The 2016 Suicide Squad left me disappointed beyond belief. When The Suicide Squad got announced with James Gunn as writer and director, I regained faith and I'm so happy to say he didn't disappoint.
The Suicide Squad follows a group of imprisoned convicts that join to create a task force and are dropped off at the island of Corto Maltese to complete a mission.
With The Suicide Squad, James Gunn has made one of the best and most memorable comic book films in recent memory. Having the film be R rated opened up a lot of doors for Gunn and he used the rating as well as the creative freedom Warner Bros gave him to his advantage. He introduced me to characters I've never even heard of and managed to make them so much fun to watch. What was missing in the 2016 film was character depth and the bond between the squad. Gunn includes many funny moments that kept the camaraderie of the team going. There were also a handful of emotional moments from characters I didn't expect which leads into one of the film's biggest strengths: its unpredictability. Whilst Gunn's method of telling of the story doesn't break boundaries, he includes various surprises involving these characters that I honestly didn't see coming. Whether it's for shock value or merely a set-up for a joke, The Suicide Squad has moments that genuinely took me by surprise and kept me entertained.
This is very much a James Gunn film. His style, which we've gotten accustomed to since Guardians of the Galaxy, is what increased the entertainment value for me. This film is filled with jokes all the way through. Albeit some of them fell flat but I was laughing my way through most of them. Gunn knows where to place a joke so that it doesn't take away from the more touching moments. I'm happy that Gunn didn't hold back on the violence either. The violence is very gory and over-the-top and the way it's all shot and edited is very well done. What really impressed me were the visual effects. Especially during the choatic third act, the CGI was immaculate and its consistency made this a very immersive experience. It's crazy how a film like Black Widow, a movie with a larger budget, has scenes that look much more fake than the ones in The Suicide Squad. An irritating aspect of the 2016 film was its soundtrack. Whilst being filled with fantastic songs, the songs themselves didn't fit with what was going on. However, Gunn chooses music that feels much more appropriate and compliment the scenes well.
The performances were also fantastic and seemed much better than the ones in the 2016 film. I loved Rick Flag and Amanda Waller much more here with Joel Kinnaman and Viola Davis giving strong performances. Idris Elba's Bloodsport is reminiscent of Will Smith'a Deadshot but Elba does a better job and is given more to work with. Margot Robbie is great as usual as Harley Quinn. John Cena suited the role of Peacemaker well and had some great moments. For me, the standouts were Sylvester Stallone as King Shark, David Dastmalchian as Polka-Dot Man and Daniela Melchior as Ratcatcher 2. I wasn't familiar with their characters but they were a lot of fun to watch and stood out to me.
The Suicide Squad surprised me in ways I didn't expect. It's certainly not perfect as some jokes didn't work and I wish the villains got more depth. Nonetheless, James Gunn definitely delivered and I hope Warner Bros see this and give more directors freedom when it comes to these kinds of films.
The Suicide Squad follows a group of imprisoned convicts that join to create a task force and are dropped off at the island of Corto Maltese to complete a mission.
With The Suicide Squad, James Gunn has made one of the best and most memorable comic book films in recent memory. Having the film be R rated opened up a lot of doors for Gunn and he used the rating as well as the creative freedom Warner Bros gave him to his advantage. He introduced me to characters I've never even heard of and managed to make them so much fun to watch. What was missing in the 2016 film was character depth and the bond between the squad. Gunn includes many funny moments that kept the camaraderie of the team going. There were also a handful of emotional moments from characters I didn't expect which leads into one of the film's biggest strengths: its unpredictability. Whilst Gunn's method of telling of the story doesn't break boundaries, he includes various surprises involving these characters that I honestly didn't see coming. Whether it's for shock value or merely a set-up for a joke, The Suicide Squad has moments that genuinely took me by surprise and kept me entertained.
This is very much a James Gunn film. His style, which we've gotten accustomed to since Guardians of the Galaxy, is what increased the entertainment value for me. This film is filled with jokes all the way through. Albeit some of them fell flat but I was laughing my way through most of them. Gunn knows where to place a joke so that it doesn't take away from the more touching moments. I'm happy that Gunn didn't hold back on the violence either. The violence is very gory and over-the-top and the way it's all shot and edited is very well done. What really impressed me were the visual effects. Especially during the choatic third act, the CGI was immaculate and its consistency made this a very immersive experience. It's crazy how a film like Black Widow, a movie with a larger budget, has scenes that look much more fake than the ones in The Suicide Squad. An irritating aspect of the 2016 film was its soundtrack. Whilst being filled with fantastic songs, the songs themselves didn't fit with what was going on. However, Gunn chooses music that feels much more appropriate and compliment the scenes well.
The performances were also fantastic and seemed much better than the ones in the 2016 film. I loved Rick Flag and Amanda Waller much more here with Joel Kinnaman and Viola Davis giving strong performances. Idris Elba's Bloodsport is reminiscent of Will Smith'a Deadshot but Elba does a better job and is given more to work with. Margot Robbie is great as usual as Harley Quinn. John Cena suited the role of Peacemaker well and had some great moments. For me, the standouts were Sylvester Stallone as King Shark, David Dastmalchian as Polka-Dot Man and Daniela Melchior as Ratcatcher 2. I wasn't familiar with their characters but they were a lot of fun to watch and stood out to me.
The Suicide Squad surprised me in ways I didn't expect. It's certainly not perfect as some jokes didn't work and I wish the villains got more depth. Nonetheless, James Gunn definitely delivered and I hope Warner Bros see this and give more directors freedom when it comes to these kinds of films.