Viewed – 11 December 2021 online rental

Unlike some, I didn’t hate the previous Suicide Squad movie, so another attempt under the direction of Guardians of the Galaxy ‘s James Gunn – was more than appealing. This entry has a group of misfit incarcerated villains forced into a mission with the promise of a reduction to their sentence. However mess up, try and make a run for it, and a press of a button could mean their deaths.

Like the last movie, the show stealer here is once again Margot Robbie’s Harley Quinn… and even in her third movie appearance is just as much fun as ever. Along for the ride is Idris Elba, (a dead pan) John Cena and even Sylvester Stallone voicing a half-man-half-shark character.

The story’s nothing special – basically a mission to destroy a secret experiment before it falls into the wrong hands – but what brings this to life is a combination of the often very funny banter between the characters, and bombastic action that’s very violent and suitably over the top. James Gunn just really went for it here, delivering a gory, energetic action flick that’s purely focused on being entertaining. It doesn’t worry about having a message, or like many movies these days force ‘woke culture’ into its narrative, and is all the better for it.

Verdict: Recommended