BIRDS OF PREY (MA15+)

A NEW NEST TO BUILD MEANS MORE BAD EGGS TO CRACK

While the cast of DC Comics’ 2017 movie Suicide

Squad chased its own tail, Margot Robbie’s dynamically deranged portrayal of Harley Quinn roamed free. Little wonder then that after looming so large in just a small amount of screen time, Harley Quinn now gets her own movie. It is a

Suicide Squad spin-off in name only. If anything, it’s a wisecracking, limb-snapping, girls-first response to the blokey nihilism of Deadpool. As

Birds of Prey begins, Harley lets slip she has just broken up with her long-time boyfriend The Joker. Our anti-heroine declares it is time to “put myself out there,” and Harley’s hellraising soon catches the attention of psychopathic nightclub impresario and covert crime lord Roman Sionis (Ewan McGregor). This sparks a not-sochallenging plot which sends Harley on a wildgoose chase to find a chubby teenage pickpocket who has swallowed a priceless diamond. Once found, we learn the kid is going to have to poop out the valuable gem to save Harley from execution by Sionis and his heavies. Harley’s anarchic antics also put her on a collision course with tough-as-nails cop Renee Montoya (Rosie Perez), vigilante assassin Helena Bertinelli (Mary Elizabeth Winstead) and reluctant Sionis ally Dinah Lance (Jurnee Smollett-Bell). But when push comes to shove, this is Margot Robbie’s movie, and it is her aggressive drive and unorthodox vision for Harley Quinn that keeps

Birds of Prey aloft, alert and ready to swoop.