Don't think for a second because I included the year in the title of this post that I plan to cover the original Suicide Squad movie. Fuck that garbage ass movie, it doesn't even have one cut lil rat boy for me to cheer for.
James Gunn proved from his very first guardians of the Galaxy movie that he knows how to make a decent superhero film. I enjoy both movies in the guardians of the Galaxy series, but both of them have the feeling that they are holding back. Because Marvel is a Disney property, the marvel series is much more focused on movies you can bring the kids to that have clear-cut good guys and bad guys.
The formula for those types of marvel movies is well established by now. Open movie on a normal person, a person finds some sort of power and fights off a bunch of goons that all blend in together, and end the movie by kicking the bad guy in the butt in a non-lethal way. It's basic, it's boring, and you've seen this formula play out a hundred times already. This movie is very well aware of the failure of its original, and the slow failure of marvels copycats superhero flicks.
As far as superhero movies go, James Gunn has made the future of the genre a lot less bleak with a movie that makes me feel like I have never seen a good superhero movie before.
This movie feels like it was made by someone who is a super fan of the suicide squad, and understands what makes the suicide squad so interesting in the first place. Instead of trying to match the more gritty and realistic style of most of DC's other films, Gunn's color palette feels right out of the original comic. It's a bright and colorful world to match the bright and colorful comedy, which Gunn perfectly nails. the whole movie has a great sense of absurdist comedy that feels like a continuation of his work with the guardians of the galaxy series. It also works as a great contrast to keep the seemingly constant fountains of blood from feeling too intense. Just like everything else in this movie, its violence is largely used for comic effect without ever feeling mean-spirited.
Though the majority of this movie is focused on being an action-comedy, there's a surprising amount of depth given to the characters without ever resorting to the cheap on-screen graphics of the original. It doesn't need to tell you about their entire life story right away so you care about them, a lot of character moments are just captured while the group is talking amongst themselves. Juggling intimate character moments into a wacky ass comedy like this one is no small task, but gun navigates the change in tone perfectly. A lot like Tarantino movies, it jumps around in time a lot without ever really feeling too confusing. It's funny when it needs to be, it's badass when it needs to be, and it's emotional when it needs to be.
I feel like it's been a long time since I saw a movie I loved in theaters, and I'm glad I got to see this movie while it was still in theatres. If this is what happens when we let Jim gun off his marvel leash, I pray he never does another marvel movie ever again.
10/10
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