The Suicide Squad

We can never thank The Walt Disney Company enough for having the bad idea of firing the excellent director and writer James Gunn, without which he would never have made what is to this day one of the best transpositions of a comic book universe to the cinema. Even if The Walt Disney Company changed its mind afterwards and allowed him to take control of the cult film saga Guardians of the Galaxy (the third part is coming in 2023), James Gunn was able to quickly bounce back while remaining faithful to his visual universe. 

Passionate about comics (just look at his first film Super (2010)) and genre films (Horribilis (Slither) (2006)), James Gunn is the perfect example of a geek passionate about collectible toys and movies. After having made his debut in Lloyd Kaufman's company Troma Entertainment, he succeeded not only in establishing himself as a gifted director but also in demonstrating that he had an innate sense for transposing a comic book universe to the cinema, whether it be Mavel Comics or DC Comics. While the first film Suicide Squad (2016) by David Ayer had disappointed except for being able to give life to the character of Harley Quinn (Margot Robbie is impressive in this role that made her known worldwide), this new film stands out as an undeniable artistic success. Even if it is not really a sequel to the first part, some actors like Margot Robbie, Viola Davis, Jai Courtney and Joel Kinnaman are back in their roles.

The Suicide Squad shows again how much James Gunn likes to find new angles to bring comic book characters to life. The Suicide Squad is both a war movie (impossible not to think of The Dirty Dozen (1957)), a superhero movie but also a comedy. You only have to see the first few minutes of the film to realize the real artistic freedom he had for this film. While the adaptations of DC and Marvel Comics are watered down to please a large audience and avoid any violent scenes, The Suicide Squad allows itself all the excesses, whether it is jubilant gore scenes but also constantly seeks originality like this scene in which bullets are replaced by flowers. Far from being ridiculous, this scene sends us back to the visual universe of the comics.

The scenario, which seems simple and simplistic at first sight, consists in gathering several prisoners, including Bloodsport, Peacemaker, Captain Boomerang, Ratcatcher 2, Savant, King Shark, Blackguard, Javelin and Harley Quinn, arming them and sending them on a suicide mission on the isolated island of Corto Maltese. They will have to face a powerful alien creature and risk their own lives. So from the first scene in which we discover the character Savant (Michael Rooker) from his prison to his participation in a suicide mission, The Suicide Squad clearly shows us that anything can happen here and that these characters can all be killed or even find themselves in a bad situation including the main characters like Harley Quinn. The director and screenwriter James Gunn has well understood that most of the current superhero movies seem to rest on the same mold and tend to a certain will to show a maximum of special effects and it is in opposition to this pre-established mold that his new movie plays the card of originality and especially to present us with many secondary characters. 

James Gunn does not try to reproduce the atmosphere of the Guardians of the Galaxy and to propose a team acting in perfect harmony. Here, the members of The Suicide Squad all have their own character and their own code and notions of things. This results in verbal confrontations between Peacemaker and Bloodsport. In the same way, The Suicide Squad shows that even the worst individuals considered in the comics as super villains can have a conscience and act for the good of all and allows itself to ask some questions about the foreign policy of the United States. The Suicide Squad shows that it is possible to transcend the superhero movie into a truly intense cinematic experience. In this way, The Suicide Squad is one of the best comic book adaptations in cinema and at the same time, it dusts off the genre to deliver a film to see again and again with the same pleasure.

Finally, we can't advise you enough to stay until the end of the credits to discover a very successful post-credits scene involving one of the characters of this dangerous and endearing gang. 

The Suicide Squad
Written and directed by James Gunn
Produced by Charles Roven, Peter Safran
Based on Suicide Squad by John Ostrander
Starring Margot Robbie, Idris Elba, John Cena, Joel Kinnaman, Jai Courtney, Peter Capaldi, David Dastmalchian, Daniela Melchior, Michael Rooker, Alice Braga, Pete Davidson, Nathan Fillion, Sean Gunn, Flula Borg, Mayling Ng, Sylvester Stallone, Viola Davis
Music by John Murphy
Cinematography : Henry Braham
Edited by Fred Raskin, Christian Wagner
Production companies : DC Films, Atlas Entertainment, The Safran Company
Distributed by: Warner Bros. Pictures
Release date : August 6, 2021 (United States), July 28, 2021 (France)
Running time : 132 minutes

Seen on July 28, 2021 at Gaumont Disney Village, Room 11 Imax seat E19

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