Sundaymail Editor
Film Review
Tinashe Kusema
THERE is an important lesson to be learnt about the movie business in the stark contrast between the two Suicide Squad movies and how they performed on box office.
While both have been at one time or another heralded as “DC’s best movie yet”, the 2016 “Suicide Squad” movie was utter trash, but surprisingly did good business on the box office.
It relied on the star power of many of its leads, with special mention going to the likes of Will Smith (Deadshot), Jared Leto (Joker), Margot Robbie (Harley Quinn), Viola Davis (Amanda Waller) and Cara Delevigne (Enchantress).
The marketing had everyone fooled.
It should not come as a surprise given the presence of an A-lister and social media maestro like Smith.
Leto also did his best Heath Ledger impression in how he approached the Joker role.
The film raked in US$746 million from a modest budget of US$175 million, but it was crucified, and rightly so, by critics.
And, yes, I was one of them.
The recent attempt at reincarnating one of DC’s underrated groups is the complete opposite. Now going by the moniker “The Suicide Squad”, it hasn’t got off to the best of starts financially, opening up with a measly US$71 million. However, it is a far better film and most of the credit should go to James Gunn.
He is clearly head and shoulders above his predecessor David Ayer, who wrote and directed the first one.
“The Suicide Squad”, which is part reboot and part sequel, follows a similar plot-line to the first, as Davis reprises her role as A.R.G.U.S director Amanda Waller and enlists a bunch of criminals to save the world.
Once again, she promises to shave 10 years off their sentences and implants small bombs in their necks to ensure compliance.
The criminals in question this time are Robert DuBois, AKA Deadshot, (Idris Elba); Christopher Smith, aka Peacemaker, (John Cena); Nanaue, aka King Shark, (voiced by Sylvester Stallone); Abner Krill, aka Polka-Dot-Man, (David Dastmalchian); and Cazo, aka Ratcacther, (Daniela Melchior).
Robbie and Joel Kinnaman reprise their roles as Harley Quinn and Rick Flag.
Their mission is to infiltrate the South American island nation of Corto Maltese, now under an anti-American regime, and destroy their secret experimental science base.
Now, there are a few things that separate this movie from its flop of a predecessor.
Firstly, it has a lot more substance.
While the first movie relied heavily on its big stars and strong marketing, ‘The Suicide Squad’ was a lot picky about its actors and characters.
Bringing back Robbie and Davis was a no-brainer as the two gifted actresses were born to play the roles of Harley Quinn and Amanda Waller.
Their performances almost saved the first movie only to be undone by the lousy CGI and terrible plot.
Here, however, they play second fiddle to the duo of wrestler-turned-actor Cena and Idris Elba.
Cena, in particular, is a scene-stealer as the narcissistic and delusional Peacemaker, a ruthless jingoistic killer who believes in achieving peace at any and all cost.
This usually involves killing people, and he is very good at it.
Cena brings his A-game here and his constant bickering with Elba’s Deadshot character is pure comedic gold.
While we are constantly reminded that these people are criminals, and that they embark on this mission mostly for self-preservation, Gunn does a great job in fleshing out their characters.
In particular, “Ratcatcher 2” and Polka-Dot-Man’s backstories tug on the heartstrings a bit, adding a little layer to their characters.
It almost makes one want to root for them.
Robbie does what Robbie does every time she puts on the Harley Quinn mantle.
There is plenty of action, comedy and drama.
The film also has better CGI, and Gunn does a great job writing and directing.
I could go on and on, but I fear I may be teetering on the realm of spoiler alerts here.
And, by the way, the lesson I alluded to earlier is a simple one: Critics usually know what they are talking about!
Not all of them all the time, but most of them most of the time.
Online Reporter