only better than the original, but blows the first film out of the water. I’m very pleased that the powers that be behind this film had the foresight to hire the right director and give this franchise a much needed make-over. This not only proves that matching the right writer and directer to the right film is important, but giving them the creative freedom to follow their own vision, (unlike how the studios treated Zach Snyder), can lead to something absolutely fantastic.
