Birds of Prey review: Harley Quinn spin off not for the faint hearted
The only positive impression left by DC Comics’s Suicide Squad was Harley Quinn. And now her spin off is here. But if you are faint of heart or selective of taste, you might be wise to give this one a big miss. Here’s why.
Leigh Paatsch
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The only positive impression left by the DC Comics damp squib that was 2017’s Suicide Squad?
It just had to be Harley Quinn.
Whereas the rest of Suicide Squad chased its own tail until dizziness and fatigue set in – symptoms also experienced by its audience – Margot Robbie’s dynamically deranged portrayal of Harley Q roamed free and remained on the attack throughout.
Little wonder then that after looming so large in just a small amount of screen time, Harley Quinn now gets her own movie to do her endearingly dangerous thing.
The first thing that hits you about Birds of Prey is just how ultra-violent it can be when it chooses. And man, oh man, it goes with that choice a lot.
This is a movie with a gleeful urge to be in your face, up your nose and on your nerves whenever possible.
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.
So if you are faint of heart, sensitive of stomach, or selective of taste, you might be wise to give this one a big miss. Everyone else should have a high old time revelling in both the relentless release of energy, and the merrily menacing silliness of it all.
As Birds of Prey begins, Harley lets slip she has just broken up with her long-time boyfriend The Joker. (Not the Joaquin Phoenix one. The Jared Leto one. Thank heavens.)
Anyway, our anti-heroine declares it is time to “put myself out there,” and no-one does “out there” better than the former Dr Harleen Quinzel (a former trained psychologist, in case you’ve forgotten).
Now off the chain, on the loose and out of her ever-lovin’ mind all over Gotham City, Harley’s hellraising soon catches the attention of psychopathic nightclub impresario and covert crime lord Roman Sionis (Ewan McGregor).
This sparks a fairly wacky, not-so-challenging plot which sends Harley on a wild-goose 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 certain execution by Sionis and his heavies. (It goes without saying Birds of Prey has not been nominated for a Best Screenplay Oscar.)
While we wait for this not-so-appealing situation to sort itself out, 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).
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This trio will one day comprise the elite unit of crime-fighting super heroines known as the Birds of Prey. Which not only makes this movie their origin story, but an audition by stealth for their own screen spin-off.
Nevertheless, 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.
BIRDS OF PREY (MA15+)
Director: Cathy Yan (Dead Pigs)
Starring: Margot Robbie, Jurnee Smollett-Bell, Mary Elizabeth Winstead, Rosie Perez, Ewan McGregor.
Rating : ***
A new nest to build means more bad eggs to crack