When it was announced back in 2018 that James Gunn would be joining the DC universe as the writer and director of The Suicide Squad, myself and millions of DC Comics fans were elated. 2016’s Suicide Squad by David Ayer was anything but great. Yes Warner Bros. stepped in and butchered the film, but how much better would Ayer’s vision had been? I doubt that much better. Gunn is an MCU legend, and the brainchild behind Guardians of the Galaxy and Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 2. While I’m not a HUGE fan of either, I respect that he was able to take one of the most obscure/unknown Marvel teams, and turn them into a billion dollar movie franchise. Gunn’s knowledge of the source material is also something that I have the utmost admiration in. He’s one of the few directors/writers to take a superhero project and is able to make comic book undertones obvious, and as an avid comic book reader, that is something that I appreciate to see… a lot.
Image via: ComicBook
The plot of The Suicide Squad was pretty solid all around. While the third act was a little flat, and I had a few heart palpitations multiple times believing that Harley Quinn, Bloodsport and King Shark were about to die at times, I really enjoyed this story. Having Project Starfish, or Starro, being the driving force behind the film, was really interesting. I liked the “Kaiju” effect and that the villain was a monster. That isn’t something that we ever really get with a superhero film, so incorporating it into a Suicide Squad movie was just perfect.
The Thinker being the one who, for 30-years, had been studying Starro wasn’t what I was expecting. Everyone, myself included, believed that he’d be the one to double-cross the team… Not some mad scientist whose been killing who knows how many people, to do tests on this intergalactic Starfish. Peter Capaldi also nailed this role perfectly. He’s a really under appreciated actor and I hope people start to appreciate his greatness after seeing him in the film.
Image via: Screen Rant
Peacemaker and Rick Flag were both major let downs to me. Peacemaker killing Flag was the nail in the coffin in my mind, and Flag having such a minor role and limited lines until the end where he turns on Amanda Waller and is subjected to an out of no where bloodlust for anyone in his way of getting the truth out there, just didn’t do it for me. Who knows if Flag will be back, but after Peacemaker was “killed” by Bloodsport, an end credits scene revealed that Waller was able to get his body. He also apparently still had a heart beat, and Jennifer Holland’s Emilia Harcourt, James Gunn’s girlfriend in real life, revealed that they need him to, “save the world.”
Peacemaker will be getting his own show on HBO Max, written and directed by James Gunn, and filming has been complete for a while now. Harcourt will be a main character in Peacemaker, so I think it’s safe to assume that the movie makes it obvious that the upcoming series will NOT be a prequel. Nonetheless I’m excited for the 8-episode series, which is slated to premiere in January 2022, and I’m interested to see if Waller or any other members of the Suicide Squad will appear.
Bloodsport might’ve been my favorite character in the film. An outlandish character in the comics, with an addiction of revealing the truth in the comics, I was confused when it was revealed that Idris Elba would be playing him. But I have to say, Elba did an amazing job at bringing heart, soul, and fun to screen with this great portrayal. Now that he’s free from prison, who knows if he’ll pop up again in a DC movie, but it was fun to have him aboard. Ratcatcher2 was, in my opinion, a little overhyped by critics. She was a little whinny and annoying, but she was definitely the heart and soul of the film. The ending where she saved the day, and had that heartfelt scene with her father (Taika Waititi), was a really great way to end the fight, and it was just really fun to watch.
Image via: Rolling Stone
Margot Robbie’s Harley Quinn continues to be the face of DC Films. She’s perfect in everything she’s in, and seemingly captures every scene she appears in as well. That being said, her dialogue definitely took a step back from 2019’s Birds of Prey. That movie was awful, but she makes that movie bearable. In Suicide Squad Ayer did the same thing as Gunn, where Harley seems like just a pretty face who says sexual innuendoes every other scene. All in all, she was one of the best characters in the film, and had the best action scene I’ve seen in a superhero movie since Batman’s warehouse scene in BatmanvSuperman.
In general, a lot of the characters just didn’t really seem right. Gunn’s writing can be a little cringe at times and I don’t think he handled certain characters that well. Namely: Rick Flag, Amanda Waller, Peacemaker, and even Harley to an extent. Gunn was given complete creative freedom, and it almost seems like Warner Bros. didn’t review this film at all and just let Gunn run with it. Again, this is on of the three best films in the DCEU, but it wasn’t perfect by any means. DC needs to start puffing out films that are great from start to finish, not these, “strong 1-2 acts, then act 3 is a flop.” This one’s isn’t a flop, but it isn’t strong like a film like Avengers: Infinity War’s is.
At the end of the day, I’d give this movie a 7.8/10. Really strong character depth and a plot that keeps the movie entertaining until the very end!