Movie Plot – The Suicide Squad: Supervillains Harley Quinn, Bloodsport, Peacemaker and some wacky criminals from Belle Reve prison join the super-secret, super-dark Task Force X when they are dropped off on the remote, enemy-occupied island of Corto Maltese.
Director: James Gunn
Writer: James Gunn
Cast: Margot Robbie, Idris Elba, John Cena, Daniela Melchior, David Dastmalchian, Viola Davis, Sylvester Stallone, Michael Rooker, Joel Kinnaman, Nathan Fillion, Jai Courtney, Pete Davidson
James Gunn did it again!
James Gunn became unprecedentedly popular through his work as director of Guardians of the Galaxy and Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 2. Based on that, DC asked if he wouldn’t like to make a movie for them one day and he was up for it. But can he do as much with The Suicide Squad as he did with Guardians of the Galaxy?
The answer is yes, he did! Like Suicide Squad (2016), The Suicide Squad revolves around a bunch of supervillains who are sent on a mission that no one is really crazy enough to take part in. It’s not a sequel or reboot. It’s simply The Suicide Squad but from the mind of James Gunn. The huge difference with Guardians of the Galaxy is that DC is going for rated R, and no one is safe of the squad. I mean, everyone can die at any time!
The Mission
The Suicide Squad is about supervillains Harley Quinn, Bloodsport, Peacemaker and a number of other special criminals with strange powers. They are pulled out of the infamous Belle Reve prison to go on a secret mission to Corto Maltese. The island is in the hands of the ruthless dictator Silvio Luna and his right-hand man Mateo Suarez. To Task Force X, as the team of criminals is called, the task is to sneak onto the island and destroy a secret lab/prison and eliminate President Luna.
Without giving too much away, Gunn really opens the film with a bang. In fact, in my opinion, the beginning of the film is so strong that it immediately marks one of the highlights of the film. It’s full of surprises, a legendary cast of completely deranged characters and is quite funny here and there. The tone is also immediately set with harder action than I expected beforehand. Even Deadpool isn’t that violent and gory.
Gunn made good use of the fact that he wasn’t working for Disney for a while and the film reflects that. It’s all just a bit more mature than the Marvel films he worked on, without getting really serious during the film.
Style, humor and great camerawork
What is particularly striking is that the film is incredibly stylistic. Inscriptions are not put on screen but are part of the scenery and he uses unique shots that you will not find in many other films. Some are jaw-dropping and simply clever. All in all, this does lift the level of the film a bit. You get more of a feeling that the film was well thought out, especially when you compare it to certain DC films that have come out in recent years.
Idris Elba, Margot Robbie, David Dastmalchian and John Cena are the highlights as far as the cast is concerned. This time around, the main character is Bloodsport (Idris Elba), a new addition to the Suicide Squad. I hope to see more of him, but I don’t know if this movie is going to have much impact on the DC extended universe. The Suicide Squad really feels like a stand-alone movie.
If you ask me which DC movie is the funniest (so far), I’ll answer you, “The Suicide Squad.” DC is known to be a little darker than Marvel and that’s okay. Still, you can perfectly combine this movie with a few jokes and James Gunn does just that perfectly. Of course, you also have Shazam, which was also pretty fun, but the new James Gunn movie still surpasses it.
Conclusion
I wasn’t expecting this, but this is one of the better DC movies! James Gunn has found the perfect point and combination of action, humor and entertainment in “The Suicide Squad”.
