Birds of Prey (and the Fantabulous Emancipation of One Harley Quinn)
Year: 2020
Director: Cathy Yan
Starring: Mary Elizabeth Winstead, Ella Jay Basco, Rosie Perez, Margot Robbie & Jurnee Smollett-Bell
Runtime: 109 mins
BBFC: 15
Published: 28/07/21
Director: Cathy Yan
Starring: Mary Elizabeth Winstead, Ella Jay Basco, Rosie Perez, Margot Robbie & Jurnee Smollett-Bell
Runtime: 109 mins
BBFC: 15
Published: 28/07/21
The DC Extended Universe got off to a rocky start with Man of Steel in 2013 but 2016 was the year where the DCEU really screwed itself over in such spectacular style that the franchise has never truly recovered with Batman v Superman and Suicide Squad, both of which are truly awful films. But one thing people seemed to love about Suicide Squad was Margot Robbie’s performance as Harley Quinn, and whilst I’m not saying she did a bad job in the role I just don’t see all the hype surrounding Robbie as Harley. Regardless, she was so popular that Warner Bros. were of course going to bring the character back, and in her own film no less. But is it really her film? The title is very confusing to me.
Birds of Prey (and the Fantabulous Emancipation of One Harley Quinn) tells the tale of Harley (Margot Robbie) post break up with the Joker. She’s been tossed aside and left to fend for herself on the mean streets of Gotham, with plenty of enemies who now have the perfect opportunity to exact their revenge on her.
After crossing crime lord Roman Sionis (Ewan McGregor), Harley is tasked with tracking down an extremely valuable diamond that was stolen from him. But it seems that Harley is just one small part of a chain of events all leading back to this diamond, with each person seeking it having some great claim to it.
Birds of Prey (and the Fantabulous Emancipation of One Harley Quinn) tells the tale of Harley (Margot Robbie) post break up with the Joker. She’s been tossed aside and left to fend for herself on the mean streets of Gotham, with plenty of enemies who now have the perfect opportunity to exact their revenge on her.
After crossing crime lord Roman Sionis (Ewan McGregor), Harley is tasked with tracking down an extremely valuable diamond that was stolen from him. But it seems that Harley is just one small part of a chain of events all leading back to this diamond, with each person seeking it having some great claim to it.
I’m going to say straight off the bat that Birds of Prey is a fun film. It doesn’t require too much brain power, there are some well-choreographed fight sequences, and the characters are interesting. But that’s really all there is to it. It’s not a film you can sink your teeth into, in fact, it’s all said and done in a little over an hour and a half.
It doesn’t particularly feel like a Harley Quinn film, despite her clearly being the protagonist of the story. But then the title implies that it’s actually the big screen debut of the Birds of Prey, DC’s female super-team…but even they don’t play a particularly big role in the film. Each member of the Birds of Prey is either looking for the diamond, or the person who stole it, but none of them have met before and none of them are even in the same room as each other until the final fifteen minutes of the film. It’s here that you get a begrudging team up happen for no clear reason and the Birds of Prey are born.
Much like the Suicide Squad and Justice League, it seems like DC are just going to allow another one of their super teams to be pissed away in the wind because of a bad script. Which is a shame because that final battle scene in the funhouse was one of the best fight sequences in the entire DCEU.
Tonally Birds of Prey leans into Suicide Squad’s insanity, but this time actually gives it some oomph; this allows for more impact in the fight sequences, and some more adult humour to be thrown around which was very welcome. It’s a good-looking film with some great fight choreography, as well as a very liberal use of colour. But I wasn’t too keen on the way the film had been edited together. Jumping back and forth in time as frequently as it does, and in as short a time frame as it does to present the same scenario from different perspectives is a good idea on paper but not very well executed. I often found it hard to work out why I should care about what was happening, only to be shown the scene over again a few minutes later from someone else’s view that had a key line of dialogue in it.
I would be interested in seeing a sequel; a proper Birds of Prey film where the group is established, and they can work together in a similar style to the end of this film. But whilst I had some fun with Birds of Prey, I feel indifferent about it. It’s not bad, but I wouldn’t exactly recommend the film to anyone. It was refreshing to see a female group on screen kicking all kinds of ass, and the performances from the likes of Mary Elizabeth Winstead, Jurnee Smollett-Bell, and Rosie Perez were great. I also still fail to see the huge appeal of Robbie as Harley; I love the actress and I like the character, but I just fail to see why everyone thinks she’s so great.
Birds of Prey missed the mark for me, but if Warner Bros. were to make a sequel, I’d definitely be interested in seeing what they’d do with it.
It doesn’t particularly feel like a Harley Quinn film, despite her clearly being the protagonist of the story. But then the title implies that it’s actually the big screen debut of the Birds of Prey, DC’s female super-team…but even they don’t play a particularly big role in the film. Each member of the Birds of Prey is either looking for the diamond, or the person who stole it, but none of them have met before and none of them are even in the same room as each other until the final fifteen minutes of the film. It’s here that you get a begrudging team up happen for no clear reason and the Birds of Prey are born.
Much like the Suicide Squad and Justice League, it seems like DC are just going to allow another one of their super teams to be pissed away in the wind because of a bad script. Which is a shame because that final battle scene in the funhouse was one of the best fight sequences in the entire DCEU.
Tonally Birds of Prey leans into Suicide Squad’s insanity, but this time actually gives it some oomph; this allows for more impact in the fight sequences, and some more adult humour to be thrown around which was very welcome. It’s a good-looking film with some great fight choreography, as well as a very liberal use of colour. But I wasn’t too keen on the way the film had been edited together. Jumping back and forth in time as frequently as it does, and in as short a time frame as it does to present the same scenario from different perspectives is a good idea on paper but not very well executed. I often found it hard to work out why I should care about what was happening, only to be shown the scene over again a few minutes later from someone else’s view that had a key line of dialogue in it.
I would be interested in seeing a sequel; a proper Birds of Prey film where the group is established, and they can work together in a similar style to the end of this film. But whilst I had some fun with Birds of Prey, I feel indifferent about it. It’s not bad, but I wouldn’t exactly recommend the film to anyone. It was refreshing to see a female group on screen kicking all kinds of ass, and the performances from the likes of Mary Elizabeth Winstead, Jurnee Smollett-Bell, and Rosie Perez were great. I also still fail to see the huge appeal of Robbie as Harley; I love the actress and I like the character, but I just fail to see why everyone thinks she’s so great.
Birds of Prey missed the mark for me, but if Warner Bros. were to make a sequel, I’d definitely be interested in seeing what they’d do with it.