“The Suicide Squad” is a terrific 2021 DC film that is not to be confused with 2016’s inferior DC flick “Suicide Squad”. The two films share a similar premise and some of the same cast and characters but are wildly different in many ways. The 2016 film was boring and uninspired, this 2021 version is amazing. It’s bursting with life, creativity and style.

After a military coup on a small island nation, an assortment of supervillains is sent to destroy anything and everything relating to the secretive ‘Project Starfish’. Harley Quinn (Margot Robbie “The Wolf Of Wall Street”), Bloodsport (Idris Elba “The Losers”) and other misfit baddies find their mission takes some extraordinary turns.

What makes this movie so great is all the brilliant characters. Margot Robbie has now played Harley three times and she’s just great in the role. There are so many fun characters here including Peacemaker (John Cena “The Marine”), Weasel and Polka-Dot Man. However, my favourite has to be King Shark (voiced by Sylvester Stallone “Rocky”). I didn’t know that I needed a talking shark man voiced by Stallone but now my life is complete. I also liked the new dictator of the island, who is clearly inspired by Fidel Castro. We also have a mad scientist played by Peter Capaldi from “Dr. Who”. Probably the blandest character here is actually Idris Elba’s Bloodsport because he’s the least crazy.

“The Suicide Squad” is a lot like “The Expendables” films but with a superhero flavour and an even more sarcastic sense of humour. The action sequences in this film are so memorable, a lot of the dialog is hilarious and it’s just clear that the filmmakers love the comic book source material. I also loved it when this film dips into kaiju (giant monster) territory near the end. This is the sort of film we should have got in 2016. Director James Gunn (“Guardians of the Galaxy”) has done a superb job with 2021’s “The Suicide Squad”.