Birds of Prey Review
R: Strong violence and language throughout, and some sexual and drug materialRuntime: 1 Hr and 49 MinutesProduction Companies: DC Films, LuckyChap Entertainment, Kroll & Co. Entertainment, Clubhouse PicturesDistributor: Warner Bros. PicturesDirector: Cathy YanWriters: Christina HodsonCast: Margot Robbie, Mary Elizabeth Winstead, Jurnee Smollett-Bell, Rosie Perez, Chris Messina, Ella Jay Basco, Ali Wong, Ewan McGregorRelease Date: February 7, 2020Several years back, around the time that Spider-Verse came out, I initially thought, “Wow, what a time it is to be a Spider-Man fan.” He was ruling the MCU, making millions of people cry, dominating kids’ television with his animated series, and had one of the greatest animated movies of the 2010s, if not the best. I bring this up because I am feeling those exact emotions now towards DC’s Harley Quinn. I don’t know whether they’ve been oversaturating with the Joker in their properties, but everything they’re doing with his right-hand partner in crime while making her a solo act in the media is fantastic. For one, you have the adult animated series, Harley Quinn, on the DC Universe streaming service. I paid for a subscription just to watch it and it’s fantastic. Now we have the Harley Quinn solo movie, Birds of Prey and the Fantabulous Emancipation of One Harley Quinn, and by God does it extend my love for this character.
After the events of Suicide Squad (yeah, they didn’t retcon it), it’s revealed that the Joker has broken up with Harley Quinn. As a result of her heartbreak, she goes ahead and blows up ACE Chemicals, the birthplace of Harley Quinn as we know her. Once word gets out, it’s open season on Harley’s head, one of the top bidders being a gangster named Roman who is searching for a diamond that’s in the possession of a pickpocketer named Cassandra Cain. A wild goose chase erupts where many parties — including a cop named Renee Montoya, a crossbow killer named Huntress, and a singer named Dinah Lance — all pursue Quinn and Cain for their own purposes… until they realize they must work together as a team to survive.
I adore how we’re living in a time where the DCEU has matured past the Snyder days where they’re confident with the stories they want to tell, choosing the filmmakers and writers to bring them to life, giving them full creative control to approach it in whatever style they want. As far as the DCEU entries go, Birds of Prey is their most ambitious project to date. Proving that they can have their cake and eat it too, this quasi-spin-off/sequel bursts through the gate displaying such a dazzlingly colorful world with lavish backgrounds while utilizing cruel brutality through its violence. I love how Cathy Yan changed the studio’s trajectory into, “Oh, we can be colorful and gritty?” and BOP does it perfectly. This is the R-rated Gotham that feels real — more so than all the previous theatrical attempts. Okay, I mean just the one. Capturing the chaotic essence and unlawful grittiness of the fictional city through its characters’ actions, everyone has an energetic charisma. And you experience this all while peeking into the headspace of one Harley Quinn. You know the extensive title of the movie. It’s clear who the studio wanted the star to be and for the most part, it works. Harley is the driving force of the narrative, for she literally provides the narration. So, the story is told in this non-chronological and fragmented style that puts you in the passenger seat of her psyche, which is such an interesting approach for director Cathy Yan and screenwriter Christina Hodson to take, making this the most playful R-rated comic book movie to exist since Deadpool… and not even Deadpool was so boastful with this much color. There’s no other movie that I can describe as having such a gritty yet glittery pop art aesthetic like this. For this being Yan’s first major blockbuster, she completely nails the characters and delivers her own version of Gotham that you’d want to visit (with precaution, of course). She expresses each set piece with such fascinating gravitas, giving each sequence its own identity. The camera work gives you the adrenaline rush of being Harley Quinn or wishing you were even remotely as much of a badass as she is. I had Myan next to me going, “I’d love to buy the video game version of this.” If only this was a visual board for a future Birds of Prey beat-’em-up game. Wait. That’s a great idea.
I love how clear the action sequences are. They’re all bright and visible, including the ones shot in dark spaces. She even utilizes slow-motion (one of Snyder’s signature traits) and delivers each slo-mo blow in such a beautiful and glorious manner that it makes the violence look like ballet. The props are creative and silly and it reaches a Saints Row III level of outlandish by expressing the many simple objects Quinn weaponizes (besides her trusty bat). Unlike most of the filmmakers in the DCEU, she maintains a stream of consciousness that’s consistent. If anything, it delivers the tone of a comic book come to life and keeps it at such a grounded level. It's the DCEU’s most contained and relatively consistent feature to date. It’s never overblown or over the top, but it’s thoroughly immersive, submissive, and fun.
Yan and Hodson make a great team. God bless Christina Hodson who single-handedly saved the Transformers franchise by penning Bumblebee and now crafted a fun script told through the perspective of Harley Quinn. Is there anything this badass screenwriter can’t do? Each character has a defining feature, even down to the antagonist. The ensemble is a blast. Margot Robbie definitely solidifies her place as THE one and only Harley Quinn (in film). She is the perfect embodiment of this character as she brings the chaotic energy with a dose of childlike/adolescent innocence to the table. She even doubles down on Harley’s northeastern attributes; all she pines for besides emancipation and independence is a bacon egg and cheese on a roll. She’s a New Yorker through and through. Ella Jay Basco (niece of Dante Basco!) shares great chemistry with Robbie as they reluctantly pair up and they both become targets for every mercenary in Gotham. Rosie Perez is hella good and so is Jurnee Smollett-Bell. Mary Elizabeth Winstead (loml) friggin’ steals the show as Huntress. She has some of the best running jokes in the film and once her individual arc is complete, she also provides a childlike wonder that caught me off guard and had me bursting with laughter, which works in context with her character's narrative. Plus, she has some of the coolest moments that made me beam with joy for how badass she was while killing dudes. You think I'm lying, but my future daughter will be named Ramona Winstead Jones just because of how badass M.E.W. is and has always been! Then, there's Ewan McGregor. Holy hell does he make for a formidable foe as Roman Sionis. He is having so much fun playing a character that’s so slimy, so vile, and so narcissistic in such a thoroughly upbeat and charismatic matter. The way that he's initially introduced is a testament to how cold and powerful he is, yet every time he's on-screen he's irresistible. He delivers a performance that I don't think I've ever seen him portray before. There’s such vigor balanced with a good amount of flamboyance. Most of my hardest laughs came from McGregor. As far as villains go, he's one of the DCEU’s best to date. Of course, I have to mention his homoerotic partner Victor Zsaz, portrayed by Chris Messina. First off, I love this modern gangster Zsaz and his relation to Roman. They do so much to truly capture them in a way that best fits this story and the world it's set in.
So much of the story rides off of Harley Quinn as the primary focus of this madness. While I love each convoluted twist and turn the story provides, I wanted to see more of the Birds of Prey as a whole. I really enjoyed Jurnee Smollett-Bell as Dinah Lance/Black Canary and, as badass as she is, I wanted more from her. Whenever the focus would shift to Renee Montoya, literally every cliched cop drama trope is heavily applied to her. Funny enough, they’re self-aware about it. Every time I’d write that criticism down in my notebook, someone would address the cliches on screen. Yes, it’s cliched and the fact that you’re addressing it doesn’t make it any less cliched. One of my major issues with this is the R-rating. I’m not saying every R-rated comic book adaptation should take full advantage of it, but I find it completely necessary for this film. I mean, you got Victor Zsaz in a movie and he’s the last person you’d want to see in a PG-13 flick. That said, there are many moments where this really could’ve either pushed the rating a bit more or they could’ve lessened some vulgarity for a PG-13 rating. Just look at the Harley Quinn series. It takes full advantage of its TV-MA rating every chance it gets. Birds of Prey hops back and forth between being light and tame with its content, but then it’s egregiously violent, albeit bloodless.
There's no easy way to say this. I absolutely adore Birds of Prey with all my heart. This is the most fun I've had watching a DC movie since Shazam or Wonder Woman. The fact that Yan and Hodson expanded on the character of Harley Quinn with her own story while having to navigate through the disaster that was Suicide Squad was not an easy feat. Yet, they succeeded in the highest degree. They made one of my new favorite DC flicks out of their absolute worst one. I'm just in awe at how this movie managed to be the most chaotic and wild fun. The power of women, man. They get shit done and deliver much better than the boys do. I'm really loving the route WB is taking with DC right now because they're delivering some of their best works. They are capable of handing the keys to the people who know these characters best and to the filmmakers who know what approach to take.
For the sake of speaking this into existence (even though Rendy briefly touched upon it), we need a Birds of Prey video game ASAP. I wanted to avoid a Deadpool comparison because Harley Quinn is her own unique personality, but the similarities in tone can’t be ignored. This movie is violent, chaotic fun at its finest and it packs a burst of color that the DCEU desperately needed. After the godforsaken mess that was Suicide Squad, it’s admirable how Cathy Yan and Christina Hodson were able to salvage the franchise and turn it into something utterly enjoyable. Long story short, Birds of Prey makes for an incredible moviegoing experience and I’m eye-to-eye with Rendy on his opinions, but words are failing me at the moment. Therefore, I’ll save the bulk of my thoughts for our upcoming podcast regarding this “fantabulous” film. Rating: 4/5 | 87% Now, if you liked this review and thought it was vague or whatever, I’m proud to announce a new podcast I like to call “The Myan & Rendy Spoiler Show” where my EIC Myan Mercado and I discuss some of the biggest movies of the year and provide a fully detailed no holds barred review. Our first episode will be about Birds of Prey and it will go up this following Monday on all audio streaming podcast platforms, including Apple Podcast and Spotify.
