The Suicide Squad, unlike its predecessor, 2016's Suicide Squad (without the the), lives up to its name. These supervillains are sent on a mission from which it's likely few if any will return.

And director James Gunn, who assumed the director's post after SS director David Ayer was disinvited from returning for the sequel (and after Gunn was put at liberty when the folks at Disney threw a brief hissy over some decade-old tweets), makes sure the audience knows from the first couple of scenes that no one is safe, and anyone or everyone could die.

There are a couple of characters you know, going in, will make it to the end credits and will probably be in a sequel. Right? No, don't count on them surviving, either. Everyone is expendable if it furthers the mission -- or the plot.

(OK, let's be honest, there's one character who is probably bulletproof -- and plot-proof -- but she is the franchise at this point and the only reason you can guarantee people in seats.)

TSS is a sequel in name only. A few characters return -- Viola Davis as Amanda Waller, the ruthless head of the project; Joel Kinnaman as Col. Rick Flag, Waller's man in the field; Jai Courtney as the villain Boomerang, and of course Margot Robbie as Harley Quinn, the villain who stole every scene in SS and does it again in TSS.

In fact, Gunn wisely gives other actors some opportunities to shine by removing Quinn (temporarily) from the main plot line. She does her own thing, and does it really well, but meanwhile everyone else is over there doing different stuff entirely.

The mission sends the squad (in two teams) to Corto Maltese, a banana republic whose government has recently been overthrown. With a new military dictator in power, the U.S. sends in a team to destroy a secret lab -- a holdover from Nazi days -- and eliminate all records of the experiments that took place there. The second team is a distraction, cannon fodder to ensure the first team's arrival goes unnoticed.

There are several side missions -- "rescuing" Flag from an armed camp of freedom fighters, "rescuing" Quinn from the amorous attentions of El Presidente and the more torturous attentions of the Corto Maltese military, and capturing the Thinker, the mad scientist who heads the secret project and is the squad's ticket into the fortress where dark secrets are held -- but it all leads to a massive encounter with Starro, a gigantic space starfish that can mentally control zombie-like minions.

The movie is significantly gorier and more violent than the first one, but at the same time it's sillier, too. It's gloriously outrageous. And it's really fun to watch.

Besides Flag, notables on the team are Idris Elba as Bloodsport, John Cena as Peacemaker, Daniela Melchior as Ratcatcher 2, David Dastmalchian as Polka-Dot Man (yes, really) and Sylvester Stallone as the voice of King Shark.

Bloodsport, of course, was Deadshot in SS, but when Will Smith declined (or was unable) to return for the sequel, the part was rewritten for another mercenary with similar skills and the same father-daughter dynamic that makes him vulnerable to Waller's threats. Elba does a great job making the character his own, stepping out from Smith's shadow entirely.

Peacemaker also has a similar skill set to Bloodsport's but a completely different mindset. He sees himself as a patriot, and he's willing to spill a lot of blood in his cause. Ratcatcher 2 is a sleepy sweetheart, the heart of the team, and she tells rats what to do. Polka-Dot Man is a sad sack, an underachieving villain with a weird, uncomfortable power and a raging hatred for his mother that inspires him to mayhem. King Shark replaces Killer Croc in the lineup (presumably each team needs an anthropomorphic carnivore) and is somehow both more lovable and more brutal.

Flag, who sounded one note in SS, has a chance to expand his personality significantly in TSS; he's a much more involved and relatable character. Waller, meanwhile, is even more psychotic, overly eager to push the kill switch on her team at the least provocation. This time, however, instead of her completely disposable staff of assistants in SS, she actually gets a staff of useful, at times spirited professionals.

Other characters worth mentioning include Peter Capaldi as the Thinker, Juan Diego Botto as Presidente General Silvio Luna, Joaquin Cosio as Mayor General Mateo Suarez, Julio Cesar Ruiz as the driver Milton and Lynne Ashe as Polka-Dot Man's mom (yes, really).

The film includes several brief (but well done) performances, including criminally abbreviated appearances by Courtney, Nathan Fillion (TDK) and Michael Rooker (Savant), plus Flula Borg (Javelin), Mayling Ng (Mongal), Pete Davidson (Blackguard) and Sean Gunn (Weasel).

I would lay odds that director Gunn hates birds. If not, he surely treats them badly in this movie.

I didn't hate Suicide Squad, which had a strong opening and introduced us to some great characters before going off the rails in the third act. But there's no denying that The Suicide Squad is the better movie. The plot is better, character development is stronger, the stakes are higher and there's plenty of colorfly flamboyant spectacle to keep the audience entertained. The R rating gave Gunn more freedom to be outrageous with his vision, and it works.

I hope we can look for more in this vein.