Movie Review: Birds of Prey … And the Fantabulous Emancipation of One Harley Quinn (R – 109 minutes)

The Birds of Prey have been around in DC Comics since 1996 – give or take. After Barbara Gordon (Batgirl) was crippled, she shifted her talents to becoming Oracle – the ‘girl in the chair’ for a new crew of crimefighters. The roster has rotated over the years, as with all superhero teams, but the main characters are Black Canary and Huntress.  In 2002, there was a short-lived TV show called Birds of Prey that included Ashley Scott as Helena Kyle (Huntress), Dina Meyer as Barbara Gordon (Oracle), Rachel Skarsten as Dinah Lance (Black Canary), Shemar Moore as Jesse Reese, Ian Abercrombie as Alfred Pennyworth, and Mia Sara as Dr. Harleen Quinzel.

In 2016, the DC cinematic universe released Suicide Squad, after said squad had already been covered very well in both Smallville and Arrow.  Essentially, they are a group of villains with chips in their heads recruited to go on near impossible missions for the ‘good’ guys’ government. If they go rogue, boom – exploding heads. The movie was an absolute mess.  Margot Robbie was introduced as Dr. Harleen Qunizel – or Harley Quinn, the Joker’s girlfriend/property/whipping girl/abusee.  

Here, Margot Robbie has shifted to producer in a movie directed by Cathy Yan.  

Harley has finally decided enough with the way ‘Mr. J.’ treats her and has broken up with him for good. She swiftly realizes that fear of the Joker is what was keeping the criminals of Gotham from attacking her and now everyone she’s ever wronged is out to get her, which is a long list. Meanwhile, Detective Renee Montoya is struggling to make any progress in the GCPD where Captain Fuller is apparently her boss who cheated her out of a promotion years ago. With the Joker out of town and Harley fair game, Roman Sionis is looking to move up in the organized crime world. Dinah Lance is working as a singer in his club and Montoya is recruiting her to work as an informant thanks to a relationship Montoya had with her mother. Suddenly, a new killer appears in the city, wiping out a lot of the crime bosses with a crossbow.  Teen pickpocket Cassandra Cain accidentally steals something that all parties are after, leading to a confrontation of epic proportions.

Now, while that sounds like a lot, it actually fits together into a decent story. Cathy Yan weaves together a lot of independent pieces into a cohesive piece with incredible action sequences and some genuine laughs.  I was really pleasantly surprised by this movie.  I haven’t been impressed with most of the DCCU to date – I liked Shazam, most of Wonder Woman, and some of Aquaman, but the rest have not been great. This is one I genuinely liked.  I was blown away by the hand-to-hand combat sequences and the majority of the characters.

Margot Robbie producing this has made a huge difference in Harley. She’s must less annoying and what I really appreciated was the moments where you see Dr. Qunizel is still in there. I mean, she was a doctor, and while now definitely insane, it was nice to see her use her brain repeatedly. And yes, having a female director was a huge improvement for me as the movie is not shot in the ‘male gaze’.  If you’re not sure what that means – it’s the difference between the way the Amazons look in Wonder Woman versus how they look in Justice League.  It’s subtle, but it does make a difference.  I enjoyed Robbie’s performance, and I liked that Harley finally stepped into her own. Slight spoiler here – but I also enjoy that she’s not suddenly a ‘good guy’, which I worried about when I heard about this movie. The Birds of Prey are traditionally heroes, and Harley, despite her popularity, is still a villain.

There’s no Oracle in this, but I wouldn’t mind seeing a BOP sequel with no Harley and Oracle establishing the team firmly.  Rosie Perez is a great version of Montoya who is just fed up with being unable to make progress as a good cop.  Jurnee Smollett-Bell was a good Dinah Lance, but not as good as Juliana Harkavy (just my opinion).  For me, the big reveal of her ‘skill’ – which is a slow build all movie – was a bit difficult because I’m so familiar with the character. I spent a large part of the movie wondering why she wasn’t Canary-ing yet.  It’s not her fault, it’s the hard part of making a movie with characters that have already been done so well on TV when the cinematic universe (except for Ezra Miller) is trying to pretend the TV universe doesn’t exist.  

I really enjoyed Mary Elizabeth Winstead’s portray of Helena Bertinelli and how the driving rage of pure vengeance can turn a person into Huntress. She’s cold and awkward and fantastic in this role. She stole most of the group scenes for me. Ella Jay Basco as Cassandra was appropriately funny and annoying as the teen thief. 

I was far less happy with the antagonists in the movie.  Anthony Carrigan was so fantastic as Victor Zsasz on Gotham that Chris Messina had really no chance in this. He’s certainly creepy and weird, but sidelined. It pains me to say it, but Ewan McGregor is terrible here. He’s terribly miscast as Roman Sionis and even less convincing once he puts on the Black Mask.  McGregor attempts to go big for the crazed and out of control Sionis but it comes off as trying way too hard.  For the second review in a row I can’t help but think this movie would have been better with Nicholas Cage in that role.

Overall, I was very surprised by how much I liked this movie, of course, I did go in expecting to hate it. I can’t say enough about how much where your expectation bar is affects your viewing of a movie.  Yes, it is rated R, but it keeps pretty well contained, some language and blood – without going too far. And side note – the hyena is fine and makes it through okay.

6 out of 10. Fun, great action, looking forward to seeing Oracle show up at some point.