Film Review: Birds Of Prey

I enjoyed Bird Of Prey (And The Fantabulous Emancipation Of One Harley Quinn) – which I will only ever refer to in its full, obnoxiously long name this one time – quite a bit, but there are some elements which gave me pause that I think are worth bringing up and exploring. For one, I question the motivation behind the R-rating, which seems like a bit much considering the origins of its characters aimed it squarely at younger audiences. Hell, Harley Quinn herself made her debut on the animated Batman show back in 1992. The colorful aesthetics of the film delivers in spades the kind of vibrant energy that the marketing for Suicide Squad famously fell flat on a few years back, and that was a four quadrant PG-13 tentpole.

Then there’s the relevancy of the title itself. This is barely a Birds Of Prey film. Our cast of colorful characters don’t get together and fight alongside one another until the third act, and even then, it’s only for one admittedly impressive set piece. The only time the film comes close to giving us the classic Birds Of Prey that fans of the comics might be looking forward to only comes in the form of one brief shot in an ending montage. It is essentially Harley Quinn And Her New Best Friends: Please Forget About Suicide Squad. Expecting anything else might lead to disappointment.

Despite those and a few other nitpicks here and there, Birds Of Prey does feel like a genuine breath of fresh air. It truly does feel unlike any other mainstream comic book film I’ve seen in a long time. It’s not like Joker, Logan, or Nolan’s Batman films in the sense that it fully strips away anything comic book-y from the proceedings, but it also doesn’t go full Marvel Cinematic Universe, concerning itself with numerous connections, setups for future films, or anything of that sort. Writer, Christina Hodson, and director, Cathy Yan, find a comfortable balance in the middle that feels like the kind of idiosyncratic, moderately scaled comic book film that would’ve come out before the big industry boom in the late 2000s.

Harkening to the likes of one of those mid-90s-to-early-2000s quirky crime capers, the film finds Harley Quinn (Margot Robbie) stuck in a predicament after her breakup with the Joker. With that relationship now behind her, anyone with a grievance against her is out for blood. When the notorious crime lord, Roman Sionis aka Black Mask (Ewan McGregor), captures her, she makes a deal for her survival, which is to capture a kid, Cassandra Cain (Ella Jay Basco), who has stolen something he wants. However, the scheme attracts the attention of the likes of Gotham PD Detective Renee Montoya (Rosie Perez), Black Canary (Jurnee Smollett-Bell), and Huntress (Mary Elizabeth Winstead), each having their own reason to get involved.

The structure is a bit on the strange side. The entire first half of it is largely comprised with a series of flashbacks narrated by Harley Quinn, each of which occasionally intertwine within the timeline. This whole period also has its own inciting incident in the form of Harley destroying the ACE Chemicals building, which causes a shakedown in Gotham’s underworld, creating a ripple effect that touches several of the characters. But it isn’t until Harley’s involvement with Cassandra around the halfway point does it feel like the prologue is complete and the plot has begun proper.

This structure takes away a lot of potential narrative momentum, but for me, the film makes up for it through sheer personality and energy. It’s a thoroughly irreverent and chaotic film, perfectly representing the mindset of Harley Quinn. The score by Daniel Pemberton is propulsive, the needle drops serve the atmosphere well, and the cinematography from Matthew Libatique brings a striking visual aesthetic that captures the grit of Gotham, but with a stylish flair that makes the world feel so alive. It was interesting to see a film that dived deep into the parts of Gotham that has hardly been explored in any of these adaptations before. The action is also very satisfying, with a number of exciting stunts and choreography that the camera gives room to breathe. Although, I did find that the violence, given the R-rating, felt a bit off, since it was just bloody enough to warrant the R-rating, but never quite as vicious enough as it could have been – and frankly, should have been – considering the nature of some of these characters.

It does help that the performances are strong across the board. Robbie breathes new life into the character in a way that feels so much more fully realized than she was in Suicide Squad. There is so much more meat here in terms of crafting a character that is trying to stand on her own, which works in the meta sense because I’m sure many are skeptical of a film like this being a success, and it works on a story level because it is literally about Harley Quinn escaping the shadow of the Joker and his legacy, which comes in the form of Sionis. The other actors do unfortunately get stuck in pure supporting role territory, but they all manage to bring enough heart and humor to their performances to prevent their characters from feeling one-note, even if they basically are on the page. It’s great seeing Perez in a movie again, feels like it’s been forever, but Smollett-Bell comes close to stealing the whole movie right from under Robbie.

Personality is the ultimate saving grace for Birds Of Prey, and for me, personality goes a long way. There are definitely elements that didn’t work quite as smoothly as I had hoped, but the experience of watching it all unfold was honestly such a blast. Having a team of female creatives be in charge brought an interesting perspective, bringing nice touches here and there that I doubt we would have seen if the film were helmed by men, even ones as small as Harley throwing Black Canary a hair tie in the middle of a fight scene. Also, starting off with a 2D animated prologue already hit me in a soft spot, but as the film kept going, I was still charmed by its irreverence, its characters, and the way it celebrated female camaraderie. It’s a very fun movie from start to finish, and while it might not be a whole lot more than just that, I left the film eager to see more of these characters, and I really I hope I do. I am also just thankful that we get one of these blockbusters that’s under two hours.