Gunn’s The Suicide Squad Almost Out-Deapools Deadpool

Ten minutes into James Gunn’s The Suicide Squad and it is clear he was given completely free rein to make exactly the movie he wanted to make. And it is the epitome of Gunn filmmaking — gorier than Slither, more violent than Super and both funnier and more insane than Guardians of the Galaxy. The closest comparison would be to the Deadpool movies, particularly Deadpool 2 — which it outdoes in all but one pretty important way.

Below is my spoiler-free review of The Suicide Squad, revealing nothing more than what you would have seen from trailers and commercials.

The original Suicide Squad was a typical David Ayer police/special ops action-meets-procedural, turned into a superhero commercial for the planned Zack Snyder MCU-like connected DC universe, turned into a muddled pile of garbage by having it entirely re-edited by the company that makes movie trailers. While Gunn’s movie is nothing like the 2016 version, it owes its existence to that version in two ways. First, The Suicide Squad is clearly another story set in the same universe — Margot Robbie returns as Harley Quinn, Joel Kinnaman as Rick Flagg, Jai Courtney as Captain Boomerang, and most importantly Viola Davis as Amanda Waller, still the most frightening character in both movies. Second, it was the failure of Suicide Squad that started the downward spiral of the original idea to copy the tightly integrated MCU, leading Warner Bros. to pivot and decide to let filmmakers tell barely connected stories, a decision that also led to Joker and the upcoming The Batman.

Gunn’s The Suicide Squad wouldn’t have been possible without that change in thinking at the top of WB.

So with an empty canvas and a shocking lack of studio interference, James Gunn wrote and directed a violent, bloody, profane stellar action comedy, outperforming the previous gold standard, Fox’s Deadpool movies, in all of those categories. In fact, The Suicide Squad shares more than a few similarities in story elements and structure with Deadpool 2. Not enough to call it a ripoff, to be sure, but enough that you will notice.

The one area in which Deadpool and Deadpool 2 still outshines The Suicide Squad is in its emotional core — the heart of the films. That makes sense, since the Deadpool movies are basically one-person stories with a bunch of support characters. That allows the main character, Wade Wilson, to have a deep and loving relationship with Vanessa, which forms the core of the conflict in both movies. The Suicide Squad, on the other hand, has no such relationship — which is the right call for a movie with an enormous cast, all of whom are villains. But it also removes the opportunity to establish that kind of emotional connection with the audience. Gunn fills that gap with an emotional core about how friendless people discover friendship.

Yes, The Suicide Squad bears some resemblance to the anime Puella Magi Madoka Magica — along the path of learning about friendship, lots of people will die. That’s not a spoiler, it’s right in the marketing material for The Suicide Squad. And while I won’t spoil anything about those deaths, I will say that among the characters you like, the ones you hate and the ones you don’t care much about, probably one from each column kicks the bucket.

The cast is all solid, but David Dastmalchian as Polka-Dot Man is particularly wonderful. Funnier than Sylvester Stallone as King Shark and even more sympathetic and insane than Robbie as Harley.

I said above that this is the most Gunn-like movie James Gunn has made, but that doesn’t mean it is his best. Close, but the best movie he has made is still the original Guardians of the Galaxy, even if The Suicide Squad is overall funnier and with crazier action. The difference again comes down to heart.

If there is one knock I can give this movie, it is that the soundstage work used to create the jungle environment of Corto Maltese at times looks like a Gilligan’s Island set. The interiors, from majestic Central American governmental palaces to crazy dungeon laboratories, are all excellent, but man do the jungle exteriors look dated. Otherwise, enjoy the excellent needle-drop soundtrack and watch to the end of the credits for a post-credit scene.

Overall, if you can stomach the gory violence, you will have a blast watching The Suicide Squad. While it may not have a heart on its sleeve, it replaces it with lots of brains. I give The Suicide Squad (Warner Bros., R, 2hrs 12 mins) a 3.5 out of 5.