Starring Sam Rockwell, Awkwafina, Craig Robinson, Anthony Ramos, Marc Meron, Danielle Brooks, Maria Bakalova, Natasha Lyonne, Zazie Beetz and Alex Borstein

Directed by Pierre Perifel

Dreamworks, out now

The Bad Guys are the good guys, and the good guys are unemployed. Wolf (Sam Rockwell), Tarantula (Awkwafina), Shark (Craig Robinson), Piranha (Anthony Ramos) and Snake (Marc Meron) are trying to be good citizens. But Kitty Kat (Danielle Brooks), Pigtail (Maria Bakalova) and Doom (Natasha Lyonne) have a heist that needs their expertise. And they also have proof of Mayor Diane (Zazie Beetz) being the Crimson Paw…

The Bad Guys was massively good fun so it’s understandable to worry if lightning can be stolen in a bottle again. Turns out, it can!

In fact this isn’t so much a sequel as a Part 2, cleverly flipping the original and exploring the consequences of the Bad Guys turning good. Wolf especially is plausible, witty, clever and finds himself locked out of the society he used to prey on at will and Sam Rockwell is typically great. Zazie Beetz is another endlessly consistent performer and she’s great here as the functional second protagonist. The movie also does a great job of exploring the consequences of Diane’s apparently concluded criminal career and Beetz gets two or three of the big moments here. The rest of the cast are quite well served too, although Ramos’ Piranha and Awkwafina’s Tarantula could stand more screen time. Robinson’s Shark on the other hand gets some great running gags, as does Maron’s Snake. He’s got possibly the most surprising plot line of all and the moment that reveal hits the movie really takes off.

But, appropriately, this is Kitty Kat’s heist and Kitty Kat’s movie. Danielle Brooks does not know how to turn in bad work and her performance is a world away from her sweet-natured turn on Peacemaker. Kitty Kat is an intensely confident constant threat and Brooks revels in the character’s authority and fantastic design. Lyonne is excellent two as her raven partner in crime, but Maria Bakalova almost steals the show as Pigtail Petrova, the group’s muscle and cheery sometime engineer. She brings the same cheerful fatalism to the role she did to Cosmo in Guardians of the Galaxy Volume 3 and just hearing her bounce off the other characters is really good fun. Likewise Alex Borstein as the Chief who gets a well earned upgrade to near-team member here.

This great foundation of character gives screenwriters Yoni Brenner and Etan Cohen licence to have fun and they run with it. There’s a wedding-based heist full of plans within plans that would make the Impossible Mission Force proud and a great, increasingly tense set piece involving a magnet, a damning video and an upload speed. It all feels just on the edge of collapsing, as heists should but never quite does. Fun as these scenes are, they’re all set up for one of the most satisfying third acts of recent action cinema I’ve seen. Pierre Perifel and his team work magic in a scene that starts with the Bad Guys running up a rocket in mid launch and finishes with a neatly tied ending and a great opening for a sequel.

Verdict: Endlessly clever and fun and never forgetting to be sweet as well, The Bad Guys is as smooth as its criminal characters and just as lovable. 10/10

Alasdair Stuart

 

The Bad Guys 2 is in cinemas now. The Bad Guys is on Blu-ray and there are a couple of short specials available on various streaming platforms.