Review: ‘The Suicide Squad’ – The Dream Team

For the uninitiated, comic books can be incomprehensible. They’re chock-full of strange elements. Yet beneath the trippy visuals and concepts lie undeniable humanity in its characters and their stories. The Suicide Squad is a film that embraces that truth, leaning into the weird and delivering a movie that has more heart than most blockbuster movies. That, and a giant bipedal shark with the voice of Rocky Balboa.

The Suicide Squad depicts the latest mission of Task Force X. A team composed of the most disposable supervillains in DC comics. Villains such as Idris Elba’s Bloodsport, John Cena’s Peacemaker, and most important, Margot Robbie’s Harley Quinn. The mission is simple. In the dead of night, sneak into the island nation Corto Maltese, infiltrate their secret facility, and destroy the mysterious ‘Project Starfish’ before it can be used as a weapon against the United States.

ENTERTAINING

Along the way, they’ll encounter numerous obstacles, most of which are self-imposed. The Suicide Squad isn’t the most accomplished team, but it’s by far the most entertaining. Their antics and mishaps are also profoundly bloody. The violence in The Suicide Squad is visceral and gratuitous, lingering on grotesque imagery, but not quite long enough to process what you just witnessed. Viewer discretion is highly advised for the faint of heart.

Despite its gore, the movie is also remarkably beautiful. It manages to create empathy for the worst of the worst, giving you a peek into their deranged perspectives with visuals that make you question the sanity of the film-makers themselves. The Suicide Squad represents the very best that DC films can be, taking the kind of risks that you wouldn’t see in a Marvel property.

The dialogue in the movie ranges from juvenile to poignant in the blink of an eye. A lot of the laughs in the movie come with a feeling of loss. It’s either you laugh or cry with this gang of damaged mercenaries and super folk. That doesn’t mean it isn’t full of laughs. The movie has a strong handle on physical comedy and manages to make its characters funny without robbing them of their depth.

The Suicide Squad would be one of the greatest of all time, but in all its mastery of tone and its visual fidelity, it never got me to cry. It’s a movie that’s as touching as it is hilarious, with performances that show an incredible level of commitment to roles that, on paper, should not work at all.

Ratings:

1. GOAT (Greatest of all time)

2. Big-screen Watch

3. Half Price

4. Catch It On Cable

5. Read A Book

Damian Levy is a film critic and podcaster for Damian Michael Movies.