If you can do so safely, see it in theaters.
or
Stream it on HBO Max through September 5th.
Some of my wonderful readers may recall my discussion on the overuse of dark & gritty tones and styles in cinema. More often than not, many blockbuster movies with superhero-oriented stories and themes (Marvel Studios productions notwithstanding) will shoehorn in a darker and more disturbing tone, along with disturbing thematic elements & characters, merely because they're cool, edgy, and in some circles "different" than what may be expected. While some films have successfully utilized this phenomenon to surprisingly stunning effects (Kick-Ass and James Gunn's earlier film Super come to mind), most modern superhero movies not produced by Marvel tend to suffer from the "I'm dark so I'm automatically cool & profitible" mentality of cinema.
Today's subject, The Suicide Squad, is a film that takes all the dark & gritty elements normally associated with a depressing & dreary storyline and turns it on its head! It is arguably just as dark and gritty as any issue of Image Comics from the 90s; however, it has two essential (and often overlooked) ingredients that make it better: moments of levity and an appreciation for the absurd. The Suicide Squad is a film that knows how ridiculous it is, but instead of hiding its silliness or being ashamed of it, the film embraces it all and has a blast! It may not be the kind of party everyone can enjoy, but it's still a party nonetheless.
Inspired by the DC comic book series popularized by John Ostrander, the story follows an elite team banded together by the C.I.A. known as The Suicide Squad: a group of supervillains and anti-heroes called into dangerous secret missions in exchange for reduced prison time. This motley crew of characters is sent to an isolated Latin-American nation recently taken over in a coup d'état lead by a psychopathic general. The C.I.A. wants the dictator taken down before any potential threats against the United States are raised. As The Suicide Squad makes their way into the city, they stumble upon a rebel group aiming to retake the government and restore democracy. With their goals somewhat aligned, they join forces. However, unbeknownst to any of them, a greater threat looms over them and will lead to a terrible secret. The only question is, what will they do after discovering the truth?
This movie is an absolute blast! While it may not be as enjoyable for those who are not as familiar with some of the obscure characters used in the film or are less enthusiastic about comic book movies than others, there is still a ton of super entertainment value in this modern gem.
The characters, despite being supervillains, retain a sense of relatable humanity and feature empathetic backgrounds that make them more interesting and sympathetic than they might be otherwise. While some characters become less likable than others as the story progresses, the vast majority of them are entertaining as hell and succeed in making you care. The film also provides satisfying character arcs for everyone in the cast, even the less sympathetic ones.
The cast is remarkable all around! Everyone is performing their hearts out with incredible enthusiasm and conviction. Idris Elba and John Cena have surprisingly great chemistry, and their usual charm shines through in every scene. Although the MVP award must go to two performers in particular: Sylvester Stallone for playing the most adorable yet deadly Shark/Human hybrid and Daniela Melchior as Ratcatcher 2 for making me find Rats cute; a feat previously and exclusively held by my favorite PIXAR film, Ratatouille.
The action is fantastic. While the violence is graphic, it rarely ever reaches Starship Troopers levels of gore. Despite having scenes that might not look out of place in a slasher film, there is a surprising and much-appreciated level of class and taste applied to it all. It's not graphic for the sake of being graphic; there is a justification for its choice of style, and it works quite well. One action scene that comes to mind involves Harley Quinn escaping from the bad guy's lair, complete with awesome choreography and unexpected flamboyant visuals. While it may not be on par with the incredibly entertaining glitter-gun scene from Birds of Prey, the scene succeeds in reminding us why Harley Quinn is worthy of becoming DC's official answer to Marvel's Deadpool.
Now, I feel that it's time for me to address the Elephant in the room.
Some of my wonderful readers may recall another DC comic book film from 2016 titled Suicide Squad (note the absence of the prefix "the"). Today's film is technically a sequel, but it's also what is referred to as a "soft reboot." This is when a studio basically wants to pretend their previous related projects never happened and encourage audiences to pay more attention to this new thing they have. Under most circumstances, this would be annoying. It is the cinematic equivalent of a retcon wherein the creators don't want to put in the effort to fix a problem and merely redo it all except for the one little thing that was actually good. It's like building a house only to discover that you don't like it, except for one small aspect, but rather than take the time to improve on what you already built, you take a wrecking ball to the whole thing save for that one part you like.
However, in this particular case, I am perfectly alright with this soft reboot. Because what came before was, in every possible way, totally insufferable, unbelievably vile, and grossly pretentious.
In the interest of full disclosure, I have still not seen the 2016 Suicide Squad film as of this writing. I don't need to see it to know how bad it is! However, I have read plenty of spoiler-filled articles, watched many deconstructive videos, and had numerous conversations with friends who have seen the film and genuinely care for my well-being. Based on all of this, I have concluded that the 2016 Suicide Squad film is too terrible to watch and not at all worthy of a review from yours truly. Some may say that it isn't fair of me to say a film is terrible when I haven't watched it yet, which is (under most circumstances) totally understandable. But let me put it this way: do you really need to see someone trapped inside an overturned portajohn to know how terrible it is? I didn't think so!
In conclusion, The Suicide Squad is a remarkable film! Beneath all of the violence and obscure comic book lore is a well-crafted character piece about friendship, surrogate families, and what it actually means to be a hero. It's also a wonderful reminder of why we all still love writer/director James Gunn and why Marvel was so ill-advised to think letting him go was a good idea. However you may choose to do so, please see this film.
Ladies & gentlemen, I am TheNorm; thank you all for reading.
NOM NOM!!!
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