"Birds of Prey" Review: A Wild, Zany Comic Book Spinoff
Plot Synopsis courtesy of IMDb.com: “After splitting with the Joker, Harley Quinn joins superheroes Black Canary, Huntress and Renee Montoya to save a young girl from an evil crime lord.”
Directed by: Cathy Yan (Dead Pigs)
Written by: Christina Hodson (Bumblebee)
Starring: Margot Robbie (Suicide Squad), Rosie Perez (White Men Can’t Jump), Mary Elizabeth Winstead (10 Cloverfield Lane), Jurnee Smollett-Bell (Lovecraft Country) and Ewan McGregor (Moulin Rouge!)
Cinematography by: Matthew Libatique (Black Swan)
Birds of Prey: And the Fantabulous Emancipation of Harley Quinn is rated R.
The quasi-sequel to Suicide Squad (2016), Birds of Prey: And the Fantabulous Emancipation of Harley Quinn picks up following Harley Quinn (Margot Robbie) after she splits with Joker to make her own way in the criminal underworld of Gotham City. Narrated by Quinn herself, the film is a whirlwind of various villains, timeframes and comic book references that doesn’t shy away from the bizarre, silly and gruesome.
Robbie is certainly the lynchpin of Birds of Prey and her performance elevates some of the goofier aspects of the film. With that being said, she is doing a lot of acting, for better or for worse. The rest of the cast didn’t seem to have read the memo regarding melodrama, and it gave the film an indecisive feel, as if it were caught in the middle of a tug-of-war of tonalities.
Opposite Robbie, Ewan McGregor plays the primary heavy, a mob boss named Roman Sionis. Sionis is clearly representative of the “male gaze,” frequently objectifying and over-sexualizing the women who work for him. McGregor’s charisma and upstanding persona make this an odd casting combination, but McGregor relishes his opportunities to ham it up. The treatment of women by Sionis and his cronies give the film a grounded and harsh tone that make Birds of Prey more poignant in its central message.
Robbie’s supporting cast all performed well, even though they lacked the type of believable chemistry that would have elevated the film further. Mary Elizabeth Winstead was funny and gruffly charming in her relatively limited role and Jurnee Smollett-Bell brought a relatable and sympathetic character to the screen.
My harshest critique of Birds of Prey is that it struggled to find a consistent tone overall. Thankfully, it turned away from the overwhelmingly dismal tone of previous DC Extended Universe films, but it never fully committed itself to be the sarcastic and peppy film the marketing made it out to be. The script is effortfully funny at times, though not nearly as funny as it seems to think it is. Unwilling to commit to the sharp, self-deprecating humor which made Deadpool a hit, Birds of Prey sometimes felt like a half-baked version of something raunchier.
Birds of Prey does a lot of interesting things with set and production design, from the lavish interior of Sionis’ nightclub to an abandoned carnival that hosts the film’s climax. Cathy Yan’s direction of the action was superb and stylish to match the extravagant set designs. The one area where Birds of Prey held nothing back was the brutality of the hand-to-hand combat. I could have made do with fewer broken legs and reversed kneecaps, but the tactile fight sequences marked the high points of the film.
While Birds of Prey doesn’t feel like a major turning point in the superhero film genre, it is unique enough in style and story to be a refreshing entry into the cadre. Without the star power of Robbie and McGregor this could have been a film of significantly decreased quality but was enjoyable, nonetheless. I can’t say I’ll be lining up to see the sequel, but this is a step in the right direction for DC’s films sans Batman, Wonder Woman and Superman. At the very least, it is great to see Harley Quinn thriving in the absence of Joker, as we all should be.
Reel Rating: 6/10
Birds of Prey: And the Fantabulous Emancipation of Harley Quinn is now playing in cinemas.
