The Suicide Squad

It's certainly better than the first one, low bar that is. Disjointed impressions and thoughts, with SPOILERS ahead.

It's about two hours long, if you don't include the ten minutes of credits at the end. It still drags in places, notably around the time where they're trying to abduct Peter Capaldi to get them in the huge illegal research lab. It's not a bad part of the movie exactly, because it's when the survivors start to actually come together a little as a team, and watching them sneak around in plainclothes after the mission has gone a bit awry feels appropriate for a Suicide Squad story (in the same way as the Squad blundering in and killing a bunch of people they didn't need to), but still. Maybe the camaraderie seems too smooth? They all just decide to get some drinks while they wait and they're pals (for the time being).

Idris Elba is meant to be Deadshot with the serial numbers filed off, since they either couldn't get Will Smith back, or didn't want him back. The dynamic between Bloodsport and his daughter feels more true to Floyd Lawton, but they've still not really put Deadshot up there. There's none of the "I don't care if I get killed" badass indifference to either version.

Viola Davis does fine with the Amanda Waller she's given to play (although her role is much smaller in this film), but it's still not really the Wall I want to see. For one thing, I'd expect Waller to be smart enough to recognize the danger inherent in a giant starfish that releases swarms of little starfish that kill people and manipulate their bodies like puppets, not just to Corto Maltese, but the entire world. Ostrander's Waller has principles, limited as they may be. Movie Waller, whether Ayers or Gunn are directing, is just a politician, and I mean that in the most insulting way. Everyone - not just the Squad, but basically every other person alive - is entirely expendable to her and her goals. She even plays golf with Senators for Christ's sake! Since when does Amanda Waller have time to waste golfing with shitheads? The part where her command center people stand up to her rang hollow considering the lot of them were shown taking bets on who would get killed during the opening credits. Oh, but now you're taking a principled stand? Pull the other one.

This movie definitely leans into the bodycount aspect of the Suicide Squad more than the first one. Which you had to expect, given the sheer number of characters present in the trailer. Some of those schmucks were gonna die, but Gunn wipes out a lot more of them than I expected, and a few I figured were safe. Which is kind of nice. Outside of a few - Bloodsport, Harley, Peacemaker because apparently he's getting his own TV series, which is definitely a thing we need in 2021, nationalistic gun-toting lunatic as a protagonist - I started to expect everyone was toast. Any time someone took a hit, or was in danger, I really thought that could be it for them. 

And since I actually found myself caring whether King Shark or Ratcatcher 2 made it, that means the movie must have done something right. Even if that was just making King Shark (aka Nanaue) a gorier Drax (with his difficulty in comprehending things, I think he's more Drax than Groot), making him a sort of comic relief character, and giving Ratcatcher 2 the sad backstory.

That said, the scene in the minibus where she lays out her origin involving her brilliant but smack-addicted papa felt a little ridiculous. I couldn't see that crew actually wanting to sit there and listen to that, or her being willing to just lay it all out that way.

I was hoping Polka Dot Man's polka dots would do different things based on their color, rather than all being the same. I guess that's more Rainbow Raider's shtick, but if you're going to the trouble of having a guy whose power is to shoot polka dots at people, why not?

Even if the first movie was straight garbage, I like that Gunn at least sort of uses it. Captain Boomerang is trying to trade jokes with Harley about how all the newbies are dead men walking. Mostly it's that  Flag seems more comfortable in his role. It's still frustrating for him, leading a team of lunatics who don't know, like, or trust each other, many of whom are completely unsuited for the work, but he seems to have adjusted. There's not the same contempt he carried, and he actually tries to be a leader. I'm not sure if that means he's in a mentally healthier space or not.

Likewise, it seems like Margot Robbie's Harley Quinn picked up a few things from the first movie and also Birds of Prey. The willingness to try and help her squadmates, and to be willing to try and do the right thing. Having decided not to ignore the red flags with potential love interests. But she's still the sort of manic energy who crashes a car into a bank. 

Randomly, I like that any time they start running, she's the fastest. Even when she's wearing combat boots and a dress, carrying a javelin, she outruns everyone else. I wonder if that just happened, she's just faster than Idris Elba and his dadbod (hilarious watching him sneak around in the mask and a tank top and slacks), or if they wanted that for some reason and told everybody else to run a little slower (like in Major League where they shot all Wesley Snipes' scenes running in slo-mo to make him look faster). It wouldn't surprise me Margot Robbie is a fast runner, she seems to be in good shape, I just wonder. Same way I wonder if Stallone was doing the physical acting for Nanaue and they just CGI'ed him into a shark.

The violence is more cartoonish, with Peacemaker using exploding bullets, and Bloodsport having a gun that keeps growing and changing as he slaps more accessories on, until it looks like something Cable or Rocket Raccoon would use. Nanaue rips a guy in half (seems wasteful for someone who was always hungry) with blood spurting out that looks like jelly from a doughnut. It probably suits the tone of the movie better than more "realistic" violence would have. I don't know why Gunn went with the flowers and cartoon birds hallucinations in place of blood during Harley's escape, though.

The wrestling fan in me was amused by how much more Peacemaker struggles in fights against one opponent than when he's killing an entire room full of people, because it's well known John Cena is unstoppable when he must Overcome The Odds.

I cannot believe those astronauts would just float there in a room with a giant alien starfish, and not flee when it started to produce little starfishes. I thought astronauts were supposed to be smart.