The Birds, however, have been successfully established as a new franchise, as has Harley herself - Margot Robbie is perfect in the role, and is clearly having a blast. The film might be a chaotic, fun-filled roller coaster, but it doesn’t feel like Harley has changed much by the end of the ride. Harley teams up with the Birds to defeat an Joker-esque enemy, and then promptly abandons her new friends, having gained little from the experience. In contrast, DC’s animated Harley Quinn series does a spectacular job of depicting Harley’s growth as an individual, but Birds of Prey, while enjoyable in its own right, fails to measure up. She even comments on Black Mask being just like the Joker, but the line emphasizes the Joker’s absence, highlighting the fact that she hasn’t quite escaped her past. McGregor makes it work by being so outrageously over-the-top, but from a story standpoint, Harley’s journey lack’s closure. McGregor, a dandyish gang boss with a sociopathic streak, harboring a passion for peeling off people's faces, stands in clear parallel to the Joker’s unhinged charisma, Harley’s victory over him symbolizing her newfound independence. The film works its way around this by having Black Mask (played by a gloriously camp Ewan McGregor), be a stand-in for the clown prince of crime. This film is about Harley learning to thrive as an individual and overcome her (quite literally) toxic relationship, while awkwardly avoiding the man who inspired this story. Birds of Prey wants us to forget that Leto’s Joker ever existed (which is fine by me), but the problem is that Harley’s very existence is tied to the character, as is her rebirth.
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