REVIEW: The Suicide Squad

At the least this film was thankfully not geared toward pushing one of the better movie soundtracks in recent memory. At the most , “The Suicide Squad” is hard candy with a gummy middle that can either be chewed on or spit out – pick one. The violence is turned up to a level that looks like a Resident Evil game with brains and exposed and guts splattered over plexi-glass and the humor is childish at it’s worst and cynical at it’s finest.

From start to finish there is always room to find something to laugh at here in Gunn’s Squad. How can there not be in a film that starts with Pete Wentz and a drowning anthropomorphic Weasel? And the CGI with heart doesn’t stop there. Ratcatcher’s kind rats provide further encouragement for me to take a trip to New York; the JLA’s first enemy Starro was a joy to watch in flashbacks and in the boss battle, and Stallone’s King Shark – with a limited vocabulary similar to Groot’s in the comics – could make Vin Diesel eat his heart out … if he doesn’t do it first.

It’s one band of misfits getting done dirty after another : whether it’s the Squad, Waller’s cohorts, or the Panamanian people (who’s land provides a gorgeous landscape, as I exclaimed in one of the latter scenes featuring Ratcatcher & her father). Everyone here gets the shaft and the audience has no choice but to empathize as the feeling of existential dread creeps up, but the mostly well-timed comedic relief provided by the cast is able to even out the dreary.

“The Suicide Squad” is a new film that can be seen without any prior knowledge of the source material or the previous film. Sadly, some characters from Ayer’s Squad latch on to this film and drag it down from the greatness it could have been. All the scenes featuring Rick Flag could have been cut as both Bloodsport & Peacemaker more than enough filled the “big gun” role : as evidenced from the sequence where these two one-up each other while murdering a group of people that could have belonged in the Peace Core. And Harley Quinn? The poster child of feminism not femininity (there is a BIG difference) who starred in that garbage Birds of Prey film last year? All her scenes pandered to a non-existent female audience complete with cartoon birds and a sex scene with some “latin hunk” (word to E *see “Bagpipes From Baghdad”).

Every time Harley was on screen I checked my imaginary watch ! And to give her the Killshot (which was telegraphed from the start of the movie) was a major disappointment, especially when Daniela Melchoir’s Ratcatcher had the big bad completely under control ! And Melchoir is a scene-stealer ! For this to be her first live action U.S. blockbuster (her vocals were featured in an overseas production in Latin America for “Enter The Spider-Verse”, so she’s a comic book film vet), she deserved the spotlight to be completely on her as the lead lady.

Even though Ratcatcher, Bloodsport, & Peacemaker had plenty of scenes; the return of Flag & Quinn diminished the new team’s cast and chemistry. They had their shot in the 2010’s. Those two should have been left to stew in their lesser films as they did not deserve a second of screen time here, since their very presence holds back Gunn’s Squad from smooth sailing like a rusty anchor.

Even Davis as Waller could have been replaced here! I would have rather not seen anyone from the previous Squad film, as I wanted to be treated to a virtually new experience, not to be reminded this film was such an improvement because of the faults of it’s predecessors. Is it so hard to ask for no relation?
Cena was as robotic as he is in the ring. But he was once known as “The Prototype”, so he fit right in with the corny Peacemaker character – who is currently the reason why I am not reading the latest Squad book. Despite all that, I won’t be watching the new Peacemaker series(as I am not a binge-watcher), but that doesn’t take away from Cena finding his footing far away from the days of “12 Rounds”.

From yelling “Cena Sucks”, to falling in love with a woman who lays down with rats (no, not Celina Powell). From relating with the Polka Dot Man to shouting out the Calendar Man, like Mr.Day was a distant family member I haven’t seen in years all the way to seeing Starro terrorize a city proud to see Gardner Fox’s vision come to a visceral reality. “The Suicide Squad” was quite an affair, but one that undoubtedly suffered from mixing strange and new bedfellows with old dogs that already had their day.

SCORE: 3/5

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Twitter: @C33VictoryRulez / #CVReview