I recently just wrote an article on the Birds of Prey movie that will be coming out in February and I would be remiss if I didn’t give my thoughts on James Gunn’s upcoming Suicide Squad movie. With Gunn in the writer and directors chair, people have a strong belief that he can bring justice to this franchise. Some go as far as believing that Gunn will be the first savior for the DC Universe with finally making a good movie. I have my worries that Suicide Squad 2 (or whatever it will be called) is not going to be that movie.
There is no doubt that James Gunn did an excellent job with Marvel’s Guardians of the Galaxy, but that was Marvel. Gunn was working in an environment that already had some legs. Marvel is always thinking three steps forward. There was already a lot of groundwork done in the universe and Gunn just had to work within it. The other big thing was that he had Disney/Marvel’s purse to work with too. It is no secret that Disney and Marvel spare no expense in the making of their superhero movies as they know the return on them is going to exceed the production expense.
That being said, Suicide Squad 2 is not a Disney/Marvel movie, and most likely does not have the same amount of coin. Gunn will be working in a vastly different environment with DC and WB and those changes may not be so great. The two companies are known to get mixed up in all their projects and then essentially change them altogether. These changes often cause the end product to be the crap show that it is. Fans are still clamoring for the Zack Snyder cut of Justice League as some believe it will make the film better then what was actually released and bring justice (no pun intended) to the film.
I know I just said that DC and WB do not have “Disney” money to back them, but they may be putting in a few more dollars into this movie over others past. The film already has a star-studded cast that I am sure wasn’t cheap. Margot Robbie will be reprising her role of Harley Quinn and will be her 3rd film playing the character. Joel Kinnaman will return as Rick Flag, Viola Davis as Amanda Waller, and Jai Courtney as Captain Boomerang. As for some new characters, John Cena will be playing Peacemaker and David Dastmalchian is slated to play Polka-Dot Man. Some others that are set to star in the film are:
- Idris Elba
- Michael Rooker
- Nathan Fillian
- Sean Gunn
- Pete Davidson
- Alice Braga
- Taika Waititi
but their roles are currently unknown.
For those who don’t know, the Suicide Squad is a group of villains who are hand-selected by Amanda Waller. She offers up incentives (normally a lesser prison sentence) for their compliance to complete a dangerous secret mission. If the mission is a success Waller gets what she wanted, but If the mission is a failure, she can easily use the convicts as a scapegoat.
The issue with another team-up style movie is that the audience will need to be introduced to these new characters and will need to get some sort of background on them. It will be difficult to jam a bunch of backstories into a single movie and still have a solid plot unfold. DC should have learned from the Justice League film that they need to slow down and focus on single character arcs before bringing them together. It appears as if DC is putting a whole bunch of characters on screen, seeing what sticks, and then making spin-offs with those characters. This is the complete opposite of the Marvel model (and it appears that the Marvel model works).
While Gunn has the expertise and has done an excellent job with Guardians of the Galaxy for Marvel, it scares me the success won’t follow over to Suicide Squad 2. DC is packed full of problems and instead of slowing down and telling individual stories they rather rush entire productions to get more characters on the screen at one time. To be successful, Gunn will need to slap WB and DC’s hand from interfering and tell the story the way he wants to tell it. Gunn has the leverage right now to do it, but DC/WB are still the bosses.
While I have big concerns about the film, I will still be going to the theater opening weekend to check this movie out. I am extremely worried this movie is going to have the same fate as Justice League, Batman Vs Superman, and Suicide Squad; in that is will be no good. The only saving grace of this movie is James Gunn’s involvement and if he is allowed to do what he wants with the film without WBs changes, then it has a chance.
What are your thoughts about Suicide Squad 2? Let us know on Facebook or Twitter. If you want to hear more of our thoughts on comics, movies, video games, and other nerd culture topics check out our podcast.
