It's been nearly four years since we last saw Harley Quinn on the big screen in Suicide Squad and now, just six months away from her on-screen anniversary, we see her back in Birds of Prey and the Fantabulous Emancipation of One Harley Quinn. Even though Margot Robbie plays the Joker's love interest perfectly, did we really require another appearance? I was reluctant but open to giving her another chance. Sadly, that reluctance was justified...

Birds of Prey is a film which revolves around Harley Quinn, to the point where it may as well not have been called Birds of Prey. However, I think everyone was expecting this. Margot Robbie is the in thing at the moment and, as mentioned before, the shining light of Suicide Squad. Having recently separated from her boyfriend, the Clown Prince of Crime, aka the Joker, Harley is left to tackle the world by herself. Even though Harley has proven that she can look out for herself, the Joker gave her an extra level of protection which allowed her to live life the way she wanted and hurt whoever she wanted, with no real repercussions. But that is no more, and these people now want revenge on her, including Gotham gangster Roman Sionis, aka the Black Mask, played by the legendary Ewan McGregor.

McGregor is one of my favourite actors, with his performance in Birds of Prey only cementing that. McGregor did a great job of bringing a very shallow character to life. If a weaker actor had been playing this role, the film would really have struggled, but luckily they managed to rope McGregor into playing Roman. The film does a good job of telling us that Sionis is a very powerful crime lord within Gotham City, but that is it. He carries the iconic nickname of the Black Mask because he wears a black mask. However, we only see this happen maybe twice? There is no real explanation for why he wears it, making the whole concept a bit weird.

Whilst Harley is trying to keep her head above water, living the single life and fighting off criminals wanting to kill her, she finds herself in a situation where she needs to protect a girl who has stolen something precious from Roman. This allows us to see Harley's softer side, but also brings the other Birds of Prey into the film, with each having their own connection to this girl. Even though the catalyst for bringing these powerful women together worked well, each character had little to no depth. With the film being 90% about Harley, there wasn't much time left to flesh out the other female characters to the point where you actually care about them. I wouldn't be bothered if I never saw any of them on the big screen again, sadly.

Overall, the story was something different from what we are used to seeing, but the execution needed some work. Apart from some impressive scenes, such as an awesome one in a police storage unit where Harley shows us why bats and hammers are her favourite weapons, the film was extremely hard to absorb due to its dull nature. That being said, there was one element of the film which, if I am honest, had me feeling pretty irate, and that was the portrayal of the male characters. I know that this is a film about women coming together for a common cause, and I am really behind us placing more emphasis on powerful women, but not at the cost of male characters. Not one man in this film was remotely decent, and it was quite frustrating after a while. I don't feel that men should be put down to raise women up. Birds of Prey was a great opportunity to drive the message of women's empowerment; I just felt it was done in the wrong way.

As always, I like to touch on the score, which was composed by Daniel Pemberton. Pemberton is going from strength to strength with his soundtracks, with each one getting more and more praise. When it comes to Birds of Prey, Pemberton, sadly, put an end to his winning streak. There was only one part of the film where I can remember the score making an impression, but during the rest of the film it was massively forgettable. This pains me to say, as I have been an advocate of Pemberton up to this point.

If you are a fan of Harley Quinn outside of cinema, this film is for you. As I've mentioned a few times, Margot Robbie does a great job of bringing the character to life, but if, like me, you aren't too bothered about Quinn, then the film doesn't leave you much to enjoy. I am sad to give this a more negative review, as I'd love to see more films of this nature. I hope Margot can keep the character alive within the DCEU one way or another, just maybe not leading the pack.