The Suicide Guardians of The Galaxy Squad
The Suicide Squad
I remember being very excited for David Ayer’s Suicide Squad after watching the first trailer. In fact, I even tweeted about how excited I was. But as more and more trailers got released it started becoming clear that it was going to be an absolute shit show.
Spoiler: It was.
Check out my review and an interview with a Harley Quinn cosplayer from way back when. Feel free to mock my hair.
Also listen to The SuperPodHeroCast’s review of the original Suicide Squad.
When James Gunn was “fired” from Marvel his future was seemingly cloudy. HAHAHAH Just kidding. We all knew he was coming back for Guardians of the Galaxy 3. But out of left field, The Suicide Squad was announced. Needless to say, those of us who were fans of Guardians of the Galaxy knew it was going to be a ripping good time. But then again, those of us who knew Gunn from waaayyy back to his Troma days knew even more better (what?). We remember seeing Tromeo and Juliet, Terror Firmer, hearing about the lost R-Rated Scooby Doo, and my personal fav LolliLove (it’s about lollipops you pervs).
Once Gunn was at the helm of The Suicide Squad and away from the prudish Disney, we knew all hell would break loose. Did it?
******SPOILERS BELOW FOR THE SUICIDE SQUAD******
Right off the bat the cast for this is absolutely insane. We go from action staples like Idris Elba and John Cena to random choices like Peter Capaldi (my personal favorite Doctor) and Pete Davidson. Not to mention the choice of characters. The most obscure, for most strictly movie goer DC fans, and downright absurd.
The film doesn’t take its time. It starts immediately with a punch to the face. We get Michael Rooker, one of several Guardians of the Galaxy cameos, right off the bat. Having been familiar with Rooker throughout the years I did expect him to last through most of the film. Alas, he did not. Barely 15 minutes. Such is the case with a lot of the nerd stars we see; Nathan Fillion as TDK, Pete Davidson as Blackguard, Sean Gunn (VO) Weasel, Flula Borg as Javelin, and Mayling Ng as Mongal. They even made sure to kill off Jai Courtney, Captain Boomerang, early on. Which I assume was a nod to the original Suicide squad film. This team was lead by Joel Kinnaman and Margot Robbie returning as Col. Rick Flag and Harley Quinn.
What we learn is that this is the B-Squad. Where the real squad is over on another beach using them as a diversion to proceed with their mission. A-Squad is Idris Elba as Bloodsport, John Cena as Peacemaker, Sylvester Stalone voicing King Shark, David Dastmalchian as Polka-Dot, and Daniela Melchior as RatCatcher 2 (fun cameo by Taika Waititi as RatCatcher 1). A quick flashback, used often and sometimes to comedic effect, lets us in on the backstory of Bloodsport which is surprisingly similar to Deadshot’s backstory from the original Suicide Squad film. “Do this mission and your kid won’t get in trouble”. However, it works so much better this time around as we see Bloodsport as having a little bit of familial pride, while still maintaining his role as “the bad guy”.
I won’t go into a shot-by-shot review or walkthrough of this film. As it is currently available in theaters and via HBOMax with a subscription, this film is more widely available than most with just a theatre run. What I will do is lay out a case as to why you should see it.
You should go see this movie.
James Gunn has been more recently known as the brains/humor/charm behind the Guardians of the Galaxy movies. Those films, although great, are really Gunn with his hands tied behind his back. They are family films, and perfectly so. They fit right under the wing of Disney’s image with enough of a bite to make them unique. Every character has heart, are witty and cute. And that’s great. I love those movies. I still lose it every time Drax and Mantis interact. Which by the way, Pom Klementieff makes a “blink and you’ll miss it” cameo alongside Lloyd Kaufman. But James Gunn is a disturbed individual in the best way possible. His humor is dark...like really dark. This is James Gunn at his most James Gunn.
Aside from dripping with action and humor, this film is also dripping with blood. Lots and lots of blood. Lots of gory kills from decapitations, bodies being ripped in half, people being eaten alive, and all sorts of meltings but every one of them is just fun. But seriously, don’t take your kids to this movie. Aside from the aforementioned gore there is lots of naughty language and even a dick and some boobs on screen. Or do, I’m not your Dad (unless you are my daughter then I am your Dad and please stop reading my articles). But this is exactly who James Gunn was before Disney offered him a lot of money to do charming things with them. I hope in seeing this an audience who maybe only knew Gunn from GotG will be opened up to a whole new world of movie possibilities. Highly recommend Slither, LolliLove, or if you wanna get really weird Tromeo & Juliet.
I think the biggest thing that made this version work better than the previous one was it knew exactly what it was and exactly what it set out to do. It understood the assignment. Now, there has been tons of recent stories about the previous versions making and it’s director, David Ayer, has spoken out quite publicly about the trouble he had fighting with the studio.
Zack Snyder created a monster with being able to go back and redo his film. Not intentionally mind you. I don’t think he had ill intent and the fans, well, we all now how fandom can be. Snyder having left Justice League to begin with was a tragedy. Honestly, the film should’ve been put on hold for him to finish. I have been outspoken in the past that I still don’t think the Snyder Cut was all that great either, but he definitely deserved a real shot at making his movie. As for an Ayer’s cut of Suicide Squad...eh, let’s just let sleeping dogs lie, yeah? Gunn clearly had a great vision for this film and he got to make it seemingly exactly as he wanted without interference.
My critique for this film comes from a minor place. This film very much felt like Guardians of the Galaxy the R-Rated cut. From the music, the stylization, the team formation, everything felt very familiar. But it was the kind of familiarity you find when you buy yet another black hoodie even though you have like 4. Sure this one might be slightly different but it fits, it’s reliable, and it makes you look like a fucking champ. This criticism can easily be chalked up to “that’s just how super hero movies are made now” and that’s absolutely correct. We didn’t need some groundbreaking plot development or angle for this. It would’ve been dumb *cough*Suicide Squad*cough*. We got exactly what we needed and what this team deserved.
If you’re able to, safely, definitely see this in IMAX. If not see it anyways, a few times. Also stick around after the credits for a tee-off to the Peacemaker series that will be making its way to HBOMax in the near future.
If that doesn’t sell you on why you should see this movie an older man seated next to me in the theatre upon the credits rolling said “I hope I live long enough to see Suicide Squad 3”. And honestly, that’s probably all the review you need.
Michael Fight is the host of Never Heard Of It and The Storyteller Series. You can also follow him Twitter. Check out his IMDb page here.
