Birds of Prey (and the Fantabulous Emancipation of One Harley Quinn) is a sequel/spinoff to Suicide Squad that follows the maid of mischief after a breakup with the Joker. This makes up the films emotional core as Harley works out her obsession with the Joker and starts existing on her own terms as the title suggests. As one would expect for Harley Quinn, this is a messy, violent process that involves a body count and an incredible amount of property damage.
The film does a good job of introducing us into Harley’s world of blood and glitter, in a way that Suicide Squad utterly failed at. However, this intro is all in on Harley the carefree party girl that also casually murders people and steals things. This aesthetic didn’t work for me personally I found Harley grating, much as I did in Suicide Squad, though I chalk this up to the character herself more than the performance. Margot Robbie is still very convincing in the role. This is likely a make or break for this film as Harley is the focal point and the collaboration of the Birds of Prey doesn’t come until the finale. I’m certain this aesthetic, which reminded me of the Kesha-esque unwashed party girl, mixed with a carefree psychopath will have its fans. For them, I suspect this movie will be great fun.
The film makes great use of bright colors in its composition as the aforementioned glitter might suggest, it’s a bombastic film that rejects the typical sheen of cleanliness a lot of Hollywood productions fall prey to, opting instead to resemble the grimy floor of a nightclub the morning after. The camera is often in close up, aping the comic stylings that would be used to denote characters emotional state, else it opts for wide shots where our antihero has room to bounce around the scene, this is done most often for the fight scenes. The films visual composition is effective if not groundbreaking.
I found the narrative to be serviceable but shallow, it’s a typical find the McGuffin plot that serves to pit the characters against one another initially only for them to inevitably come together at the end to fight the real enemy, a man. On that note I found Ewan McGregor’s take on Black Mask to be entertaining if a little underdeveloped, he’s clearly never meant to be more than a one dimensional baddy as most of script is devoted to developing Harley and introducing the various Birds of Prey.
This part was a mixed bad for me, noted dislike of Harley aside, the Birds themselves were pretty entertaining and I found myself wishing the film had chosen to focus more on them. As it is, we get brief introductions to each but little in the way of development as the film is already overstuffed with Harley. The kid character who serves as the McGuffin is supposed to be spunky and sympathetic, but she gives an uneven performance and aside from one scene there’s little backstory given to explain her behavior. I found myself most endeared to Mary Elizabeth Winstead's awkward but badass take on Huntress as well as Rosie Perez’s angry Renee Montoya surrounded by idiots and crazies but still doggedly trying to do cop shit. Jurnee Smollett-Bell’s Black Canary is a solid addition with some decent set up and pay off as well, but her largely straight-faced manner would’ve worked better if she were with Harley more often.
The film is unquestionably exploring the troubles of a woman’s journey and displaying solidarity with women of all walks of life, there are many scenes that demonstrate this from grand gestures to small things like handing a friend a hair tie. I think this aspect of the film will appeal greatly to a lot of people. It’s endearing and I wish there was more of it instead of Harley’s irritating party girl psycho humor.
Despite the pretty messy presentation of the films narrative and characters, the action scenes have an entirely different feel to them, this is due to them being done by 87Eleven, the guys behind the John Wick films. As a result, the action feels much more down to earth than the actual narrative while also managing to incorporate some of the silliness of someone like Quinn’s fighting style. Characters flit from one baddy to the next dispatching them with inventive and satisfying violence. It’s certainly not as brutal as John Wick but the action has a weight to it that a lot of the film avoids in favor of tongue in cheek antics. This is easily the best part of the film for me and there is quite a lot of it.
Returning to the narrative the story is told non-linearly and from the perspective of Harley Quinn herself, this results in a bit of rewinding as the film tosses us into the middle of the story and provides context as an afterthought in the vein of a flighty Harley Quinn. This doesn’t really cause all that much confusion but the fact that the story was told from Harley’s perspective felt underutilized outside of this. I have a hard time thinking of a more unreliable narrator than Harley Quinn and yet the story is told without a hint of ambiguity. I think opting for a more fractured retelling where maybe the Birds get to take over as narrators when Harley lies might have helped us get to know them better.
Overall, I enjoyed my time with Birds of Prey in fits and starts, much of the humor and the general demeanor of the film wasn’t really my cup of tea but this is by no means a bad film. It’s certainly messy, a little bloated, and thematically split. But still a thoroughly watchable film, especially for those that really get a kick out the dirty club girl aesthetic and breakup humor.
6/10 Could’ve used some more hair ties, but still gets the job done.