Suicide Squad Is Going To Be A Short Movie

We're used to blockbusters being painfully long; we're now at a point where Independence Day: Resurgence is called short for "only" clocking in at two hours. I do get why this happens - a longer movie looks like more of an event and ostensibly offers better value for money - but after so many leaden, !*$%-punishing experiences I think audiences are getting a bit tired of it. This is only exacerbated by comic book movies, which are such big business that studios have so much to stuff in for wide appeal.

So how refreshing is it to learn that Suicide Squad will be a lean, mean 1 hour 40 minutes? The answer is "very" - that's 50 minutes shorter than both Batman V Superman and X-Men: Apocalypse, two films that really didn't need that long to tell their simple stories.

Of course, it is just a number, but this has tipped me over the edge in excitement for David Ayer's villain team-up. It's already looked like a dark, comic, intense, vibrant alternative to what the bigger films are offering and this suggests it really will just be an action-filled, swift pallet-cleanser without the added weight of setting up future movies or being desperately faux-epic.

Suicide Squad is in cinemas from 5th August.