I wasn’t overly excited for Birds of Prey (and the Fantabulous Emancipation of One Harley Quinn), this latest DC Comics tale starring Margot Robbie as the shrink-turned-psycho Harley Quinn, fresh from her split with the Joker teaming up with a handful of other lesser known DC comic book characters.

WOW – what a blast! From Robbie in the best performance of her career, she is on a par with Bruce Willis in the first Die Hard in terms of mojo, driving the film along as she careens from one violent episode to the next in a gangbusters script, under some seriously savvy directing, both from women, Cathy Yan in just her second feature film (making her the second woman and the first Asian woman to direct any US superhero film), and written by Christina Hodson who is reportedly working on a Batgirl film, it’s hard to pick any faults in this film.

As an avid fan of comics growing up, Birds of Prey plays exactly like a comic book unfolding on the big screen, and besides the incredible animated Spider-Man: Into the Spider-Verse, there haven’t been too many attempts at this.

It’s fierce, funny and I’d watch this again immediately. From the fight choreography, the soundtrack, the costuming and set design, this is a really classy affair. And Margot’s physical performance leading her gang of girls on a warpath against Ewan McGregor’s perfectly pitched crime boss Roman Sionis aka the Black Mask is a joy.

Birds of Prey 4 Stars – “Killer”