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We\u2019re guessing that there\u2019s a\u00a0spreadsheet somewhere on an old company laptop in Hollywood whose rows and columns made the compelling financial case for the sequel to 2022<\/span>\u2019s mid-tier animated feature,\u00a0<\/span>The Bad Guys<\/i>. As, on a\u00a0purely vibes-based deduction, it\u2019s not a\u00a0film that too many people were either hankering for or expecting. Indeed, a\u00a0review embargo for the film set for the day of release is, in the majority of cases, a\u00a0red flag accompanied by a\u00a0small, panicked firework display. So the odds were not in our favour.<\/span><\/p>\n The surprising news, then, is that Pierre Perifel\u2019s film \u2013 like <\/span>The Godfather<\/span><\/i>, <\/span>Toy Story <\/span><\/i>and the first Bourne sequel \u2013 joins that rarified club of film franchises where the second film is arguably superior to the first. With <\/span>The Godfather <\/span><\/i>and <\/span>Toy Story<\/span><\/i> it\u2019s a\u00a0coin toss, but in this case, <\/span>The Bad Guys 2<\/span><\/span><\/i> wipes the floor with the original which, in hindsight, looks like a\u00a0scrappy work in progress.<\/span><\/p>\n Mr Wolf (Sam Rockwell) is the immaculately-attired, smart-alecky leader of an inter-species wrecking crew whose skills perfectly align to make them maestros of the heist(ros). They are the archetypal, self-styled baddies, forced in the first film to go good, but now finding the job market and domestic drudgery of the strait-arrow life to be frustrating and\u00a0dull.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n All of the gang \u2013 Mr Snake (Marc Maron), Mr Shark (Craig Robinson), Mr Piranha (Anthony Ramos) and Ms Tarantula (Awkwafina) \u2013 are hankering for a\u00a0cheeky bit of recidivism, when their transgressive prayers are answered as they learn of a\u00a0master thief who is taking down joints and nabbing everything they can find made from the rare metal, McGuffinite. The cops are baffled, and so Mr Wolf lends his insider insight to spin the dictum, \u200b\u201c<\/span>It takes a\u00a0thief to catch a\u00a0thief.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n It\u2019s a\u00a0confident and spry film that actually manages to get better and better as it goes along. Perifel channels the limb-stretching physics and Picasso-esque landscape aesthetics of vintage-era Loony Tunes, while Rockwell\u2019s voicework equals the louche, quippy charms of George Clooney in full Danny Ocean\u00a0mode.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n It\u2019s a\u00a0story about criminals who have reached a\u00a0point where they do things purely for the thrill of it, desiring excess for no reason other than to have achieved a\u00a0feat of thievery that exceeds all others. Which speaks directly to our modern oligarch culture. There\u2019s a\u00a0bumbling idiot character based on Elon Musk who, at a\u00a0wedding of gaudy, Bezos-esque lavishness, uses an AI<\/span> to identify his richest guests. And there\u2019s also something quite subversive in how it deals with the notion of modern Robin Hoods, and how their ideals about distribution of wealth still leaves them with excessive and perhaps unearned levels of\u00a0power.<\/span><\/p>\n But this is, in the main, a\u00a0rolicking good time at the pictures, and its interstellar finale mocks the OTT<\/span> stunt work of the <\/span>Mission: Impossible<\/span><\/i> films as we see the <\/span>Bad Guys<\/span><\/i> leap on to a\u00a0space rocket from a\u00a0moving helicopter. Never thought we\u2019d ever be saying this, but roll on <\/span>The Bad Guys 3<\/span><\/span><\/i>.<\/span><\/p>\n<\/div>\n\nGet more Little White\u00a0Lies<\/h3>\n<\/p><\/div>\n