Review | Birds of Prey film review: Margot Robbie reprises Harley Quinn role in violent, grungy spin-off
- After being one of the few highlights in DC Comics’ disappointing Suicide Squad in 2016, Robbie’s character continues her adventures in Gotham
- But despite Ewan McGregor’s enjoyable performance and entertaining fight scenes, the script doesn’t pack the same kind of punch
3/5 stars
Harley Quinn, played by Margot Robbie, was the saving grace of 2016’s Suicide Squad , the ropy DC Comics movie where the villains took centre stage. Her reward is a spin-off movie, continuing her nefarious adventures in Gotham in this violent, scrappy, grungy effort.
The film begins, cleverly, with an animated catch-up, as she reminds us of how she fell for the crown prince of crime, the Joker, landed in a vat of goo and went psycho.
Only now Harley has split from the Joker (so no Jared Leto cameo here), which means she no longer has any protection from the multiple enemies she has made around town – in a neat trick, each one is named on screen with their “grievance” stated.
Things gradually gather pace as the story zips back and forth, as Harley gets sidetracked with details about her breakfast, her pet hyena and more.
The chief antagonist is nightclub owner Roman Sionis (Ewan McGregor, having a riot) – aka Black Mask – who likes nothing better than ordering his henchman to peel people’s faces off.
