Six convicts and/or metahumans—archer Bloodsport, Harley Quinn, Peacemaker, fish-human mutant King Shark, Polka-Dot Man with superpowers, Ratcatcher 2, who can control rats—augmented by Colonel Flag—are assembled as a black-ops Suicide Squad and get the government asignment to go to the South American island-nation Corto Maltese, whose pro-American government was replaced in a coup d’etat by the anti-American dictator Luna and his General Suarez, and destroy the fortress Jotunheim, where secret experiments are conducted on an giant alien starfish creature, Starro, which could be used as a giant weapon against the US. After a lot of obstacles, the Suicide Squad finds out it was the US government that oversaw the experiments 30 years ago, during the Cold War. The 40ft tall Starro escapes from Jotunheim, spreading thousands of starfishes to control the people, but the Suicide Squad is able to kill it.
“The Suicide Squad” is the bloodiest superhero movie up until that time, which is a dubious honor: it has style and sheer creativity, yet just like “RoboCop 2”, its violence became so extreme that it diminished its enjoyment value and numbed the audience. Unlike Gunn’s contagiously fun “Guardians of the Galaxy”, which worked so well because of the bonding, chemistry and charm of its sympathetic characters, “The Suicide Squad” feels hampered down since there are so many unlikeable characters, and thus the viewers cannot root for them. The only somewhat good characters are Ratcatcher 2, Colonel Flag and Bloodsport, yet King Shark, Polka-Dot Man and Peacemaker are just downright creepy criminals, and one cannot extract sympathy from them—even ignoring ethical issues aside, there are unnecessary, sensless deaths and vile cruelty (in one, King Shark simply grabs a man and eats him in one bite). Even the similarly R-rated “Deadpool” had more measure and balance when juggling with hard-core violent elements.
It is clever that “invisible” titles are shown to mark chapters in the plot, and several of them are stylish: for instance, when Bloodsport, Flag and the Polka-Dot Man escape from a van, giant flames behind them form letters saying: “Operation Jotunheim”. But then one of them rejects it and wants to save Harley Quinn first, so the last word of flames is extinguished, and a new one forms, saying: “Operation Harley”. Similarly, when the giant, 40 ft tall alien creature finally emerges, the titles pop up saying: “Suicide Squad vs. Starro the Conqueror”. The story is very bitter and unflinching in its portrayal of real world politics: from weapons of mass destruction getting out of control; through anti-American dictators who are even worse than previous pro-American governments; the necessity to perpetrate a crime to prevent an even bigger crime; up to the nature of black operatives who are illegal precisely because a government is ashamed of revealing its dubious programs. Margot Robbie definitely profited the most out of this, since she got the best of all versions of Harley Quinn she ever played in a movie. Despite some brilliant moments and highly stylistic sequences (during the prison escape, Harley imagines colorful flowers instead of blood coming out of slain soldiers), "The Suicide Squad" never really feels as if it connects as a whole due to its ill-conceived or mismanaged gory ideas. The movie needed less of Tarantino and more of James Gunn.
Grade:++
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