Margot Robbie’s second outing as DC comics’ most unhinged anti-heroine Harley Quinn may lack the gravitas of Todd Phillips’s multi-Oscar nominated Joker, but is  be snappier, funnier and implicitly more engaging than any of its predecessors.

Directed by Cathy Yan (Dead Pigs) and written by Christina Hodson ( Unforgettable), Birds of Prey: And the Fantabulous Emancipation of One Harley Quinn was pitched to Warner Brothers back in 2015 by Robbie herself and is the eighth film in the DC Extended Universe and a follow-up to David Ayer's universally panned film Suicide Squad (2016).

When she is unceremoniously dumped by longtime boyfriend the Joker, Harley Quinn (Robbie) finds herself out on the streets and down in the dumps. Without protection from her universally feared former lover, Harley becomes the target of every small-time crook and violent criminal in town. To make matters worse, she is also being pursued by Gotham police detective Renee Montoya (Rosie Perez) who is hellbent on seeing her and every other criminal behind bars.

Things take a turn for the worse when Harley is captured by sadistic gangster Roman Sionis (a devilishly camp Ewan McGregor) and his psychotic serial killer henchman Victor Zsasz (Chris Messina). Harley is then hired to recoup a valuable diamond stolen from Sionis in return for sparing her life.

Together with burlesque singer Dinah Lance/ Black Canary, Montoya and the Mysterious Helena Bertinelli/ Huntress (Mary Elizabeth Winstead), Harley must look deep into her own soul to defeat Sionis and live to be a free woman once more.

Director Cathy Yan has succeeded where many have failed before her. Together with writer Christina Hodson, the director has given us a smart and brilliantly anarchic adaptation, dripping with kick-ass punk-rock sensibilities.

Some will evidently be drawing obvious comparisons between this and Marvel’s own foulmouthed anti-hero Deadpool - both films were rated R by the Motion Picture Association of America - but there’s no denying that Birds of Prey has the upper hand thanks to Robbie’s mesmerising screen presence and fantastic vision.

While  not be entirely without fault, thanks to a slightly baggy screenplay, Birds Of Prey remains “the” Harley Quinn movie most DC fans have been crying out for. All in all, a deftly handled, clever and irresistibly wicked interpretation of a much loved DC story.