What do you do when you have a prison full of overpowered supervillains? If you're Amanda Waller (Viola Davis), you slap an explosive to the back of their skull and send them out to do your bidding as Task Force X, aka the Suicide Squad, and take 'the greater good' to its most Orwellian level. Like sending a group of them to Corto Maltese, a small South American island and current home of the Thinker (Peter Capaldi), to investigate something known only as Project Starfish. Two teams, one led by Rick Flagg (Joel Kinnerman) and the other reluctantly by Bloodsport (Idris Elba), infiltrate the island only to discover that Project Starfish is actually Starro the Conqueror, an alien who feeds on people's consciousness. The disparate members must cooperate if they are to have a chance at survival.
This was a highly anticipated movie since its announcement. The 2016 version had its moments but it severely underwhelmed the majority of audiences mostly because it didn't know what it was. James Gunn's version suffers from no indecision whatsoever. He knows a thing or two about taking relatively unknown characters and crafting just enough backstory to garner interest in a limited amount of time.
But this is no Guardians of the Galaxy rip-off. For starters, everybody gets to say Fuck, which is great. Even King Shark (Sylvester Stallone). Secondly, almost every character dies. Also great! Because you don't know who will survive* it gives a real sense of anxiety to caring about them. Thirdly, these characters are way more ridiculous. Captain Boomerang (Jai Courtney)? So dumb. Weasel (Sean Gunn)? Ludicrous. Polka-Dot Man (David Dastmalchian)? Are you kidding? It is legitimately hard to pick a favorite.
It is fast, it is fun, and a lot of stuff blows up. What more could you ask from a summer film? It's currently available in theaters or streaming on HBO Max until Sep 6.
*you mostly know, based on star power/follow on projects
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