Cathy Yan directed a fast paced, fun and well choreographed action film. It's almost as much of a mess as "Suicide Squad".

Robbie really takes advantage of having her own spin off, topping her work in "Suicide Squad", and that's good because they really rushed her origin in that film, but in "Birds of Prey" almost everyone else gets lost in the style Yan is striving for.

It's like a mid 90s Kathryn Bigelow meets Adam Rifkin bonanza. More like a ripoff of Tarantino ripoffs. But like "Squad" it never stops and takes a breath. There's barely a plot actually. It's mostly flashbacks and exposition so the audience doesn't think this is as confusing as "Inception"(Or "Thor" lol). I'm just glad a trailer house didn't obviously edit it, so this time I can at least ire the appropriately comic book like cinematography.

Ewan McGregor is an unpredictable ball of craziness, but deserved 30 minutes of extra screen time and development. Ditto Chris Messina. Rosie Perez's storyline is borderline insulting(what the fuck was Ali Wong's character). Mary Elizabeth Winstead's arc is so half assed and cliched and there was 30 minutes left when we finally find out her actual name. Jussie Smollet's sister is decent, but her character development was so half assed. Ella Jay Basco however gives one of the most wooden and flat out annoying youth performances I've seen in years. And most of the film relies on you routing for her not to die, and she was just a little shit the entire time. Robbie's arc was actually believable and she carried the whole thing.

Yan needs to thank the John Wick director big time for the action boost he added with reshoots. The action really saved it for me. It wasn't boring, and it was certainly a fast paced film that never overstays its welcome. But it's trying to be so many different types of superhero films, that the message of feminism feels incredibly forced. The misogyny was even more forced. That "This is a Man's world" needle drop was so on the nose, Jared Leto's Joker would be jealous.

It's fun but sadly nothing that special, apart from some neat moments and fun performances from Robbie and McGregor. DC has this knack of making almost good but not quite good unintentional cult films.

BTW I hate that harlequin(the term itself) is so symbolic of Harley Quinn's life and her name is literally HARLEQUIN. Fuck off.