KRR: So Much for the Summer of Marvel. 'The Suicide Squad' Crashed That Party.

Ray. That's what a starfish's little arm is called. I Googled that. I typed into Google, "what are starfishs arms called" and it sent me to an article where it explained that they're called rays. Before you ask, I have the answers to your three questions. First, yes, I did type it with the typos. Who puts correct punctuation in their Google searches? Second, no, I did not read why they are called rays. Third, don't worry - I'm about to explain why I searched that.

The reason I've spent the better part of the last five minute scrolling through articles about the appendages of starfish (which are apparently are supposed to actually be called seastars?? No thanks.) is because we have found ourselves living in a society where the biggest blockbuster of the summer, The Suicide Squad, has a main villain that's a giant - you guessed it - starfish. 

Starro, the aptly named giant, is one of at least a dozen new characters introduced in DC's new Suicide Squad film. The Suicide Squad, not to be confused with 2016's Suicide Squad (though with titles like that, I don't know how you wouldn't confuse them) is less a sequel to its predecessor, and more a twin separated at birth. Whereas 2016's Squad was clumsy, conceited, and critically derided, the new Suicide Squad film, featuring only a few of the original's characters and referencing it not at all, is - to put it simply - fucking awesome. It also did the seemingly impossible: Stole Marvel's thunder.

 

-SPOILERS AHEAD-

This was supposed to be the year of Marvel. Coming off the coattails of WandaVision, Marvel's summer schedule slated The Falcon and the Winter Soldier, Black Widow, Loki, What If...?, and Shang-Chi and the Legend of the Ten Rings. While a great number of those captured the cultural zeitgeist of superhero lovers, none of them were able to put a stranglehold on the comic book universe. Loki, unarguably the most successful of that bunch, came closest to cultural domination, but - I believe - was hindered for being a television show that most people wouldn't understand without at least some literacy of the dozens of films that preceded it. That's where The Suicide Squad was able to weasel its way in and dominate. Unlike its Marvel competitors, there is no homework that needs to be done for this DC film. Despite the constant culture war being waged over the destruction of cinema by superhero movies, The Suicide Squad succeeds because it follows the original formula for movies: Sit down, start the movie, enjoy. No homework. No convoluted cinematic universes. Just pure, unadulterated enjoyment.

O.O

So, you may be wondering, what is the Suicide Squad? The short answer: It's a group of villains/anti-heroes that try to save the world. The long answer: It's every good DC villain put together, with little explanation, and given a mission, also with little explanation, that has to completed or they'll be killed by the government. Over the course of just two movies, that squad has included: Harley Quinn, The Joker, Killer Croc, Deadshot, Rick Flag, Captain Boomerang, El Diablo, Slipknot, Katana, Enchantress, Weasel, Savant, Blackguard, Bloodsport, Peacemaker, King Shark, Ratcatcher 2, T.D.K., Mongal, Javelin, and Polka-Dot Man.

That's right. A Polka-Dot Man. He throws polka-dots at people.

David Dastmalchian, you're a genius.

While that list may seem overwhelming, the very concept of the Suicide Squad means that you'll never have to care or even know too many characters at once. (There's a reason it's called the Suicide Squad.) But, what to make of a movie where the majority of the characters are meant to be killed off; how do you make audiences care? It's not always simple - see Suicide Squad's largescale failure - but James Gunn, the filmmaker behind Guardians of the Galaxy and now The Suicide Squad, found a way: Make the characters care about each other.

The secret sauce of The Suicide Squad isn't the wild action sequences (which are brilliant), or the jokes (which are side-splitting), or even the bold story choices (which are truly inspired). What makes the film work is the chemistry between the characters. In only a few hours, Gunn and his cast make audiences believe that these characters, these terrible villains, actually care about each other, that they actually operate as a family, rather than some work friends. It previously took Gunn two Guardians movies to pull that off with those heroes. Here it took approximately two hours. 

One day me and my friends are gonna take a cool picture like this to prove that we're a family.

Much of that chemistry-building is the direct result of the performances from the main cast. Idris Elba (Bloodsport) has a perfect synergy with every other member of the cast. He forms a perfect trio of leaders with Margot Robbie (Harley Quinn) and Joel Kinnaman (Rick Flag), he knows how to balance friendship and antagonism with John Cena (Peacemaker), he plays the father figure to Daniela Melchior (Ratcatcher 2), and he nails the begrudging babysitter shtick with David Dastmalchian (Polka-Dot Man) and Sylvester Stallone (the CGI King Shark). If there's ever been an MVP performance in a superhero movie, Idris Elba is it. But his performance isn't singular. The cast gives it their all down the line. Melchior is a breakout star as Ratcatcher 2, a troubled young woman who lost her father and only finds solace in her relationship with Sebastian the Rat. Dastmalchian continues his ascent as one of his generation's best character actors by crushing the strangest role of the film, a man with mommy issues who shoots intergalactic polka-dots. And while it's far from his first rodeo, this may be - dare I say - the best John Cena has ever been in a film. 

Idris Elba is still the hottest man alive. Sorry King Shark.

This exceptional cast is able to land every punch and punchline, which is literally all it takes to make or break a superhero movie. That and a good villain. (Or like, hero, in this case? Since they're all villains, does that make the villain of the movie a hero? Somebody get back to me on that.) That brings us back to Starro, the giant, alien starfish who shoots miniature versions of itself from its rays (see, I used the proper terminology) that attach to peoples' faces and turn them into zombies. Starro may be the movie's big bad, but he gets the same treatment as the rest of the characters: A proper introduction, a sympathetic character arc, and a tear-jerking resolution. To make audiences care about a group of misfit mass murderers is one thing; to make them care about the humanity-destroying alien that group is fighting is another. 

That's the beauty of The Suicide Squad, though. It never loses its heart no matter how many explosions or bad jokes the audience is subjected to. I left the film actually caring about the characters. I want a whole Ratcatcher 2 backstory film! I want Bloodsport and King Shark to be in every movie ever made from here on out! I'm ordering a Polka-Dot Man poster as we speak! Starro, my baby, I learned biological terminology for you! 

Sweet baby rays.

I, like so many other folks, love the Marvel Cinematic Universe. I adore the work they've put in over the last thirteen years, and I'm excited to see where they're going to take it in the years to come. But, for right now, there's no bigger spectacle, no greater accomplishment, no movie more fun than The Suicide Squad. 

Movie? Nom nom.

The Suicide Squad KRR: 8.1/10