DC brings a Gunn to a knife fight
DC, which obviously stands for Demolition Crew due to their incessant need to destroy CGI buildings in each film they release…. Oh, wait, it stands for Detective Comics? Ah. Well, in that case, they have a lot of repairing to do, both to their brand and to their movies, which have suffered from every production snafu, PR mess, and critical upheaval possible in the last decade. With the exception of the first Wonder Woman film in 2017, and delightful detours with Shazam! and Birds of Prey, the headlining slate of Batman, Superman, and Justice League-related films have been atrocious, including 2016’s Suicide Squad. Thankfully, The Suicide Squad (emphasis on ‘The’) pulls no punches as it blows up any trace of the previous film’s legacy. It’s a fun movie that requires no homework; you can enter the theater a DC expert or fresh-faced, and Suicide Squad provides a gory good time at the movies. Sure, it’s too long. Sure, its middle third is boring, forgettable, and obnoxiously sullen. Nevertheless, Director James Gunn has infused a sense of silly violent fun that studio rivals over at Marvel have been employing for over a decade, and which DC has been incapable of featuring until now (note: Birds of Prey was actually a better, under-appreciated righting of the ship). The Suicide Squad is not perfect, but it’s a helluva good time.
Take a quick tour of director James Gunn’s filmography, and it’ll prepare you for the barrage of slimy, witty, colorful gore you’re in for: Slither, Super, Guardians of the Galaxy, and a history working with production company Troma. DC hired him with the hope he would recreate the Suicide Squad intellectual property in a more successful and accessible way. Their hopes paid off, mostly. Gunn infuses The Suicide Squad with style (sometimes too much), memorable characters, and a sumptuous palate of violence, one-liners, and visuals.
Gunn also employs an old-fashioned plot that is easy to follow. It’s a classic assemble-the-team and go on a mission storyline, with recognizable good guys and bad guys. A main baddie would’ve helped though. The anti-heroes, or bad guys turned good guys (aka The Suicide Squad), include Bloodsport (Idris Elba), Peacemaker (John Cena), Harley Quinn (Margot Robbie), and Colonel Rick Flag (Joel Kinnaman). Elba, Cena, and Robbie chew up the scenery in good measure and play well off each other, despite a few unnecessary backstory strands and dramatic twists that minimize the fun. The best part of the film, and subsequently biggest missed opportunity, rests with the oddball newcomers.
King Shark (voiced by Sylvester Stallone), Polka-Dot Man (David Dastmalchian), and Ratcatcher 2 (Daniela Melchior) are bizarre and infectious newcomers. Their intros are hilarious, their “powers” a joy to watch, and the actors are perfectly cast. Unfortunately, they feel underused and unexplored by the time the film finishes. Whereas the opening twenty minutes of The Suicide Squad fully capitalizes on a handful of truly hilarious and succinct character cameos that I won’t spoil here, the most hilarious characters that are in for the long haul (2 hr 10 min— should’ve been 1 hr 45 min) don’t get enough to do, are depressing and joyless in the middle third, and don’t have fulfilling finales, either. Even Peter Capaldi as Thinker, a mad scientist with a plethora of literal bolts all over his large bald noggin, who you would think would get the quirky lines and scenes to match his character’s appearance, gets short shrift.
Despite all of the misses, why is The Suicide Squad still so fun? Well, because two thirds of it are a laugh-out-loud, did-they-just-do-that, don’t-hold-back cinematic riot. If 25 minutes of depressing backstory and side quests to nowhere were cut out, The Suicide Squad would be a tight, bloody escape. Luckily for us, we now live in a world where long movies are ultimately digestible in clips, chapters, memes, and fan edits. Chomp on that, King Shark, you adorable short-wearing, friend-making, body-splitting, head-chewing, Groot-cousin!
The Suicide Squad opens in the Bay Area on Friday, August 6th.
