Birds of Prey and the Fantabulous Emancipation of one Harley Quinn (not going to say that every time) is the new DCEU film directed by Cathy Yan in her second outing as a director and stars Margot Robbie, Rosa Perez, Ewan McGregor, Jurnee Smollett-Bell, Mary Elizabeth Winstead and Ella Jay Basco. And this movie, more than Shazam, Joker or Aquaman, really shows the potential of DC movies. In a cinema landscape that is dominated by Marvel’s safe, fun, action movies, DC’s new business plan of putting out a bunch of totally different movie shows real potential. Birds of Prey is unlike any other super-hero movie we’ve ever seen, the closest comparison being probably Deadpool, but even that doesn’t quite do it justice. It does have the R-rated comedy as Deadpool at several moments, but it’s less quippy and is able to get a lot darker. That’s not to say that Birds of Prey is a bold new movie, because it’s not. But it is a well put together, very entertaining and memorable blockbuster to kick of 2020.
Let’s talk about it’s greatest strengths. Cathy Yan directs the hell out of the action scenes. There’s an insane amount of visual polish that goes into every big action scene that makes all the fight scene such a joy to watch beyond the fact that the fight choreographer from John Wick came in to make the actual fights insane. The stand out is easily the police station fight scene that is vibrant and exciting in a way that few other super-hero movies have ever shown. Additionally, Margot Robbie IS Harley Quinn in much the same way that Robert Downey Jr. or Chris Evans embody their roles in the MCU. The movie ticket to see this film is worth buying on the merit of watching her alone and both the script and Robbie do an excellent job of telling a story through Harley Quinn’s brain. The other stand out is Ewan McGregor who chews every single scene he’s in to a point where he gives Robbie a run for her money. McGregor’s Roman Sionis is such a delightfully ugly human being that you both love watching McGregor have a blast with it and hate it. The one problem I had with him was less a problem with him and more a problem with the script in that I felt like I never needed him to be “Black Mask” because I didn’t quite buy him as a named super-villain, to me Roman Sionis was enough of an antagonist without a scary mask.
Following that trail into the mixed aspects of this film, it is a bit chaotic. For my part I was able to follow the film just fine, but there have been plenty of complaints that the crazy plot structure is confusing and unnecessary. There is merit to these complaints and if you want a linear plot-structure then you will have some trouble with this movie but not seeing it because of that will mean that you’re missing out. Additionally, this is not a Birds of Prey movie and it doesn’t really convince me as a backdoor Birds of Prey origin story either. The three Birds of Prey are all fine, but only really work as background characters to Harley Quinn and nothing about this movie makes me interested in seeing a stand-alone Birds of Prey movie. That’s not to say that any actress is bad (with the exception of maybe Ella Jay Basco, who at 12 years old, can’t quite keep up with the rest of the cast), but they just aren’t really engaging in the way that Margot Robbie and Ewan McGregor are. That being said, Mary Elizabeth Winstead as Huntress is fun, but she’s so poorly drawn into the plot that we barely get a good sense of her character.
Those nitpicks aside, there are no real movie breaking flaws with this film. The action is hella fun, the humor is on point 90% of the time, and it’s just a fun time. Honestly it’s a bit surprising how many people have taken grievance with this film because it seems to me as the type of movie that can whisk anybody up into itself if they’re willing. There have been a lot of complaints lobbied against this film, saying that it’s too much preachy feminism and to that I say, actually watch the movie, don’t just watch the trailers. Because the trailers don’t quite do the film justice. Sure, if you’re looking for a message that says “all woman good, all men bad” you can find that pretty easily, but that’s ignoring the smartness of the script. It is true that all the males in this film are psychotic a$$holes (with the exception of Doc, who’s adorable), but honestly everybody in this movie is kinda a psychotic a$$hole. It’s just that Harley and co. choose to be something more. This is a movie about defining yourself as a singular person while not isolating yourself from everybody else. It could be a bit more strongly stated but Ewan McGregor’s Roman Sionis is a character building himself from scratch after being kicked out of his father’s empire. The only difference between him and the Birds of Prey and Harley Quinn, who are all also defining themselves on their own, is that he finds himself unable to really befriend anybody and gets stuck being a sadistic a$$hole trying to create an army to control Gotham City. He’s so unable to trust that the very second time we see him, he’s cutting off a families’ faces because the dad didn’t agree to his deal. There is good stuff in this movie if you’re willing to watch it.
All in all Birds of Prey and the Fantabulous Emancipation of One Harley Quinn is not reinventing anything. It’s not the best super-hero movie you’ve ever seen and isn’t the best feminist super-hero movie you’ve ever seen. But it is a well-crafted, fun roller-coaster that deserves all the support it can get at the box office, because DC needs to know to make more of these movies.
P.S. Also the title is evidently “Harley Quinn: Birds of Prey” now? It’s a good decision, but why wasn’t it made before the movie came out?
Personal Rating: 8/10
Entertainment: ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️
Depth: ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️ ☆
Story: ⭐️⭐️⭐️ ☆ ☆
Comedy: ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️ ☆
Tension: ⭐️⭐️ ☆ ☆ ☆
Acting: ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️ ☆
Directing: ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️
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