The Suicide Squad — Movie Review
by KJ Proulx
The very fact that this film even exists just baffles me. When Suicide Squad hit theatres back in 2016, I really wasn’t a fan. I enjoyed nearly all of the characters, but I felt they deserved a much better film. It was a jumbled mess and therefore tainted any need to rewatch it. Once Warner Bros. decided to hire writer/director James Gunn, giving him the freedom to choose whichever property he wanted, I was shocked to see him choose The Suicide Squad. Serving as both a very loose sequel to the previous installment, while also being a reboot in itself, this is the best film based on DC Comics to come out in a while.
If you haven’t seen the original film, they do a good job getting you up to speed in the first act. The opening of the film lets you know that Amanda Waller (Viola Davis) is still continuing her Suicide Squad projects, pulling people in and out of prison to do her dirty work. Within minutes of starting, the film ramps up by delivering a very surprising action sequence that really caught me off guard. From there, the film is both funny, emotional, and extremely entertaining from start to finish. This is easily one of the best examples I’ve ever seen from a major studio that fixes its old mistakes.
Before I start gushing about how good this film truly is, I’ll get a few very small negatives out of the way. As soon as the second act begins, the film definitely begins to feel its length a bit. I wasn’t fully invested in the side story involving Harley Quinn (Margot Robbie), but where that story ends up was worth it, so that complaint sort of fizzled itself out eventually. Still, the pacing in the second act could’ve been a little tighter. On top of that, even though this isn’t a complaint of mine, people who ended up loving the previous film will probably not get too much enjoyment here if they’re looking for something similar. I can see people thinking this one is far too weird and bizarre in comparison. Again, those aren’t my thoughts, but more of a heads up.
I could go on for a very long time about what to praise about The Suicide Squad, but I’ll keep it brief. The shock factor alone sold me from the very beginning. There are surprises sprinkled throughout the entire film and I hardly saw any of them coming. The chemistry between Idris Elba (Bloodsport) and Daniela Melchior (Ratcatcher 2) was the beating heart of the film. Their presence made the film infinitely better than it already would have been. The climax of the movie feels absolutely bonkers but also earned. Even cast members like John Cena and Joel Kinneman deliver career-best performances here. In particular, I loved the evolution of Kinneman’s Rick Flag from the first Suicide Squad.
Overall, from the quirky dialogue to the pure fun that James Gunn brings to all of these films, I found my eyes glued to the screen. Nearly everything about this film felt like an improvement on the last. Again, I feel that a couple of scenes in act two could’ve been shorter or cut out, but I’m honestly scraping the bottom of the barrel to find things I didn’t like. The Suicide Squad is a wacky, fun, and absolutely eccentric ride at the movies and I can’t recommend it enough. I will say this though; take the words “wacky” and “eccentric” very seriously and then have another look at the trailer. If you don’t think it’s for you, that’s because it's not. This movie embraces its R-rating and is simply a blast. If you know what type of film this is and are already interested, I’m pretty confident you’ll love it as I did.
Rating: 4.5/5
Check out the trailer below:
