Birds of Prey (and the Fantabulous Emancipation of One Harley Quinn) Review
- G
- Feb 10, 2020
- 6 min read
I'm going to do something I haven't yet done for any of the films I've reviewed. Stick tuned to find out what.
Story- Harley Quinn (Robbie) just broke up with the Joker (rightfully so, a lot of their scenes were deleted in their previous movie!) and she's taking the breakup pretty rough. It doesn't help that she's got some pretty rude roller derby teammates talking about her behind her back. She decides to make a statement, however that statement may or may not advertise to all of the people she's wronged that it's open season. It complicates things further when she stumbles upon a complicated situation with Roman Sionis (McGregor). It's now her job to right the wrongs and maybe find some new friends along the way. I looked at who wrote this movie because I'd assumed a project this big would have at least two writers, but was shocked to see it was only written by one person, and more importantly one woman, Christina Hodson. Hodson most recently wrote the script for 'Bumblebee", which was a surprisingly enjoyable Transformers spinoff (who would've thought that was possible anymore), and I enjoyed the script overall. It did suffer from a striking resemblance to 'Deadpool 2' structurally in the basic skeleton of the plot, but this movie has the same style and storytelling given how similar the two characters are to each other, and that isn't a bad thing either. I never felt the need to check my watch, which is a huge benefit of this movie because just a moment or two do drag, but in an otherwise freshly paced movie that is acceptable. This movie also benefits from its R rating, not that it utilizes that factor to drop in loads of unnecessary swearing and CG blood, but it allowed some of the jokes to have better and not sanitized punchlines, or some of the action to have that extra thump. One of the prime achievements I took from this movie is that I feel that it is a great example of a feminist movie without being forceful and having the message be "guys are stupid, see how stupid they are? Women smart" in a cave-person way of delivering a message, such as 'Ghostbusters (2016)'. I think that it's very earned, and I really loved the messages this movie delivered. Despite the weaker elements of the plot contrivances, I thoroughly enjoyed my time watching this film.
Cinematography/Props/Editing- The cinematographer of this movie must've seen the vibrant colors in 'Thor Ragnarock' and 'Guardians 2' and thought "challenge accepted". This movie is extremely colorful, and I know a lot of it is post production FX, but undoubtedly with the costumes and the set design you can still respect all of the colors. I know I sure do love a colorful movie, it's a great insight to show the feelings of the character. The props in this movie are over the top, but in a great way. There was one moment in the third act that I was worried that would mimic 'Deadpool 2' again, and I'm glad they didn't do that. The stuffed beaver is a highlight for sure! The editing of this movie was very much like 'Suicide Squad', flashy and integrated into the scenes and the backgrounds.
Acting/Stunts- One of the minor gripes I had with this movie is how some of the action in this movie is shown. There are a lot of cheesy action flips straight out of Commando or an 80's action movie. With that being said, the action itself in this movie is choreographed fantastically, I absolutely loved it. On my Letterbox review of
Bad Boys For Life' I made the point of saying that in a post 'John Wick' world, action movies have significantly stepped up their game in how they show the action unfold on the screen, and I'm grateful for it. There's one scene with Harley whippin some serious booty with her trusted bat to a song that sync up in a great way. There are a lot of good visual gags and references in this film as well which I appreciated.
The main action in this film despite having the title Birds of Prey does center a lot around the character of Harley Quinn. That being said, everyone did a pretty good job. Jurnee Smollett-Bell, Rosie Perez, Ella Jay Basco were good in their parts as Canary, Det. Montoya, and Cassandra Cain respectively. Basco could've taken it up slightly more, but for being a kid she did a solid job considering I don't believe I've seen her in anything else before, and I also don't want to be harsh on a kid actor. Mary Elizabeth Winstead sadly wasn't in the movie as much as I would've liked after she was introduced (I didn't even realize she was in the movie because I only watched the teaser when it was first released), but when she was on screen she had some fun comedic moments, no doubt familiar to her from 'Scott Pilgrim vs the World'. Ewan McGregor I've really enjoyed in movies as of late (at the time I'm writing this I just watched him in Doctor Sleep, which sorry I won't be reviewing, but check out my letterbox @GsReviews if you're interested) and he was really good and funny in his role, however he was just a tad too over the top for my taste at certain moments in particular in this film. I heard from some people that he was just a raging misogynist, however I didn't quite get that forceful opinion of him. What I read it as was that he is a man who wants all the power he can get (sounds like someone very infamous in this day and age) and feels inadequate when someone, especially a woman, gets in his way of achieving that power, especially if they show they are better than him in any way. Other than that, he too has some pretty quirky moments that are fun to watch in a cringey way. Now to Margot Robbie, last but not least. Was there any doubt that she would bring all she had to this role? Robbie is fantastic, and like Ryan Reynolds as Deadpool, she truly loves this role and was very active in getting this movie to fruition. Her performance is a big part of what worked about this movie, and I applaud her for that.
Directing- I didn't know who directed the movie until I was doing my typical research to see who was behind the scenes of the movies I review, and this is director Cathy Yan's first "true" film she's directed, so color me impressed. I'd say of the qualms I had with this film, directing wasn't an issue, so for her to have this be her first film I give major props. This movie was directed much better than Suicide Squad. I don't want to constantly refer to that movie, because I don't think it's (total) trash like people claim, but given it's a semi-sequel I have to mention it. I think Cathy has a promising career ahead of her if she takes what she did here and improves to become even better. I like the choices that Cathy went with in making the film a win for feminists without pushing the envelope in a forceful way.
Soundtrack/Audio- At first it felt like they were just going to throw in a montage of songs like 'Suicide Squad' did on its soundtrack, however after the initial introduction it calmed down. What I did appreciate as the movie went on and what I noticed at about the halfway point, the soundtrack features all female artists. The score itself was interesting enough, however as me and my friend were sitting through the credits, I was actually enjoying several of the tracks. The audio accents the comedy in some of the action scenes, one in particular near the end where I had a few good chuckles.
Final Verdict- So here's where I shall deviate from the usual here. I'm going to give my personal rating and then a "professional" rating. My personal rating- A. This movie truly was a lot of fun to watch, and it felt like it went by lightning fast, even with the handful of minor gripes I had with it. My "professional" rating- B. This movie felt familiar, taking inspirations from other films like 'Deadpool' and oddly enough (at least in a "the movie had a ton of backlash" sense) 'Suicide Squad', in particular with its editing. There were also several plot holes and odd character choices that didn't quite fit with their personality. With these being said, if you're looking for a fun time, I say give this one a shot.
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