The Suicide Squad is due for release this Friday
in the US and after seeing the movie a week early in the UK, I have many thoughts on James
Gunn's latest superhero film.
Watching this movie in IMAX was a blast from start to finish but there's many other reasons
why this latest DCEU project is one of the best we've seen in years.
And it doesn't just wet my appetite for more films like this but it also makes me even
more intrigued over David Ayer's cut of Suicide Squad and how creative control can really
elevate a production.
In this video essay, I'm going to be touching on this, but primarily focusing on why I think
The Suicide Squad is a great DCEU and comic book movie.
But if you want to keep up to date on any of my future content on DC's latest films,
then don't forget to support this video by giving it a like rating, subscribing to the
channel and turning on your notifications.
Also, feel free to check me out on Twitter, Facebook, Reddit and Instagram at cortex videos,
which is all linked in the description below.
But without further ado, let's dive into my thoughts on why The Suicide Squad is great.
So just this year so far, DC have, in my opinion, released the two best comic book movies to
come out.
Both are uniquely different from each other but excel at bringing two
directors visions to the table.
The Snyder Cut in my eyes was a film that gave us the more accurate version of that
film, allowing room for the story to breathe and characters to be fully developed.
On top of this, it just showed us what can happen when a director like Zack Snyder is
given a lot more control over what he's creating.
Now with The Suicide Squad, we've got a film that equally has its director's fingerprints
all over it, even if it's a completely different type of film.
And this is the kind of respect that fans and filmmakers have been
wanting Warner Bros to undertake when it comes to their comic book movies.
We know that the execs are changing at the studio with the Discovery merger and maybe
this is the beginning of a fresh new period for them.
And The Suicide Squad further builds on this point by delivering a film that doesn't hold
back with its strange and uniquely crafted characters and tone.
If anything, this film is a lesson to what the studio did wrong with Snyder originally
and also what they apparently did with David Ayer during the original Suicide Squad film.
It makes me even more curious to see the Ayer Cut, knowing that the creative control that
he had on the film was very limited.
And James Gunn himself supports what Ayer has been saying recently, while also paying
tribute to him with his latest version of the film.
But now we come to what makes James Gunn's The Suicide Squad so good.
On the surface, it seems like this film is more of the same.
Once again, a group of incarcerated super-criminals are sent on a lethally dangerous black ops
mission.
But the thoroughly stylised and r-rated movie lives up to its name in gruesome fashion.
While we've come to expect costumed heroes and villains to have plot armour so that they
can show up again for the next franchise instalment, the characters of The Suicide Squad enjoy
no such luxury.
It's made abundantly clear that no one in its colourful cast is safe and that immediately
gives the comic book film a rare sense of danger, like the good days of
Game of Thrones where any scene might have been your favourite character’s last.
And when these characters are killed off, it’s not pretty, as director James Gunn
taps into his old gory days with Characters not just going down, but getting sliced, incinerated
and exploding with blood and guts galore.
Sometimes the over-the-top deaths are done for shock value, sometimes for humour, and
sometimes to pull our heartstrings.
But if they do inspire some kind of significant reaction, then the film is obviously working
really well.
And let's not forget that James Gunn did write Zack Snyder's gory horror film, Dawn of The
Dead a few decades back.
So it's only a full-circle moment of the two filmmakers excelling in the comic book genre
this year.
And with The Suicide Squad being the prime example discussed in this video, the film
allows James Gunn to lean into everything that he does best.
With full creative control, he masterfully weaves action, drama, humour, violence and
moments of darkness, leading to something more ingenious at work here that we haven't
really seen as effective in his other films.
Gunn's hyperactive camera movement punches at an unrelenting pace with the movie opening
on a savage, and also hilarious, beach assault that plays like Saving Private Ryan but more
insane.
It escalates through inventive action set-pieces filled with various jaw-droppingly gory and
amusing moments to a climax that goes far and beyond the norm.
The Suicide Squad is far from a stream of self-aware gags in the style of Joss Whedon,
another director who crossed between DC and Marvel and whose jokey tone in films like
Avengers: Age of Ultron and Justice League threatened to undercut the material.
In contrast, James Gunn's jet-black sense of humour oozes from a serious, even angry
foundation.
The movie takes shots at very big and serious themes, raging against Western imperialism,
American foreign policy and government deception as it makes reference to interference in foreign
countries.
In this nihilistic world, Gunn finds sympathy for the villains, inviting viewers to feel
compassion and empathy for even the biggest rampaging monsters and goofiest comic book
characters.
The silliest and scariest are still just people with problems, as seen with Ratcatcher, being
invested with genuine hope and heartbreak and with Polka Dot Man, whose very silly powers
are reimagined as genuine body horror.
Gunn is also wonderfully interested in the little people in the background.
Even the most anonymous extras get little details sketched in to make them feel like
a person, even if that detail is swiftly followed by a gory and horrifying death.
The squad's backroom staff also bring the entertainment and a level of importance based
on the film's post-credit scene.
Alongside this, they even enjoy a spot of revenge for their bosses' rather harsh treatment
of the support staff in the 2016 film.
And as a final note, the production is pretty fantastic.
For many of the scenes in In the first two acts of the film, Gunn and
his team have used practical effects that make the whole situation on the island feel
that much visceral and visually spectacular.
There are of course visual effects for a certain giant starfish, but a lot of the primary action
scenes involve real explosions and effects.
There's no over the top green screen effects or even computer imagery that looks
like a video game.
You can tell that all around, the people working on this film had so much fun but also cared
about what they were making.
And this just makes you think even more about the filmmakers I mentioned previously.
Imagine how they felt when a studio interfered with their vision and tried
to use effects and filmmaking techniques that just look horrible or completely out of place
for the tone of the characters.
And imagine what we could have got with those films initially if they had the freedom they
needed.
Gunn mixes and matches who interacts with who, freely playing with timelines and story
structure while he’s at it, with his razor-sharp script yielding a string of hilarious exchanges,
whether it be through dialogue or the circumstances Task Force X find themselves in.
Everyone gets at least one hero moment and Gunn puts plenty of time into building the
team’s bond.
If he lets it loosen in the middle, by the time it comes to the final showdown, as Starro
moves destructively over the island, he’s made his senseless band make sense as a team.
He doesn’t make them good guys and he keeps a feeling that they’re doing this less for
the sake of the world than because they’re really enjoying it.
On paper, The Suicide Squad could be reductively boiled down to...
Guardians of the Galaxy with an R-rating, and it would have been easy for Gunn to craft
exactly that movie with The Suicide Squad.
Instead, he’s delivered a brutally violent, joyously irreverent and foul-mouthed piece
of work, but one that still manages to create both dramatic and emotional stakes.
He does so while unleashing both his and his team’s talents to the fullest, and the end
result is a spectacularly bonkers movie that you won't believe a studio like Warner Bros
agreed to green light, given their reputation for interference.
Now while I mention a lot of the brilliant aspects of the film, The Suicide Squad isn't
a perfect movie and regardless of critics saying that it's "the best comic book film
since the dark knight", which we've heard countless times over the last 10 years with
comic book films, what I will say is that the Suicide Squad screams a change in the
tide for DC.
You know that I love Man of Steel, that I really enjoy the ultimate cut of Batman V
Superman and again love the Snyder Cut of Justice League.
But with previous execs at Warner Bros giving filmmakers like Snyder less and less control
over the years, it's a breath of fresh air for the studio to fully give James Gunn the
creative control that he needed to make this film.
Having a director's vision at the forefront of a film like this makes everything more
impactful.
The vision is unique and the goriness and relatability is emphasised when the filmmaking
matches that approach.
The dark and godly tone of Justice League was oddly placed in the lap of Joss Whedon
and we saw what happened there.
The original Suicide Squad was destroyed by the studio and turned into one big music video,
sacrificing editing from Christopher Nolan's editor
Lee Smith and many scenes which were shot with drama and character emphasis.
Going from that type of management to having a good director have full creative control
this time around, is what helps to make The Suicide Squad a great movie.
It's a lesson that hopefully is now learned, and maybe we will start to see other filmmakers
have more control and less interference from the studio.
Now, don't get me wrong, films of course can turn out bad with creative control.
Just look at Wonder Woman 1984 for example and Patty
Jenkins helming the script.
But I think in regards to much of the projects I've mentioned in this video, these are examples
that have or would most likely have been much better.
The Snyder Cut was a hailing example of that and when it comes to Wonder Woman 1984, at
least they trusted the filmmaker to carry out their vision, even if that vision wasn't
what many of us wanted from a Wonder Woman sequel.
If you trust their pitch then allow them to carry that out.
And this year we've seen nothing but successful examples of that.
For me, The Suicide Squad is just behind some of the other DCEU films, such as Man of Steel,
the BVS Ultimate Edition, the Snyder Cut of Justice League and the first Wonder
Woman.
But it's not too far behind some of those and it makes me wonder what the DCEU would
look like if Warner Bros had given this kind of freedom to some of their other
filmmakers.
I think we may be turning that corner and if you look at their upcoming projects it
suggests that they are trying all different types of approaches.
We've got the start of a new Batman trilogy from Matt Reeves
which is its own completely separate thing.
We've got exciting DCEU projects such as The Flash, Aquaman 2, Shazam 2 and Black
Adam.
Most of these films are of course connected, but one thing I've noticed is that each film
seems to be standing on its own two feet and focusing less on building out a continued
story, but rather individual great films.
They are doing the opposite to Marvel and this in my opinion is a good thing.
They need to stand out and keep the genre fresh by bringing uniquely crafted films to
the big screen.
And even Snyder's DC films had that sensibility to them while also being connected at the
same time.
But I do hope that the success of the Snyder cut on streaming has opened another avenue
for the DC films, allowing that particular direction to come to life too.
Maybe we'll eventually see the Ayer Cut and a Justice League 2 after Discovery's takeover
of Warner Bros.
The point being is that with the introduction of their multiverse, Warner Bros and DC can
capitalise on different types of films, ones in multiple universes and standalone endeavours
too.
They can satisfy all audiences and The Suicide Squad may be another example of that direction
starting to take place.
I can only hope that this is the case and it does get me excited for what's to come,
but as long as they keep riding the wave of quality of the last few films, giving their
creators the chances to bring ideas to life their way.
I would rather take 2 great director-driven comic book movies a year, that are rewatchable
like what DC has produced in 2021, over 5 or 6 which are very average and uninventive.
But we can only wait and see if Warner Bros have finally learnt their lesson surrounding
creative control.
But that was my video essay on why James Gunn's The Suicide Squad is a great DCEU movie and
why I think it's the start of a fresh new direction for the universe and DC Films.
Like I said, I really hope that down the line this does inspire Warner Bros to give more
creative freedom to their filmmakers to make the movie they want to make, especially with
how well both The Snyder Cut and The Suicide Squad have been received this year.
Warner Bros are so unpredictable at this point, but hopefully, these examples will show them
the value in continuing all of these different universes for DC.
And doing so by allowing the filmmakers to make their films.
But what do you think of James Gunn's The Suicide Squad, and how would you like to see
Warner Bros approach their movies down the line.
Let me know down below in the comments section.
For more breakdown videos on all upcoming films in the DCEU, then subscribe to the channel
and turn on your notifications.
Also if you enjoyed this video remember to leave a like rating and follow me on social
media via the links in the description.
But anyway, I hope you guys enjoyed it, I've been Cortex and as always make some noise.