After the critical disappointment of Suicide Squad, it was time for Harley Quinn to take centre stage and finally break out of the Joker's looming shadow.
Birds of Prey (and the Fantabulous Emancipation of One Harley Quinn), starring Margot Robbie, follows Harley after her break-up with Joker when she decides to form a gang with some other kick-ass women.
And from the movie's first reviews, it sounds as if Birds of Prey has truly given Harley Quinn the emancipation she needed.
Digital Spy
"It is first and foremost a neon-blood-soaked, funny, violent, anti-hero caper that stars women. But wait, there's more! It was directed by a woman and the screenplay was written by a woman.
"These factors mean Birds of Prey inherently carries a base level of authenticity without being heavy-handed, and the male gaze is happily obliterated in a technicolour firework display... The movie stars women and is uproariously fun."
Den of Geek
"Birds of Prey is both a vibrant, stylised comic book movie and also a very successful satire of comic book movies and women's places within them."
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Collider
"Birds of Prey is electric! The style, the humor, the music, the performances, Ewan McGregor, the fight sequences. The more creativity and energy we get like this on the big screen, the better."
Forbes
"Birds of Prey is a delightfully entertaining showcase for Margot Robbie's Harley Quinn and the rest of her anti-heroic gal pals."
Daily Telegraph
"This whole film is a femme-fatale meet-and-greet which detoxifies the recent spree of male-dominated skulkings around Gotham City. It has gangster's moll energy where the molls take over."
Time Out
"Cathy Yan lets her heroine's mania guide her through a story that's scrappy, weird and ultimately fun as hell."
Games Radar
"It's relentless, hyperactive, and viciously entertaining. Just like Harley herself."
USA Today
"It is an entertaining lark that introduces a few good women - and four-letter curse words - into the canon of Superman and Batman."
The Wrap
"A giddy treat of an R-rated comic-book movie, borrowing elements from inspirations as disparate as 9 to 5, Bugs Bunny and Modesty Blaise to create an adventure that tweaks its genre familiarity with delightful bursts of anarchy and wit."
The Guardian
"This film is a blitz of bad taste, a cornucopia of crass, and it is weirdly diverting - more than you might expect, given the frosty way Suicide Squad was received critically - and engagingly crazy."
Variety
"Cathy Yan keeps it all hurtling along with impeccable ferocity. Her action scenes have a deftly detonating visual spaciousness, capped by crowd-pleasing moments..."
Entertainment Weekly
"In a world gone mad, the catharsis of Prey's twisted sisterhood doesn't just read as pandemonium for its own sake; it's actually pretty damn sweet."
Birds of Prey and the Fantabulous Emancipation of One Harley Quinn is out in cinemas on Friday, February 7.
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Reporter, Digital Spy
Stephanie is a freelance news writer, who previously covered WWE and AEW for Digital Spy.
After graduating with a degree in history from Queen Mary University, London, she studied journalism at Birkbeck University.
Outside of her work at Digital Spy, she writes about pop culture, with a special focus towards Irish media and how it intersects with politics.
You can read more of her work on her Substack page.
