Watch the trailer
Written by: James Gunn
Directed by: James Gunn
Starring: Margot Robbie, Idris Elba, John Cena, Joel Kinnaman, Michael Rooker, Viola Davis, Nathan Fillion, Jai Courtney, Flula Borg, Pete Davidson, Sean Gunn, Sylvester Stallone, Peter Capaldi, Alice Braga
Rated: R
Plot
Supervillains Harley Quinn, Bloodsport, Peacemaker, and a collection of nutty cons at Belle Reve prison join the super-secret, super-shady Task Force X as they are dropped off at the remote, enemy-infused island of Corto Maltese.
Verdict
Definitely an improvement over the 2016 release, this movie has a lot of fun with the characters and their mission. In spite of, or because of the humor, this feels like a collection of scenes to showcase that humor and the violence that can be achieved with an R rating rather than a plot and characters with a goal. It's funny, very violent, and aware of criticisms of the first movie. This is Guardians with an R rating, but it focuses more on that R rating than making the characters likable.
It depends.
Review
Suicide Squad (2016) was lackluster. It was completely mishandled and lacked fun. This fixes the issues of that movie. There's plenty of humor though the movie can be erratic in pace and tone.
James Gunn seems like a great choice for a fun ensemble action movie having done a great job with Guardians of the Galaxy and Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 2. This is an ensemble action movie with the tone of Deadpool.
It's already better than the first one in just the first few minutes. I like how this movie treats characters from the first iteration. It's a great introduction that is a bit of a misdirection. This isn't a reboot, it's just a different take. The Suicide Squad is a group of criminals that will get clemency if they complete an impossible mission. The people in charge of this mission truly see them as expendable, something the first movie didn't achieve.
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| David Dastmalchian, John Cena, Idris Elba, Daniela Melchior. |
It's an easy comparison to Guardians and not just because of Gunn. The banter and non-human characters make it an easy link. The biggest difference is the violence. Watching this, I'm surprised the first one didn't go for an R rating but that's probably because it wanted to retain a PG-13 rating like all of Marvel's movies. With these characters, R fits better.
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| Idris Elba, Joel Kinnaman, David Dastmalchian, Peter Capaldi, Margot Robbie, John Cena. |
The movie is full of ridiculousness, from a humanoid weasel to a talking shark. While this stretches logic, it's always to push a joke, so I don't fault it. Their plan keeps changing as they attempt to do the government's dirty work which culminates in a big bad at the end.
Peacemaker (John Cena) is an intriguing character, someone that kills to promote peace. I wish the movie did more with that antithetical mission. It positions him as a avatar for governments to make a larger point, but the movie isn't trying to make a statement. Bloodsport (Idris Elba) is a generic character roped into this due to his daughter. It's such a bland origin story for an actor that's capable of much more. It's a different character from Will Smith's Deadshot which has to be part of the joke.
It's a fun movie that embraces the R rating, but Deadpool did this style of irreverent and crude super hero movie. Guardians has done the comedic ensemble action movie. While this combines the two, it doesn't feel new. The problem may stem from how this feels unfocused with so many characters where their main goal is to just push the plot along.
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