The Suicide Squad

When it rains, it pours.

(2021) Superhero (Warner Brothers) Idris Elba, Margot Robbie, John Cena, Viola Davis, Sylvester Stallone (voice), Viola Davis, Joel Kinnaman, David Dastmalchian, Daniela Melchior, Peter Capaldi, Jai Courtney, Michael Rooker, Alice Braga, Pete Davidson, Joaquin Costa, Juan Diego Botto, Storm Reid, Nathan Fillion, Steve Agee, Sean Gunn, Mayling Ng. Directed by James Gunn

If ever there was a perfect choice to helm the sequel/reboot of the 2016 DC Extended Universe film Suicide Squad it’s James Gunn. Through his work in the Guardians of the Galaxy films he has shown that he can take minor characters from a comic book universe and elevate them to star status.

Amanda Waller (Davis) pulls together another Task Force X team of lesser light villains residing in the notorious Bella Reve Prison, led by war hero Col. Rick Flagg (Kinnaman). They are sent to the Caribbean island of Corto Matese to find a Nazi-era high rise science installation where a top-secret experiment is being conducted by the U.S. Government; a new regime in the island nation is not friendly to the United States and is likely to turn our own weapon against us. Mayhem ensues, and plenty of it.

More about the plot I won’t reveal because frankly the less you know about it, the more you’re likely to enjoy it. Gunn, who evidently has as much reverence fo DC characters as he does for Marvel deliberately used really low-level villains from the DC pantheon, although Harley Quinn (Robbie) and Captain Boomerang (Courtney) along with Flagg return from the 2016 film. New characters include Bloodsport (Elba), the gruff marksman who is the ostensible team leder; Peacemaker (Cena), a genuinely whacko who wants peace in our time – and will kill as many people as he has to in order to get it. Then there’s Ratcatcher 2 (Melchior) who is the daughter of the original Ratcatcher, and who has the power to control rats. (“What a revoltin’ power that is” moans the phobic Bloodsport) and Polka Dot Man (Dastmalchian) whose dots are outgrowths of an alien spore that his own mother deliberately infected with him in hopes of turning him into a superhero and the CGI King Shark (voiced by Stallone), a human-shark hybrid who isn’t the brightest bulb in the chandelier.

The carnage here is visceral and occurs regularly. Heads will roll, explode and be crushed and/or perforated, while bodies will endure all manners of dreadful destruction. The body count here is impressive, and no character is safe from the coroner’s slab. The violence can be numbing after awhile and parents should be extremely cautious in deciding whether they want their younger children to see this. Mature teens should do okay. The other issue I had here was that there are so many characters in the movie (mostly serving as cannon fodder) that we get time to learn little about any of them. It gets overwhelming after a bit.

The humor here made me think that in a way that Gunn was channeling Quentin Tarantino; the movie has the same kind of vibe as his more violent pictures although less of the pop culture savvy. There is a mild reference to American meddling from a diplomatic standpoint here, but it isn’t pushed very hard. Otherwise, this is all about the mayhem.

Is this the DC film you’ve been waiting for? Maybe, but it’s certainly the DC film we deserve. It has the grim undertones of the rest of the collective works of the DCEU and while compared to the Marvel Cinematic Universe this still remains on a different tier, quality-wise this might be the best DC film since The Dark Knight. That’s reason right there to celebrate.

REASONS TO SEE: Elba and Cena are outstanding. The humor adds to the carnage. The special effects are terrific.
REASONS TO AVOID: Too many characters to get involved with many of them.
FAMILY VALUES: There is a ton of profanity, strong bloody violence and gore, brief graphic nudity and some sexual references.
TRIVIAL PURSUIT: Elba was originally signed to replace Will Smith as Deadshot, but it was decided to give Elba a different character (Bloodsport) so that Smith could potentially return as Deadshot in the future.
CRITICAL MASS: As of 8/16/2021: Rotten Tomatoes: 91% positive reviews; Metacritic: 72/100.
BEYOND THE THEATERS: HBO Max (until 9/6)
COMPARISON SHOPPING: Kill Bill
FINAL RATING: 8/10
NEXT: The East

The Belko Experiment

Things are getting a little heated back at the office.

(2016) Horror (BH Tilt/High Top/Orion) John Gallagher Jr., Adria Arjona, Tony Goldwyn, John C. McGinley, Melonie Diaz, Owain Yeoman, Sean Gunn, Brent Sexton, Josh Brener, David Dastmalchian, David Del Rio, Gregg Henry, Michael Rooker, Rusty Schwimmer, Gail Bean, James Earl, Abraham Benrubi, Valentine Miele, Steven Blackehart, Benjamin Byron Davis, Silvia de Dios. Directed by Greg McLean

 

There’s no doubt that the corporate environment in 2017 is as cutthroat as it’s ever been. Ambitious office drones plot their way to promotions that bring them out of the environment of living paycheck to paycheck and into management where they can make some real money; others plot to preserve their place in the pecking order. Either way, the office is no place for the faint of heart.

Belko Corporation is described as a non-profit that helps large companies recruit American workers to South American locations. They have a large tower located outside of Bogota, Colombia – well outside of Bogota. Mike Milch (Gallagher) is a fairly humdrum middle management type who is involved in a clandestine romance with co-worker Leandra Florez (Arjona) as that sort of thing is discouraged by Belko, who somewhat appropriately incorporate the figure of an eye into their corporate logo. It is not stretching things to say that most of the people who work in the building have no clue what they do for the company.

One unremarkable morning Mike drives into work to discover an increased security presence and that all the local Colombian workers are being turned away from work. He thinks nothing of it – until a disembodied voice comes on the PA system to announce that the 80 or so workers remaining in the building must select two among their number to murder – or else double that number would be selected at random. Everyone thinks it’s a practical joke in poor taste – until the heads of four people suddenly explode.

At first believing the carnage to be the work of a random sniper, there is panic as people try to get under cover. That’s when large blowtorch-proof metal doors and shutters encase the building in a steel cocoon. There is no leaving and as the voice informs them that they’ll need to find 20 workers to dispatch to the choir invisible or once again double that number would be random victims.

Quickly the social order begins to devolve. The company’s COO Barry Norris (Goldwyn) tries to preach calm and order until he becomes convinced that the only way to buy time is to do what the voice commands, especially when it becomes apparent that every move they make is being observed (remember the eye?) by the disembodied voice. Joining him are a number of management types who want to maintain control of the situation, including Wendell Dukes (McGinley), the kind of manager nobody ever wants to work under. Mike is trying to keep from having anyone die but his voice is not getting heard in the increasing panic. Before too long things fall completely apart and everyone starts looking out for their own ass if they are to survive the worst workday ever.

The movie was penned by current fan favorite James Gunn (Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 2) as a bit of a passion project but it has languished on the shelf while Gunn has been shepherding the two Marvel space operas to money-printing status. He left the property however in the capable hands of Aussie director McLean (Wolf Creek) who does a yeoman job bringing the script to life.

Most of the actors are better known by face than by name and while there is a black comedy element to the proceedings it never gets to the point of silliness which often happens with horror comedies. Of course, this is as allegorical as it gets to what corporate culture has become in terms of treating employees as disposable resources in which salary and benefits are necessary evils and when the need for those workers dissipates, so do the workers.

Rooker, who has become one of Gunn’s go-to guys, excels as a building engineer as does Goldwyn as a boss who is friendly and supportive on the outside but loses any semblance of concern for his employees when the rubber hits the road. Gallagher and Arjona are okay in the lead roles but aren’t particularly memorable. James’ brother Sean is memorable as a stoner and Schwimmer as the office mother hen is strong.

There are a lot of heads exploding here (having to do with a tracking chip that American workers receive in countries where kidnappings are common) and many gruesome deaths by axe to the face or stapler to the skull. I might have wished for a little more variety to the murders – I would imagine in an office environment there would be plenty of supplies that could do some real damage. A little more imagination in this department would have been welcome. It also should be said that those sensitive to gore and carnage will likely have a rough time with The Belko Experiment.

The movie loses momentum in the second half which is basically a survivalist epic and the denouement is a bit disappointing although there are some pop culture references of the blink and you’ll miss them variety that add some richness to the last moments of the movie. I was hoping for a little bit more from the film but to be honest it is solidly entertaining and horror fans looking for something a little bit different could do a lot worse than to look in this direction.

REASONS TO GO: The film is clever, particularly in the first half. Some fine actors turn in strong performances.
REASONS TO STAY: The gore might be a little bit too extreme for some. The film loses steam in the second half.
FAMILY VALUES: Oh my, there’s plenty of gore and violence, profanity, some drug use and brief sensuality.
TRIVIAL PURSUIT: James Gunn was originally set to direct this from his own screenplay but felt that the violence was not what he needed in his life as he was going through a painful divorce, plus he was also hard at work on Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 2.
CRITICAL MASS: As of 5/9/17: Rotten Tomatoes: 49% positive reviews. Metacritic: 44/100.
COMPARISON SHOPPING: Battle Royale
FINAL RATING: 6.5/10
NEXT: New Chefs on the Block