The Suicide Squad is a movie that I fell deeply in love with. Similar to Free Guy, this was a movie that I watched multiple times before coming to college. Because of its timely release, it became a comfort movie to me. Within the first month of release, I had watched the movie, in its entirety, five times. In 2018, Guardians of the Galaxy director, James Gunn, was fired from Marvel for some decade-old raunchy and offensive tweets. Due to the failing efforts from DC Comics and Warner Bros. in kickstarting their own superhero universe, they were eager to employ the talents of someone who had experience and knowledge on the subject. They hired Gunn to direct the film, and I gained one of my favorite DCEU films in recent memory and possibly my favorite movie of this year.
The 2021 film was a pleasant surprise for me. The plot centers around the multiple supervillains of the DCEU universe that make up the Suicide Squad. Despite there being a lot of contenders, only a couple of villains get fleshed out enough to be considered main characters. Those being, Harley Quinn (Margot Robbie), Bloodsport (Idris Elba), Peacemaker (John Cena), Ratcatcher 2 (Daniela Melchior), Rick Flag (Joel Kinnaman), Polka-Dot Man (David Dastmalchian), and King Shark (Sylvester Stallone). This group is tasked by Amanda Waller (Viola Davis) to infiltrate the enemy-ridden island of Corto Maltese and find The Thinker (Peter Capaldi), the evil scientist in charge of the mysterious “Project Starfish.”
There are a lot of amazing details to go over in this movie. Namely, the characters. The ones that survive get backstory and development that gets tied up into a nice character arc. It does not matter if this is their first on-screen adaptation/appearance or if they have been witnessed by an audience before. Each of these characters gets time to shine and be amazing. Gunn goes as far as to humanize each and every villain, too. He does not let you see these characters for their bad deeds but how the bad deeds of others or loved ones caused them to become what they are today. Some have never known anything different than this criminal life. I believe a movie is only as good as its characters and because I love these characters, I believe that should testify to the skill of Gunn’s writing.
One of the staples of director James Gunn is his soundtrack musical choices, and the wild humor implemented into his superhero films. With that said, the jokes in this movie are genuinely hilarious. Gunn’s sass and unique charm shine through each and every character and situation. It’s because of this humor that the movie does not take itself seriously. It fully acknowledges its comic-book origins and takes it to heart, going wild with deaths, violence, gore, characters, and situations. As mentioned, the soundtrack is remarkable! Each song fits so perfectly in the scene where they are used. From Grandson’s Rain to K.Flay’s Can’t Sleep, this movie can boast an amazing soundtrack.
In terms of personal favorites, Ratcatcher 2 was amazing. Also, Rick Flag, whose character was made so much better throughout this film. Having Starro as the main villain was a plot point that I thought was extremely stupid, but just silly enough for Gunn to pull off. Fortunately, he did it magnificently. I absolutely loved the opening and final battle scenes. Once I got over the shock of the opening, it helped me mentally prepare for this cinematic rollercoaster.
David Ayer’s 2016 Suicide Squad was quite the flop since the movie was hastily written, causing it to be disjointed, and had terrible special effects and one-dimensional characters. Luckily, this new movie pushes that degradation far from our minds by giving us a soft reboot and introducing better characters and stories to the DCEU. I highly recommend this movie, despite its odd appearance. It has a heart and should provide everyone with a good time.
Final Grade: A
