I remember when David Ayer’s Suicide Squad was coming out back in 2016, and being super intrigued and excited. A superhero version of The Dirty Dozen? That sounds amazing! However, Ayer is the guy famous for police procedurals, so from casting to story, he failed to understand what makes the Suicide Squad such an engaging comic book property. DC smartly pivoted away from Ayer, and gave James Gunn a shot at a Suicide Squad movie. Turns out, the guy who made a tree and a raccoon the new Hans Solo and Chewie might find a way to make the movie as fun as its comic book fans say it is.
After Gunn introduces us to Rick Flag (Joel Kinnaman), Harley Quinn (Margot Robbie), and the rest of Ayer’s original Suicide Squad sans Will Smith on their latest mission, he then pivots to Amanda Waller’s (Viola Davis) 2nd, 2021 version of that team. The leader is Bloodsport (Idris Elba), coerced into doing this to save his daughter from a prison sentence. On Bloodsport’s team is Ratcatcher 2 (Daniela Melchior), who controls rats, The Polka Dot Man (David Dastmalchian), a mother obsessed man who literally kills people with polka dots, Nanaue (Sylvester Stallone), a giant land shark, and the Peacemaker (John Cena), who brings peace to the US by killing as many people as necessary. This team is trying to stop The Thinker (Peter Capaldi) and military generals on a small island from releasing the contents of a secret Russian research facility onto American soil.
The fundamental failure of David Ayer’s Suicide Squad was its misunderstanding of its actors/characters and why they’re so special. James Galaxy Guardian Gunn does not repeat those mistakes. The Suicide Squad proudly raises both middle fingers into the air at everyone and everything from minute one. Gunn violently cleanses Ayer’s movie from history, only keeping necessary figures like Flag, Harley, and Amanda Waller, because they were the only good parts of the first one. There are no Will Smith like casting mistakes here either: Idris Elba is wonderfully condescending as the “team leader” Bloodsport. His rivalry with John Cena’s Peacemaker is a movie highlight, as the two acidically throw barbs at each other to prove who the big bad marksman is. Sylvester Stallone is a laugh riot playing a dimwit shark, unclear what he can or can’t eat. The Polka Dot Man’s motivation is so hilariously unhinged it gets a laugh every time. And Robbie is there as a perennial wildcard, a masterclass assassin with a bit of a violent streak when she feels like it. This group doesn’t want to be together, and spends a majority of the time actively undermining each other and especially Waller, who might do some of the most evil sh*t in the movie. That f*ck you attitude gives the movie a much harder edge than the earlier film, as represented by the truly violent deaths each of these vile people inflict on others: no more Carla Delevingne waving her arms like the first movie: Nanaue bites off people’s heads and eats them while the head is still living in this Suicide Squad.
Because the characters are better understood in The Suicide Squad, the story works much better. The “family I never had” emotional heft actually works in the 2021 movie, because we legitimately care for the characters here, who are doing it moreso to deliver eff you’s to Waller. The monsters are equally as silly as the 2016 film, but that silliness fits much better in this world, which understands the sick jokes underlining a lot of the crazy story points and violence. There’s also a lot of really smart commentary about American Militarism, personified perfectly by John Cena’s Peacemaker, a walking contradiction of a man who completely believes the ends justify the means. For these people too, death is just a part of the path they’ve chosen, so Gunn’s aggressive killing off of supposedly “sacred” characters tracks in the world we’re living in, and gives the movie a bolder set of stakes, as any character could go at anytime.
If you’re looking to make a darkly funny comic book movie, James Gunn is your go to director. The talented guy proves here he’s equally comfortable doing PG-13 Marvel Star Wars movie as he is remaking The Dirty Dozen with R Rated DC Comics Shark Creatures Lord Help us if Gunn goes for an American Psycho remake next. That thing’s gonna be F*CKED UP!