The Suicide Squad

 "I cherish peace with all my heart. I don't care how many men, women and children I need to kill to get it."

James Gunn knows how to make absurd comic book characters work on screen. We saw it with Guardians of the Galaxy where he managed to make Rocket Racoon a genuinely likeable character. When DC approached him to make a film for them they were thinking of Superman but Gunn opted for Suicide Squad and it's clear why- he wanted to lean into the comic book absurdity of the property. 

Though they've been careful not to call this a sequel to the 2016 film it sort of is. Amanda Waller (Viola Davis) continues to send supervillains on dangerous missions led in the field by Rick Flagg (Joel Kinnaman). Harley Quinn (Margot Robbie) and Captain Boomerang (Jai Courtney) are still part of the squad but the roster is largely made up of new characters that are largely D-list villains from the comic books including Bloodsport (Idris Elba), Peacemaker (John Cena), King Shark (voiced by Slyvester Stallone), Polka-Dot Man (David Dastmalchian) and Ratcatcher 2 (Daniela Melchior). 

I really love the way the characters are written in this film. They are all ridiculous and absurd, the majority of them walking jokes. At the same time though every character who is alive for most of the run time is well characterised and has at least one moment where the film digs into their background and/or psyche. Gunn is superb at giving even the most absurd characters some humanity- even a talking and walking shark gets your sympathies in this film! 

It really helps that the cast are utterly superb. Kinnaman gets to make Rick Flagg far more interesting than in his previous appearance as the character and Viola Davis really gets to show us Amanda Waller's full horrible depths here. Margot Robbie is once again wonderful as Harley Quinn who is separated from the main cast for large portions of the film but nonetheless gets plenty of opportunities to be hilarious and bad-ass. Elba's Bloodsport is the most grounded character but he is drawn into the absurdity of the others, not least a never-better John Cena as Peacemaker who feels like a cross between Captain America and the Punisher. Every single character is perfectly cast and every single actor is wonderful in their role.

The plot is approached in much the same way as the characters- it's done in a totally absurd way but there's plenty of genuine threat all the same. Initially it's just about the squad infiltrating an island and breaking into a tower that houses a research facility but it soon becomes apparent that said facility houses giant alien starfish Starro. To have a huge starfish with an eye in it's centre as the main villain is ridiculous but somehow Starro is built up to be a genuine threat that is actually unsettling at times. I just loved how the film leans into the absurd stuff from the comic books but always manages to connect you as viewer to it in a meaningful way. 

The tone of the film is also delightful. There's a whole lot of comedy here and actually on the whole it's cleverer than I would have expected from Gunn. Sure, there's a bit of puerile dick jokes and the like but actually much of the humour comes from the characterisation like everyone wondering what the hell Weasel is, King Shark trying his best to be a valuable part of the team and Peacemaker being apparently oblivious to the irony of seeking peace by slaughtering people. There's real heart to many of the characters too- sure, many are villains and with some it's not clear where their allegiances will lean to but others become really likeable for various reasons, even if it's because they are so tragic. 

This was what I want from a comic book movie. So many of them, especially much of DC's output, try to take the ridiculous ideas from comic books and treat them really seriously. James Gunn understands that it works better if you lean into the absurdity, as long as you write the characters well. 

It really lives up the to the premise of the suicide squad. It's bloody, funny, weird, ridiculous and packed full of action. Peacemaker is returning in a Gunn-helmed TV series but I would love to see him continue with this property as it suits him perfectly.