Review: 'Birds of Prey' becomes a vehicle for Margot Robbie's happily maniacal turn as Harley Quinn

It’s always fascinating how DC Comics looks at what Marvel does and tries to copy it. If Marvel can do a fantasy-driven action movie in “Thor,” DC can do the same in “Aquaman.” If Marvel can get the band together in “The Avengers,” DC will try it with “Justice League.” 

And if Marvel’s “Deadpool” can become a hit with a fast-talking anti-hero in a hyper-violent R-rated movie, then DC can try their luck doing the same with “Birds of Prey,” a kaleidoscopic combination of superhero origin stories and a wisecracking commentary track on the same.

First thing, the title “Birds of Prey” is misleading, since the heroes of that DC title are supporting players to the main character, the psychotic criminal Harley Quinn. In fact, the movie’s unwieldy full title is “Birds of Prey, and the Fantabulous Emancipation of One Harley Quinn.”

Margot Robbie, who played Harley in the overstuffed “Suicide Squad” (2016), returns but with a different attitude. She declares strongly that she has broken up with her longtime boyfriend, the arch criminal The Joker — and punctuates the sentiment by blowing up “their place,” the Ace Chemical plant in Gotham City, where Harley once jumped into a pool of chemicals to prove her love to “Mr. J.”

The problem for Harley is that being The Joker’s girlfriend afforded her some protection in Gotham’s underworld — and without him, she’s an open target for everybody she ever wronged, with is a sizable list. Topping the list is the crime boss Roman Sionis (Ewan McGregor), who is consolidating his power around Gotham. and to do it he needs a particular diamond that contains the key to unlock the millions of the massacred Bertinelli crime family.

Other people figuring into this story include: Dinah Lance (Jurnee Smollett-Bell), aka Black Canary, a singer in Roman’s club; Renee Montoya (Rosie Perez), a rogue cop trying to build a case against Roman; Cassandra Cain (Ella Jay Basco), a teenage pickpocket who steals something she shouldn’t; and a mysterious assassin (Mary Elizabeth Winstead), dispatching her victims with a crossbow. (Giving the character’s name would spoil a well-staged reveal later in the movie.)

Director Cathy Yan (“Dead Pigs”) and screenwriter Christina Hodsen (“BumbleBee”) have to download a whole lot of information into the audience’s brains in a hurry. The vehicle of choice is Harley’s motormouthed narration, introducing new characters and sanding over rough spot with the most pronounced cartoon New York accent this side of that other Warner Bros.’ icon, Bugs Bunny.

Once a person gets dialed into Yan’s frenetic wavelength, he or she appreciates the humorously anarchic touches Yan adds to the proceedings: the female-forward soundtrack choices (Joan Jett, Heart and Patsy Cline among them), the casual sexism lobbed by cops and crooks alike, and the way the copious fight scenes view its woman combatants as warriors, not just eye candy. (Bonus points for how Harley, mid-fight, offers a hair tie to Dinah, and then how Dinah bunches her braids into a ponytail while still kicking butt.)

It seems clear Yan & Co. are piling on every joke they know to turn “Birds of Prey” into DC’s “Deadpool” franchise. As realized by Ryan Reynolds, the movie Deadpool drops one-liners as fast as he takes down villains — and in “Birds of Prey,” Robbie does the same thing but with psychotic enthusiasm. Even when the plot his a few sour notes, Robbie concocts a winning performance out of the hammer-swinging anti-hero.

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‘Birds of Prey, and the Fantabulous Emancipation of One Harley Quinn’

★★★

Opens Friday, February 7, in theaters everywhere. Rate R for strong violence and language throughout, and some sexual and drug material. Running time: 109 minutes.