(5) THE SUICIDE SQUAD

(2021)

No, not the bad one or Suicide Squad (in 2016), but the good one with the definite article – The Suicide Squad (in 2021). Sadly, this won’t be the only time I have to make that same distinction between the bad one and the good one in an entry in this top ten – indeed, I have to do it for my top entry.

“The Suicide Squad is a 2021 ensemble superhero black comedy film written and directed by James Gunn, based on the DC Comics title ot the same name”.

The good one was presented as a standalone sequel to the bad one, but in many ways it was more a remake, done right this time by a writer and director bringing to the DC table what he had done for a similar ensemble superhero comedy film series for Marvel Comics. And as he did with Marvel’s cosmic setting for the latter, he also playfully brought some elements of DC’s cosmic setting – well, one in particular, with something of Gunn’s recurring alien invasion theme from his film Slither, which he would reuse, along with surprisingly literal project codename, in the spinoff TV series Peacemaker.

“The plot follows a new iteration of Task Force X / The Suicide Squad, a collection of boxed crook supervillains offered a simple deal by high-ranking government official Amanda Waller (Viola Davis): have a bomb temporarily placed in the base of their skull to assure they don’t try to escape and take on an increasingly deadly series of suicide missions in return for having their prison sentence reduced after each success. Their mission today? Survive being dropped onto Corto Maltese, a remote island filled with criminals and soldiers all guarding a massive secret that could spell doom for the entire world”.

Margot Robbie returned as Harley Quinn – although her Harley was one of the best things about the bad one, the good one effectively redeemed the character from that taint and became the character’s best cinematic adaptation, albeit I’d still rank her animated television series as best screen adaptation (which pokes fun at the bad Suicide Squad film).

Also returning were Jai Courtney’s Captain Boomerang and Joel Kinnaman’s Rick Flag among a whole host of new characters, including the one that was to get that television spinoff – John Cena as Peacemaker.

FANTASY OR SF

Definitely leans hard into SF, as both Gunn and comics films tend to do, albeit the softer end of the SF scale characteristic of comics films.

COMEDY

Very much so, of the black comedy variety.

RATING:

A-TIER (TOP TIER)