Movie Review: Birds of Prey

Birds of Prey: And the Fantabulous Emancipation of One Harley Quinn

Director: Cathy Yan

Starring: Margot Robbie, Mary Elizabeth Winstead, Jurnee Smollet-Bell, Ewan McGregor, Rosie Perez, Ella Jay Basco, Chris Messina, François Chau, Steven Williams, Amy Wong, Charlene Amoia

Rating: R

Runtime: 109 minutes

After Suicide Squad was released back in 2016, people absolutely loathed this over-hyped movie because it had all the ingredients that were essential to a  successful superhero movie, but it ruined the entire movie with awful plot holes and storyline, except for Margot Robbie. Her stand-out performance as Harley Quinn took Suicide Squad from terrible to borderline bearable. But the question remains—is Harley Quinn able to steal the show with her own story?

This question has probably been lingering in many viewers’ heads (including mine), so it is reasonable for fans to be concerned about Harley Quinn’s new solo movie, Birds of Prey: And the Fantabulous Emancipation of One Harley Quinn. However, with Warner Bros. and the DC Extended Universe slowly expanding, it seems that they have finally found the right target audience that focuses on the story and characters altogether.

The story takes place after Harley Quinn breaks up with the Joker and is left on her own. She tries to live an independent life without the help of her ex-boyfriend. Without the Joker around to protect her, all her past enemies and thugs are back to get her, especially Roman Sionis, who also goes by the name of Black Mask (Ewan McGregor) and his right-winged man Victor Zsasz (Chris Messina). However, things start to go unexpected for Quinn when Cassandra Cain (Ella Jay Basco)—a young orphan who likes to pickpocket things—steals a valuable diamond that belongs to Sionis and meets other characters such as Black Canary (Jurnee Smollet-Bell), Renee Montoya (Rosie Perez), and the Huntress (Mary Elizabeth Winstead) as she goes on her solo adventure.

Narrated by Harley Quinn herself, the entire film is told through her unique perspective. In fact, the way she tells the story haphazardly makes this story feel more special. Directed by Cathy Yan, Birds of Prey is what you would have expected if Suicide Squad had a clear vision. With Suicide Squad, instead of focusing on the characters, Batman appears in the flashback story arc connecting to other DC movies, failing to build a new world of super bad villains. But like Shazam! and Aquaman, Birds of Prey tries its best to be its own film, only adding very few references to the Batman and the Joker. If the story contains electrifying fight scenes that push the boundaries by forging its own path and solely focusing on the protagonist’s story, DC proves to viewers that sidekicks can also shine on the big screen as well.

Clearly, Margot Robbie reminds us that Harley Quinn is the role she was born to play as she takes control of the movie and brings out a complex, sparky, and delirious woman energy to the screen. In fact, she tells her point and message across directly by telling us that we make mistakes and part of our human nature is that we learn from those mistakes. However, part of me kept on expecting a wilder side of her. Throughout the film, I just wished that she brought 2% more craziness because even though her wacky and wild side was showed throughout the film if her performance went a bit more over the top, it would have been incredible.

As for the downside of this film, each of the ensemble brings a steady performance but unfortunately, their lack of screen presence makes me wish they had been giving more opportunity to do so. Still, characters such as Huntress and Roman bring more life to the character. Huntress, who has the least character development, steals the show with catchy one-liner packed with superb fighting scenes while Roman Sionis brings out an eccentric performance that is menacing enough but doesn’t quite fully live up to its expectations.

With a budget of less than 100 million dollars, Birds of Prey was the cheapest DC movie. Nonetheless, this movie didn’t need any larger-than-life action sequences. Overall, the funny brutal action choreography, especially in the police station, reminded me of Kill Bill and Charlie’s Angel with the emphasis on powerful women, violence and the use of fun songs. The fighting style of John Wick and Jackie Chan incorporated into the scenes made it brutal. But at the same time, some vibrant and glossy colored smokes and flares bring out more of Quinn’s personality as well.

This film’s engaging wild ride will both appeal to comic book fans and casual audiences. With its R rating and exciting violence, although Birds of Prey isn’t a perfect film, it is still fun, fresh, and edgy as Birds of Prey is filled with powerful female characters, shrunken heads, sliced faces, F-bombs, and a lot of broken limbs.

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