Idris Elba is Father of the Year!
What’s It About?
Hail, hail, the gang’s all here! Amanda Waller, Harley Quinn, Rick Flagg, and Captain Boomerang are back, but this time, they’re joined up with a new team of misfit toys in order to quell a rebellion in Corto Maltese. It’s pretty straightforward, right? Well, that’s because you’ve seen films like this many times before. It’s a basic action movie premise, but no matter how generic it looks on paper, it’s the execution that matters, and director James Gunn executes it with expert craftsmanship. The Suicide Squad is like a box of chocolates. You never know who’s gonna get their heads blown off!
Who’s In It?
Amanda Waller, Rick Flagg, Harley Quinn, and Captain Boomerang are back, baby! Amanda Waller is so cold-blooded this time around that she makes the Squad look like the Justice League by comparison. Rick Flagg is actually cool now and it’s in no small part due to actor Joel Kinnaman being given much more material to work with. In terms of comedic chops, Harley Quinn still remains the least funny of the bunch, but there’s no denying she’s given the best set piece of the whole film. It’s an impeccably choreographed set piece filled with gunfire, dismembered limbs, flowers, and unicorns. Who would’ve thought killing people could look so cute?
The original cast each get their moment to shine, but Gunn introduces an entirely new batch of characters who are guaranteed to make you fall in love with them. The Peacemaker is equally terrifying as he is hilarious and John Cena is perfect in capturing that big doofus energy of the character; he reminds me of a psychotic Kronk from The Emperor’s New Groove. Idris Elba is a classy gent, so it’s nice seeing him being an absolute scumbag and throwing F-bombs left and right. Last, but not least, we have King Shark, who’s an absolute softy who also has a ravenous hunger for human flesh. He elicited most of the biggest laughs from me as well as the biggest emotional reactions. No film truly works without characters to anchor the story down and it’s Gunn’s ability to humanize these characters that makes The Suicide Squad a bloody good time.
Is It Any Good?
The Suicide Squad is astoundingly good, and just like a cool glass of water, it’s a refreshing take on the source material that also washes away the bad taste of the first film. For those of you dreading on rewatching the first film for fear of feeling lost, fret not, because James Gunn’s The Suicide Squad stands on its own without the extra baggage of being a sequel to Suicide Squad. It’s crude, it’s hysterical, and it’s moving in ways the first film wasn’t. James Gunn might be the safe and obvious choice to handle an IP like this, but when he’s able to scoop from the bottom of the barrel to craft a group of likable characters, it’s no wonder every studio wants to snatch him up. The Suicide Squad will make you laugh, cry, scream “ooh” and “aah,” but most importantly, it’ll make you fall in love with the characters.
The Cinebuff 