The Suicide Squad

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This was the first movie I watched in a theatre since the pandemic began, so there was a baseline of enjoyment I got from the experience and wasn't thinking too critically about what was happening onscreen. (Also surreal to see it in an almost empty IMAX theatre that's normally packed.)


I found Gunn's style a bit leaden and smug for my tastes, and found the climaxes a bit drawn out. I also found the characterization of Polka Dot Man a bit mean spirited. But I suppose people will differ on these. I also am not in love with how the genre increasingly evokes real life geopolitical issues, but I suppose this is more tactful than some others in this respect (*cough*WW84*cough*).


I did like that I didn't have to do any homework to understand or appreciate what was happening (which was one of the factors behind me opting out of the MCU). And I guess I liked most of the cast and found it moved along nicely enough.



“Sugar is the most important thing in my life…”
Needle drops are dead to me meow.



Needle drops are dead to me meow.
You don't want to listen to "People Who Died" right after a bunch of people die?




The Suicide Squad is to Suicide Squad what McDowell's is to McDonald's. Suicide Squad had Deadshot, The Suicide Squad has Bloodsport. Suicide Squad had a computer generated anthropomorphic crocodile, The Suicide Squad has a computer generated anthropomorphic shark. Suicide Squad had a Latino character who could control CGI flames, The Suicide Squad has a Hispanic character who can control CGI rats. Et-****ing-cetera.

These minor differences only serve to emphasize that the only real difference between this movie and its predecessor is a definite article in the title. Even the quote-unquote new characters serve to preserve the status quo, as their introduction allows writer/director James Gunn to repeat David Ayer's formula from the first film: Amanda Waller (Viola Davis), who is clearly a bigger sociopath than any member of the Suicide Squad, scrapes the bottom of the DC barrel for characters who go from feeling sorry for themselves to feeling sorry for each other.

But there is something that The Suicide Squad has that Suicide Squad doesn't: an odd habit of unnecessarily doubling down. Thus, we have Peacemaker, who is interchangeable with Bloodsport does. Or Weasel, a humanoid weasel who is interchangeable with Pete Davidson, a weasely human (Davidson is possibly the only person more annoying than Margot Robbie; thankfully, his character gets his face shot off early on, which actually makes Davidson less grotesque to look at than usual).