Review: Birds of Prey: and the Fantabulous Emancipation of One Harley Quinn

Man, I loved this movie. This was Deadpool levels of entertaining, and there are more than a few similarities to Deadpool, but I’ll get into that later. Suicide Squad was a mess of a movie, but the one redeeming feature, was Margot Robbie’s Harley Quinn. Now she’s gotten her own movie, and is joined by some new friends.

Let’s get this out of the way. The is a simple movie. That’s not a bad thing. John Wick was a movie about a dude angry that someone killed his dog. This is a movie, like Deadpool 2, about a “hero” who has to protect a child, and they enlist help along the way. Pretty simple setup. There’s some fourth wall breaking, like Deadpool, this is a really funny movie, like Deadpool, and there are some humorously creative fight scenes, just like Deadpool. What I’m saying is that this is DC’s version of a Deadpool movie.

Don’t get me wrong. I loved this movie, just like I loved Deadpool. I’m not trying to knock this movie at all. It was amazing. Margot Robbie shines in this movie. The entire time, you can tell she’s having just as much fun making the movie, as I was watching it. In my Suicide Squad review, I pointed out that she flips from having the Harley Quinn accent and then not having it. I wasn’t sure if it was because Ms. Robbie is Australian and couldn’t keep the accents straight, or if it was a genius movie where Harley Quinn’s accent is linked to how crazy she is at that moment. In this movie, it seems to lean more into the latter. When she’s in psychologist mode, she has a normal American accent, and when she’s batshit crazy, the accent matches.

The Birds of Prey don’t really appear until the end of the movie. This is very much an origin story, in a way, but not really. For instance, all of the characters are fully fleshed out. There are some flashbacks, but for the most part, you’re watching the characters as they are now. Harley’s own backstory is shown at the beginning of the movie, as a cartoon, because of course it is. This shows how the Birds of Prey met, but not exactly in an origin story type of way. This movie does feel like it had a checklist to follow. You need a black girl, an Asian girl, a Latina girl, a lesbian, a blonde, a brunette. And all the bad people have to be white dudes. But if you can move beyond the SJW circle jerk, this is a great movie.

The first Bird you meet is Jurnee Smollett-Bell’s Dinah Lance (Black Canary). She is a singer at a bar run by the bad guy. Her mother was a superhero, who died and no one protected her, so Dinah doesn’t really want to be a hero.

Mary Elizabeth Winstead plays Helena Bertinelli, the Huntress. She was the daughter of a mobster, and her family was murdered right in front of her, so she trains to be an assassin.

Rosie Perez, who’s tits are a lot bigger than I remember, plays detective Renee Montoya. She’s a great detective who never gets the recognition she deserves because some dude is always taking the credit she deserves. I know that first bit was sexist, but there’s a scene towards the end of the movie where you see some cleavage, and my jaw dropped.

Ella Jay Basco plays the child they have to save. Ewan McGregor plays Roman Sionis, the Black Mask, our villain. He is assisted by Chris Messina’s Victor Zsasz.

A neat thing about this movie, is each of our female characters represent a different type of misogyny. Montoya is right at the glass ceiling, but can’t catch a break, because no one takes her seriously. Black Canary is a direct and not at all hidden portrayal of an abusive relationship. She sticks it out because she’s afraid of what could happen when the scary man takes out his rage on her. Harley herself, just got out of an abusive relationship, and is struggling to find her self worth after being in the Joker’s shadow for so long.

Conversely, Black Mask and Zsasz are all of the negative traits of mandom all rolled into one. Well, two. Black Mask is clearly insecure, and pulls everyone around him down to his level, so he can feel powerful. At one point, he notices a woman laughing, and some bizarre switch is thrown in his head, so he forces her to strip and dance on a table. Super dark. It is DC, after all. Zsasz comes off as a henchman with half a brain.

Let’s get some comparisons over with. Many of these characters have appeared in other live action roles. I preferred this Black Canary to the three? variations that appeared in the CW’s Arrowverse. And not just because she’s a super fine black woman. The Huntress seemed kind of added on after the fact. Like, her story is interesting, but she feels out of place. There are multiple scenes where she doesn’t seem to know what’s going on. Like she came from a really grounded universe, and now she’s trapped in the insanity known as Gotham. I don’t really remember the Arrowverse version of her, so I don’t have a favorite. The Zsasz in Gotham was infinitely better than this version.

And Margot Robbie’s Harley Quinn is a gift to the world.

This movie is a hard R. There’s some violence, there’s some cussing, there’s some drug use. All of that, however, is used to the movie’s advantage. This would have been a super boring movie if it were PG13. One of my favorite scenes was in the trailer. Harley Quinn is being chased by some dudes, and she hides behind a huge crate of cocaine. They are shooting at her, and puncturing the coke bricks. She takes a deep breath, gets some energy, and kicks some ass. In fact, there’s a lot of kicking in this movie. I don’t know what it is about women’s legs, but Hollywood has deemed them the strongest weapon in a woman’s arsenal.

All of the fights were entertaining. At this point, we’ve seen every possible fight scene. There are two options left to film makers. One, go for the epic fight. The more CGI monsters versus the more heroes the better. Two, you can go for creative. Use unique camera tricks. Put the fight in a weird location. Use props. This movie goes for the later approach. Sure, they are just punch… I mean, kicking dudes, but they are doing it at a place or with weapons that haven’t been done before. Have you ever seen a girl in roller skates, use a giant bouncy hand to bitch slap a dude, then hand another girl a hair tie? And when you finally saw the canary cry? I almost squealed.

This is a movie about female empowerment, but it succeeds far better than Captain Marvel. At no point do any of the women need to rely on a man. They rely on each other. They didn’t have to compare themselves to men. They did what they needed to do, and they did it wonderfully. This movie shows that no matter how much the struggle sucks in a male dominated world/industry/whatever, women have the keys to success inside them. All they need is the opportunity. Margot Robbie, shows off her acting chops by alternating between the emotional struggle with a breakup, to clit to the wall insanity, at the drop of a hat. Every once in a while, an actor is born for a role. Sir Patrick Stewart was destined to play Professor X. Margot Robbie was destined to play Harley Quinn. The Birds may have very different backstories, and personalities, but they come together because it’s the right thing to do.

The fact that this movie didn’t do well in the box office is a tragedy. There are many reasons for it, but whatever the reason, you should see this movie. I saw it opening night, and there were fewer than 10 people in the audience. When Avengers came out, there was a long long long long line. Don’t take your children, but if you like comedic violence, strong women, and a fun movie, you’ll love Birds of Prey: The Harley Quinn Story. Seriously, though. What’s with DC’s idiotic naming? Batman V Superman? Not VS? The Fantabulous Emancipation of One Harley Quinn? Why not Harley Quinn and the Birds of Prey? I mean, I guess it makes sense given how unhinged Harley Quinn is, but still.

I give this 5 out of 5 stars.