Birds of Prey (4 Stars)

If you read the small print on the poster above, you'll see that the film's full title is "Birds of Prey and the Fantabulous Emancipation of one Harley Quinn". That won't bother most people. They'll just call it "Birds of Prey". So will I, for convenience, but I would rather the film had been made without the first half of the title. In "Suicide Squad" Harley Quinn was such a delicious character, perfectly portrayed by Margot Robbie, that I felt she was hampered by having the other team members around her. Now we have her without the Suicide Squad, and she's even split up with Joker, so what does the film do? It gives her another team!

Admittedly, it takes more than half of the film before the team is gathered. "Birds of Prey" starts off telling the story of the one Bird of Prey that we're interested in. The more we see of the other team members in the later parts of the film, the less we see of Harley Quinn, and that's a loss.

The film is about emancipation in the sense of female emancipation. Harley Quinn complains that she's been under the control of a man, the Joker. Now that she's split up with him, she can do her own thing. She doesn't need a new man for protection.

We also see her trying to turn over a new leaf. She wants to be a good girl, a hero rather than a villain. It's not that easy, because however good she wants to be she's still insane. There's so much depth in her character.

Is "Birds of Prey" better than "Suicide Squad"? Most people seem to think so. My initial feeling is to rate them equally. I quite enjoyed "Suicide Squad", and I need to watch it again soon. Maybe even tomorrow. The fight scenes in "Birds of Prey" are enjoyable, often comical. DC still doesn't make films as good as Marvel, but this is a good attempt.