Rated: MA15+
Directed and Written by: James Gunn
Produced by: Charles Roven, Peter Safran
Starring: Margot Robbie, Idris Elba, Joel Kinnaman, John Cena, Viola Davis, Jai Courtney, Michael Rooker, Flula Borg, David Dastmalchian and Taika Waititi.
‘Is that rat waving at me?’
The opening scene sees the death of a pretty yellow bird.
Birds feature a lot in, The Suicide Squad mark II.
To the extent I was wondering by the end – what’s with the birds?! Is it because they represent freedom? Could be something in that, the squad been given a chance at freedom, etc.
Like the first film, potential members of Task Force X are found languishing in Belle Reve: the prison with the highest mortality rate in America.
Languishing until Amanda Waller (Viola Davis) offers them a deal they can’t refuse: 10 years off their sentence in hell. Or for those not tempted by the reduced sentence, the promise not to incarcerate a ten-year-old daughter (Storm Reid) that would more than likely mean death.
Sent on another impossible bloody mission, this time to the jungle of Corto Maltese, there’s the same antics from characters such as Captain Boomerang (Michael Rooker) with a whole new cast of villains with unique skills like: Peacemaker (John Cena) who loves to walk around in his y-fronts, Bloodsport (Idris Elba) who really does not get along with Peacemaker, King Shark (Sylvester Stallone) – apparently a god who now has a taste for human and amongst other new characters, Polka-Dot (David Dastmalchian): the man has issues. With leader Colonel Rick Flag (Joel Kinnaman) back to direct the chaos.
The film has the same foundation as the first instalment, a squad of anti-heroes sent on a covert mission by the government – but way more extreme.
There’s still that manic fun tone, with the likes of Harley Quinn (Margot Robbie) shooting her way to freedom with a demented smile, but I don’t remember the first instalment being so brutal.
Not that nasty is necessarily a bad thing.
I’m a big fan of gallows humour, and there were a lot of funny moments that tickled, sometimes unexpectedly like seeing the back view of Milton (Julio Cesar Ruiz), the bus driver, as he runs after the squad to ‘help out’ in his shorts and Crocs.
And making light of a trained rat, friend of Ratcatcher 2 (Daniela Melchior), 2 because the first Ratcatcher was her father (Taika Waititi, yep Taika’s in it!):
‘Is that rat waving at me?
‘It appears it is’
…’Why?’
But sometimes the humour was just that bit too off-kilter – see above about the birds.
It was about 50/50 for me. But when the humour hit, it tickled A LOT.
The narrative goes back and forth in time, highlighted by the inclusion of text in scene – leaves falling to write, ‘Now’.
There’s more clever with relief from the blood and guts when blood’s replaced with an explosion of flowers.
And that blending of scene continues with music played in the bus becoming the soundtrack, the, Pixies track, ‘Hey’ backing the squad as they walk into their next suicide mission. Gold.
The attention to detail is impressive as director James Gunn pushes the boundaries so the humour’s darker, the violence more bloody, with an added extra tilt towards the demented.
Tending towards horror and comedy rather than action, there’s a lot of entertainment here but brace yourself, it gets twisted.