The Suicide Squad

 2021, James Gunn (Super) -- download

Apparently, I disliked the original Suicide Squad less than I remembered. But I was fully onboard with loving the new movie before I saw it, being a James Gunn fan and really, truly enjoying all the social media savvy promotional material Gunn was helming. All the cast and crew seemed to loved doing the movie and it came across in all this mid-pandemic level hype generation: video shorts, great posters, behind-the-scenes shots, Zoom calls, etc. I rarely "buy into the hype" but Gunn's general congeniality and the good will coming from the cast won me over; he has learned a LOT since getting kicked off Marvel, and being brought back again.

This movie doesn't care that it had a predecessor. This movie doesn't even care it is part of the "DC Cinematic Universe". I am not sure this movie cares that it is a superhero movie. Gunn has done an eminent job of creating a stand-alone, independent movie which doesn't dismiss its connections but doesn't rely on them. Rick Flag is back, Harley Quinn is back, Hell even Boomerang is back, as he survived the first movie. But the new introductions to the team(s) are all over the map in style and colour, and all work so very fucking well.

A Catch Up for those who weren't there first time round or not in the DC loop. There is a prison in the DC world - Belle Reve. It holds many of the worst "metahumans" or super-villains. They mix the useless, gimmicky no-power villains in with the powered ones, and even the fucking scary ones such as King Shark. Amanda Waller runs the place, and she runs Task Force X out of the prison, where she offers prisoners reduced sentences in return for completing dangerous black-book missions -- the kind you wouldn't expect superheroes to complete but are considered necessary to the safety of the good ol US of A. Despite not really being expected to survive said missions, each villain has a bomb placed in their head, should they go off-mission. I doubt many of the villains are given a real choice whether to join the teams.

Everything after this is heavy on the spoilers.

This movie begins with a new cast of villains, only Harley and Boomer being familiar, and Flag again along to lead. The rest of the second or third or even fourth rate DC villains including Javelin (Boomer throws boomerangs, Javelin throws...), Mongal, Blackguard, TDK, Weasel, etc, You are not expected to know any of them. They don't last long. The utterly gleeful and brutal opening sequence kills them all off except Harley and Rick. But its a fake out, as the rest of the cast that we knew from all the movie promos is on another beach doing the real mission. This gave us the opportunity to see a suicide squad totally go on a suicide mission, being Waller's plan all along. Kill off one team, to distract the enemy forces from the real team. It works.

The real team includes: Bloodsport (Idris Elba, The Wire) a weapons & combat master know for putting Superman in the hospital, Peacemaker - another weapons & combat expert who seeks peace at any cost, Ratcatcher 2 - daughter of Ratcatcher who controls rats, Polka Dot Man - who (yep) throws polka dots at people, and King Shark - humanoid shark monster man with the mind of a child. Eventually they are joined by Flag and Harley who survive the beach assault. They are all there to take down the government of a tropical island off the coast of South America who deposed the previous regime. But something else is going on. Something big, something starfishy.

This post comes after a second viewing, originally watching it on a 32" monitor jury rigged to a Bluetooth speaker jury rigged to my work laptop, because my TV had died. And despite my initial glee at all the promo, I was underwhelmed. But two minutes after the credits rolled, I reminded myself, I was also rather underwhelmed by the original Guardians of the Galaxy movie when I first saw it. In the context of the material, I find Gunn's presentation as just OK. But after repeated viewings, all that fades away and I am just left with what is meant to be enjoyed -- his utter brilliance at delivery. Every line, every scene, every character is so incredibly well crafted, and I know I will enjoy this movie more with each viewing.

I remember being challenged, during the first movie, by the fact that all the "heroes" were Bad Guys. They were not likeable characters let alone anyone worth rooting for. Not even Flag was much of a Good Guy. But in this one, Gunn does a brilliant job of presenting us a bevy of characters that might not be the most angelic, but there is a hint of something else there. 

Cleo, otherwise known as Ratcatcher 2 (she controls rats with a wand), is not really a villain to begin with, tossed into Belle Reve because she tried to rob a bank using rats as her gang, but the authorities saw them as weapons, and since that's not exactly normal... super-villain label. But she is not a bad person, and becomes the heart of the movie, maybe more than a but naïve (she hugs King Shark) but encouraging the squad to go beyond their original mission, to do Good, to actually become Super Heroes.

Bloodsport, while shouting to the ceiling about being a Bad Guy, seems to adopt to protecting and leading his crew pretty quickly. Cleo has faith in him. Pola Dot Man seems not so much a Bad Guy as a Crazy Guy. King Shark, well once you get beyond the idea that he likes to eat people, is just too "innocent" (is that the right word?) to be villainous. That leaves Peacemaker who, well, he is thoroughly a villain despite his statement that he is all about peace, is all about killing. We don't like him, despite being a team player for the most part. And then there's Harley, who merges with the team after a bit of an initial fumble. She's loco. She's murderous, but she's also going through a bit of an identity crisis because she broke up with The Joker. He might have encouraged her to not only be crazy, but also a wee bit homicidal. Separated from him she is just as crazy and violent, but under the guidance of Flag, who genuinely seems to like her (and vice versa), she seems to be easily led in the right direction. So, definitely much more likeable than the first cast.

So, once on the island, after a bit of a mix-up with some freedom fighters (utterly brutal violence, which still somehow draws out giggles) the squad sneaks into the capital city to infiltrate the Evil Base called Jotunheim. No, not Thor connections (wrong universe) but a nod at Nazis going to South America to continue evil experiments, and their obsession with Aryan mythos. Were Vikings even Aryan? No, but close enough for racists. This is accomplished via a nightclub scene and a brilliant Peter Capaldi as The Thinker, the villain working for the regime(s) on a most foul experiment deep inside the Nazi tower. Thinker is a coward so it doesn't take much to convince him to get them inside. Once inside, we see the horror of it all. And, well, more than a bit of glee.

OMG they brought in fucking Starro the Conqueror. What makes something like a Suicide Squad franchise so much fun is that not only can you mix in tons of the B to Z grade villains (Nathan Fillion's TDK is 'The Detachable Kid', someone who can remove his arms, sending them floating along to ... slap people) but you can also make use of the most wackiest villains. Starro is an alien starfish, which is wacky enough on its own, but he/it also takes over the minds of people it slaps extension starfish onto. This version of Starro has been captive inside Jotunheim for over 30 years, experimented on and cruelly tortured, most often at the expense of the people he is connected to via that slap-on-a-starfish aspect. Its rather horrific, and yet... wow.

Of course, because of the actions of our squad, Starro escapes. A fucking starfish kaiju to wreak havoc on this little island. And while Waller would have the squad move on, as their mission is complete, they have other plans. Heroism. Sacrifice. Betrayal. Gruesome ultra violence. Big fucking grin!!

There are just so many fun layers of this movie. It is exciting, it is action-packed, it is funny, it is dark, it is gruesome, it is filled with little DC-centric details, it is even touching. There are beautifully crafted scenes and settings, every supporting cast member actually contributes something to the plot, there are easter eggs galore, there are over-the-top DC universe elements balanced by truly heartfelt situations. If Guardians was the wacky space comedy-actioner for the non-MCU fans, then this is the wacky comedy-actioner for the non-DC fans, despite actually still maintaining its ties to the other DCU movies. I am sure Gunn is going to do well by this movie, gathering in not only a wide body of fanboys, but also a good number of people who just like a fun, well-craft movie. And someone has to do right by the DC Cinematic Universe. We cannot leave it all to the Snyderverse, despite what the frothing fanboys want.