The release of Birds of Prey (And The Fantabulous Emancipation of One Harley Quinn) has quintessentially proven two things: DC Comics has some seriously fabulous female characters and female talent can carry a film. I must admit, with how popular the Harley Quinn animated series has become, I was hoping Dr Pamela Isley / Poison Ivy would make a live-action cameo appearance. We can’t have everything.

Quinn, in Suicide Squad, felt more like a sidekick than she did a lead character. With the character having stepped out from under Mr J’s shadow, something many people have been wanting to see for a long time, there is something totally new about her persona. Quinn, front-and-centre, is where she must be to capture the limelight. The inclusion of an animated recap of Quinn’s origin story, the classic version, is much appreciated.

The title, as DC Comics aficionados know, comes from the female crime-fighting superhero crew Birds of Prey. Despite this, given how the story is narrated by the fantabulous Harley Quinn (Margot Robbie), this film is very much about the Clown Queen of Crime. The destruction of Ace Chemicals sent Gothamites a message that Quinn and Mr J are done as a couple.

Armed with her trademark baseball bat, regardless of what people say of Mr J, Quinn takes crazy to an entirely new level. With a screenplay written by Christina Hodson, the Quinn we see in this film doesn’t hold anything back. The Cathy Yan directed Birds of Prey, free of Mr J, allows Quinn to stretch her legs. The film proves Quinn doesn’t need Mr J for her to achieve success.

Image Credit: IMDb.com

Did the Joker dump Quinn or did she dump him? Whilst I think it was the former, it doesn’t matter. After news of their separation is made public, in the most explosive way possible, Quinn soon discovers Gotham is swarming with emboldened enemies that have crawled out of the woodwork. None of them, when she was with Mr J, would have dared touch a hair on her head. Now that everyone knows their relationship is done, with a narrative fitting of the 15-certification the production picked up, there is nothing stopping the evildoers taking shots at Quinn.

Roman Sionis (Ewan McGregor), the most significant evildoer in the film, has been wanting to get at Quinn for years. With Mr J out of the picture, with henchman Victor Zsasz (Chris Messina) at his side, there is nothing stopping him from attempting to do what he wants with her. Is it my imagination or do Sionis and Zsasz have a thing that goes far beyond the average villain / henchman relationship? Their interactions suggest that they’re getting on in more ways than one.

Is Quinn going to survive past tomorrow? Is she going to tell us what she wants what she really really wants? Quinn soon discovers, if she wants to stay alive, she’s going to need to get with a few new friends. Detective Renee Montoya (Rosie Perez), Helena Bertinelli / The Huntress (Mary Elizabeth Winstead), Dinah Lance / Black Canary (Jurnee Smollett-Bell), and Cassandra Cain (Ella Jay Basco) each have their own issues with Sionis.