FUCK YEAH, KING SHARK! Nom nom, indeed.
First, yes, this movie is just plain fun from beginning to end, unlike its predecessor. No surprise from James Gunn. And it brings the feels, big time. No surprise from Gunn, either. But this may be the apotheosis of the misfit superhero genre, to boot. Think Mystery Men with stakes.
The best part is seeing obscure/outre elements of the DC Universe, mythology I grew up with, come to life in an engaging and affectionate way. Never in my life have I had such affection for The Polka-Dot Man, Ratcatcher II or Nanaue (King Shark), but my familiarity deepened the feels considerably. And just seeing Starro the Conqueror in live-action was outrageously thrilling beyond what I would have thought possible.
But, almost more than that is the deft achievement of what the first Suicide Squad failed to do years ago – take full advantage of the IP assets without attempting to ape other movies in the process. The first film was an exercise in film by committee with all of its worst excesses. The Suicide Squad is brilliant, funny, unique, tight and emotionally involving, difficult enough with a comic book picture, next to impossible for a picture that sets out to demolish the paradigm and promises so in the trailers – an achievement the first one also promised and utterly failed to accomplish.
The use of pop music is, this time, more than a glorified K-Tel greatest hits ad, as it was in the first SS feature. Gunn’s use of carefully selected tracks here is also a partial progression beyond the dad rock of his Guardians films, and a return to the more eclectic choices of his first costumed weirdo saga, Super.
Lloyd Kaufman dutifully makes his appearance in a James Gunn film.
Bohemian Radio 