The Suicide Squad writer/director James Gunn feels recent superhero movies have been too conventional, to the genre's detriment.
Gunn discussed his apathy towards superhero films of late with SFX Magazine, admitting, "They're mostly boring to me right now! [Laughs] I loved them at the beginning and there are still people trying to do different things [with them], so it's not a 100% rule, but a lot of them are boring."
Hoping to shake things up, Gunn drew from a variety of different genres while making The Suicide Squad, much in the same way John Ostrander's classic run of Suicide Squad comic books did in the 1980s. "I loved the idea of making a supervillain war caper film," he explained. "Films like The Dirty Dozen and Where Eagles Dare, those are of different elements from the backdrop of war and the caper heist element, to the sneaking around, the high stakes, the adventure."
This isn't Gunn's first attempt at injecting some fresher elements into the superhero genre. His 2010 film Super was an unusually dark and comedic spin on the idea of costumed crime-fighters that bombed at the box office, with reviews criticizing the movie's extreme violence and dubious messages. Gunn would go on to enjoy far greater success with his return to the genre for 2014's Guardians of the Galaxy -- turning the lesser-known band of quirky, cosmic superheroes into household names.
The Suicide Squad's plot follows the members of Task Force X on a mission to the fictional Latin American country Corto Maltese, where they set out to destroy a Nazi-era laboratory hiding dark secrets. "It gave me a great excuse to be able to create a film [in] a genre I've loved since I was a little kid, and do it in a big way and not have to hold back," Gunn added.
Written and directed by James Gunn, The Suicide Squad stars Viola Davis as Amanda Waller, Joel Kinnaman as Rick Flag, Michael Rooker as Savant, Flula Borg as Javelin, David Dastmalchian as Polka-Dot Man, Margot Robbie as Harley Quinn, Daniela Melchior as Ratcatcher 2, Idris Elba as Bloodsport, Mayling NG as Mongal, Peter Capaldi as The Thinker, Alice Braga as Solsoria, Sylvester Stallone as King Shark, Pete Davidson as Blackguard, Nathan Fillion as TDK, Sean Gunn as Weasel, Jai Courtney as Captain Boomerang and John Cena as Peacemaker, with Steve Agee, Taika Waititi and Storm Reid. The film arrives in theaters and on HBO Max Aug. 6.
Source: SFX Magazine, via GamesRadar+