Birds of Prey review

BIRDS OF PREY: 

LATEST DC FILM IS AN OVER-THE-TOP FUN RIDE WITH MARGOT ROBBIE BEHIND THE WHEEL! 

By Nico Beland

Movie Review: *** out of 4

WARNER BROS. PICTURES

Margot Robbie is back as Harley Quinn in Birds of Prey

            A young girl is targeted by Gotham’s most nefarious crime lord and now an unlikely group of women are forced to work together to protect her in Birds of Prey (and the Fantabulous Emancipation of One Harley Quinn), the latest film in the DC Extended Universe and the first in the series to earn an R rating (Sorry folks, but Joker is not part of the DCEU as great as that movie was). The film is directed by Cathy Yan (Dead Pigs) and stars Margot Robbie (The Wolf of Wall Street, I, Tonya, Once Upon a Time in Hollywood) as the Joker’s ex-girlfriend and partner-in-crime, Harley Quinn, whom she had previously portrayed in 2016’s Suicide Squad. 

            Since this film serves as a slight follow-up to Suicide Squad even though there’s a new movie in development directed by Guardians of the Galaxy’s James Gunn, I should give my brief thoughts on Suicide Squad. Objectively no, it isn’t a good movie and has a lot of glaring inconsistencies and narrative issues not to mention the greatest failed Joker performance of all time by Jared Leto, but I did enjoy things about it like the style, most of the actors especially Margot Robbie and Will Smith, and some of the humor, it’s a mess but there are certain elements in there to admire. 

            Now, Margot Robbie gets another chance to shine as Harley Quinn with Birds of Prey, her second DCEUappearance and unlike her first DC outing, comes with a decent movie. It’s nothing spectacular or game-changing in the comic book movie genre, but it’s cheesy, over-the-top dumb fun with a colorful cast of characters, some exciting action sequences, and plenty of laughs, and sometimes that’s all you need.  

             The film follows Harley Quinn (Robbie), who had recently broken up with the Joker, trying to get back on her feet by remodeling her life, you know, like adopting a pet hyena and naming it after a certain hunky “Wayne” guy, blowing up the chemical plant that created her, and trying to start her own business. Things change when a young orphaned girl named Cassandra “Cass” Cain (Ella Jay Basco-Grey’s Anatomy, Veep, Teachers) is targeted by a ruthless crime lord known as Roman Sionis/Black Mask (Ewan McGregor-Star Wars prequel trilogy, Big Fish, Doctor Sleep) for pickpocketing one of his henchmen and stealing an extremely valuable diamond. 

            With a large bounty on Cass’ head and several armed goons out to get her, Harley is forced to team up with not just Cass but also a burlesque singer with a “Killer” voice, Dinah Lance/Black Canary (Jurnee Smollett-Bell-The Great Debaters, Friday Night Lights (TV series), True Blood), a mysterious vigilante out to avenge her murdered family by killing mobsters with a crossbow known as Helena Bertinelli/The Huntress “The Crossbow Killer” (Mary Elizabeth Winstead-Scott Pilgrim VS The World, The Spectacular Now, 10 Cloverfield Lane), and a Gotham City Police Detective who is building a case against Sionis (Oh, and loves 80s cops movies that’s important!), Renee Montoya (Rosie Perez-In Living Color, Fearless, The Dead Don’t Die) to bring Gotham’s crime underworld down. 

            The film also stars Chris Messina (Damages, The Mindy Project, Six Feet Under) as Victor Zsasz and Ali Wong (American Housewife, Always Be My Maybe, Onward) as Ellen Yee. 

            Overall, Birds of Prey, while not perfect is a goofy, over-the-top, fun time with Margot Robbie’s devilishly delightful performance as Harley Quinn as your guide. Unlike Suicide Squad where it felt like the filmmakers didn’t really know what kind of movie they wanted to make and being stuck in the PG-13 realms, Birds of Prey feels a lot more competent and has the freedom to not only exceed conventional comic book movie fare with the R rating but also explores things about the main characters that you’d probably wouldn’t expect it to, of course all while fitting snuggly into the DCEU. 

            Yes, even with the R rating and the more violent action sequences and tone best described as Snatch mixed with Deadpool, I still believed this movie took place in the same universe as the other DC films. It’s kind of like how Loganfits in the X-Men franchise despite having a completely different tone from its predecessors. 

            However, as fun as this movie is, there is a huge problem with Birds of Prey, and it’s the title. Despite the movie being called Birds of Prey, it really doesn’t have much to do with the Birds of Prey team, almost like secondary characters to Harley Quinn. 

            Yes, the film has a good lineup of actors portraying the Birds of Prey and each member does have their moments to shine and kick ass, but throughout most of the movie they’re off pursuing their own personal agendas that all coincidentally come together because of the girl with the diamond, Hell, they don’t even join forces and adopt the Birds of Prey name until the final battle with Black Mask. 

            The title is pretty misleading, Birds of Prey ironically doesn’t have much Birds of Prey and the focus of the story is mostly on Harley Quinn, granted this is coming from someone who is not familiar with the Birds of Preycomics. Honestly, a more accurate title for this movie would have been Harley Quinn and the Birds of Prey, I’d still go see it if it was called that. 

            Even though Harley Quinn steals the spotlight, Margot Robbie’s performance is still great and was one of the redeeming qualities of Suicide Squad. She’s just as crazy and funny as she was before, but you see how she evolved as a character in this film acting as a parental figure for the orphaned girl, obviously the last person you would want to be a mother but over the course of the film and you see the two of them bond, watch cartoons while eating cereal, robbing a grocery store, and getting to know one other it is bizarrely touching and it shows that Harley cares for her and that she learns that just because she’s a villain that doesn’t mean she has to always be a terrible person, you kind of want her to cross a new path and put her life of crime behind her, but at the same time Harley Quinn’s crime sprees are just too much fun. 

             Ewan McGregor as Black Mask on the other hand can be best described as a live-action cartoon and is having a ball. You don’t usually see McGregor in a villain role, but he is an absolute joy to watch, he finds a perfect balance between funny, intimidating, and over-the-top silly and it looks like he’s enjoying chewing on the hammy dialogue written for him. 

            Birds of Prey doesn’t really do anything groundbreaking like other R-rated comic book movies in recent years, but as dumb popcorn entertainment with a bite goes, it’s a fun ride with a lot of over-the-top action and plenty of laughs. Harley F*cking Quinn for the win!