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Movie Review: The Suicide Squad

Mike Tyrkus

Taking a break from the Marvel Cinematic Universe, director James Gunn steps away, albeit briefly, from the “Guardians of the Galaxy” franchise (he directed both the original 2014 film and its 2017 sequel) to dip his toes into the DC Universe and with a new interpretation of The Suicide Squad.

Reprising (or, more appropriately, redefining) her role of Amanda Waller from the original film version of Suicide Squad (2016), Viola Davis sets the film in motion when she assembles a team of the worst (or, greatest, depending on your point of view) villains she can find and then heavily arming them and sending them on a search-and-destroy mission to the island of Corto Maltese to take out the latest diabolical threat to the global community. To do so, Waller enlists Colonel Rick Flagg (Joel Kinnaman) to lead the unit (which is called the “Suicide Squad” due to the tiny explosives placed in the various soldiers’ necks to be detonated should they try to escape or disobey orders in any other way). This “Squad” consists of Bloodsport (Idris Elba), Captain Boomerang (Jai Courtney), Ratcatcher 2 (Daniela Mechior), King Shark (Sylvester Stallone), Blackguard (Pete Davidson), Savant (Michael Rooker), Peacemaker (John Cena), and, of course, Harley Quinn (Margot Robbie). There are many others that enter the fray, most notably Peter Capaldi as Thinker and David Dastmalchian and Polka-Dot Man, but to list them all would spoil a great deal of the fun to be had as the film unfolds.

Departing from the ultra-violent approach utilized by writer/director David Ayer in the previous take on the franchise starter in 2016, Gunn (who also wrote the screenplay for his version) readily embraces a more jovial tone and mood throughout. Of course, that doesn’t mean that the doom and gloom that we have come to expect from a film within the DC Cinematic Universe isn’t occasionally at play here as well. The film is often a little too dark for what many would consider a “comic book movie,” but that may be precisely the point here as this often feels like an attempt to shatter and reconstitute the expectations of fans of the DC films and for the most part it works splendidly. Beginning the film as he does, with a sort of in medias res approach rather than moving linearly by introducing all of the characters and then carefully laying out the squad’s mission and so on, Gunn drops us right into the action and never lets up for most of the film’s running time.

David Dastmalchian (l-r), John Cena, Idris Elba, and Daniela Melchior in “The Suicide Squad.” (Photo: Warner Bros)

All of the villains (or, rather heroes) do a fine job as well, even those with little to do physically, such as Sylvester Stallone as King Shark, steal the show in much the same way that Vin Diesel did as the single-phrase spouting voice of Groot in the “Guardians” films. Despite already boasting her own stand-alone film (of sorts) with Birds of Prey (2020), Margot Robbie’s Harley Quinn takes a backseat for most of this outing, at least in terms of working alongside the rest of the Squad as she is off on her own adventure of sorts for about half of the film. Once everyone is together though, the action moves much more fluidly, and you may find it hard to remember when everyone wasn’t all onscreen trading quips and puns.

Although the James Gunn version of The Suicide Squad vastly improves upon the initial incarnation, there is still an underlying penchant to make everything as dark and violent as it could possibly be, hence the film boasting an R-rating. That being said, the film is still a better offering than most films that have come from the DC Cinematic Universe and should be recognized as such.

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Mike Tyrkus

Editor in Chief at CinemaNerdz.com
An independent filmmaker, co-writer and director of over a dozen short films, the Editor in Chief of CinemaNerdz.com has spent much of the last three decades as a writer and editor specializing in biographical and critical reference sources in literature and the cinema, beginning in February 1991 reviewing films for his college newspaper. He was a member of the Detroit Film Critics Society, as well as the group's webmaster and one-time President for over a decade until the group ceased to exist. His contributions to film criticism can be found in Magill's Cinema Annual, VideoHound's Golden Movie Retriever (of which he was the editor for nearly a decade until it too ceased to exist), the International Dictionary of Films and Filmmakers, and the St. James Film Directors Encyclopedia (on which he collaborated with editor Andrew Sarris). He has also appeared on the television program Critic LEE Speaking alongside Lee Thomas of FOX2 and Adam Graham, of The Detroit News. He currently lives in the Detroit area with his wife and their dogs.

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