REVIEW: 'Birds of Prey (and the Fantabulous Emancipation of One Harley Quinn)'

“Psychologically speaking, vengeance rarely brings the catharsis we hope for.”

Breakups are messy, aren’t they? You give your heart to someone and build something special with them, but then it comes tumbling down. It sucks. Maybe the relationship ended badly and we’re better off without the other person, but something still hurts.

That’s where we find Harley Quinn at the start of Birds of Prey - broken, alone, and coping badly. Sure, the Joker was no good, but she was all she had. She built herself around him. And now he’s thrown her out for good. Then one night, she destroys the chemical plant where Harleen Quinzel became Harley Quinn in a public update of her relationship status. Now, outside of the Joker’s influence, she can become her own woman - as long as she survives the entirety of Gotham City’s underworld who are all out to kill her.

Birds of Prey serves as a sequel/spin-off to 2016’s disastrous Suicide Squad and as the eighth overall entry in the unofficially titled DC Extended Universe. The film follows five women - the young, street-wise Casandra Cane, club singer Dinah “Black Canary” Lance, the vengeful Helena “Huntress” Bertinelli, and police detective Renee Montoya, and, obviously, Harley Quinn - who are all, through various circumstances, the targets of Roman “Black Mask” Sionis, portrayed by Ewan McGregor, one of the most powerful crime bosses in Gotham City. United by their common need for survival, they decided to work together to stand a chance at making it out alive.

Despite the negative baggage associated with the character and the I.P. in general thanks to the aforementioned previous film, I came out of Birds of Prey feeling extremely positive. It has a clear emotional core and a distinctive style that has been missing from the previous entries in the series. Cathy Yan’s direction is creative and energizing, the performances are fun and charismatic, and the gritty, ‘grounded’ feel worked well here. The film was certainly a step in the right direction for the uneven DCEU.

Ewan McGregor and Chris Messina in Birds of Prey.

Birds of Prey is certainly a stylized movie. It’s flooded with vibrant colours, interesting cinematography, well-choreographed fight scenes, and distinctive production design that makes it stand out visually in the never-ending sea of comic book movies. With a comparatively smaller budget to a lot of superhero films, $90 million vs. $200 million, it has to focus on making all of the style come from practical elements - lighting, choreography, editing, and cinematography - which gives it a style that feels so much more real, aggressive, and memorable, again, relative to the rest of the genre, than most superhero films.

One of the most obvious elements to praise are the action sequences, especially the third act final confrontation. Shot in wide, long takes and choreographed fantastically, the fight scenes draw attention to themselves in all of the best ways. They are absolute joys to watch. Director Cathy Yan wants us to see exactly what’s going on. It isn’t the overly edited, overly closeup action that is so common, but something tactile. You feel each punch and each hit. There’s weight to what’s going on. Again, the practicality of the film makes all of the difference in the world.

I must mention the fantastic performances from everyone in the cast, but with special attention on Margot Robbie and Ewan McGregor, who serve as the heart-and-soul of the whole film. Harley Quinn is a character that can quickly become annoying if not handled right, but Robbie puts just the right amount of crazy and human and pulls off the character flawlessly. Before watching this film, I never thought Harley could actually work as a lead in a film, but here we are. McGregor’s Black Mask is such a fun and entertaining villain. The intensity and subtle chaos he throws into the role make it the highlight that it is. He currently stands as my favorite villain in the current franchise. That isn’t necessarily saying much, but he is to be commended for what he does here.

The others are fantastic too. Jurnee Smollett-Bell, who plays Black Canary, is another absolute standout. Mary Elizabeth Winstead plays Huntress humorously, adding a fantastic energy to the core team dynamic. Rosie Perez’s Renee Montoya serves as a stabilising presence to the chaotic team. Each character is handled with a lot of care from Yan and her crew. The film is feminist without it ever feeling like pandering to its audience. The characters are fierce without the film ever needing to revert to a “girl power!” moment. It offers us something far more substantial in the subtext of the film, ideas that I will leave for another time as this review is already running over 1200 words.

I just wish that these side characters were developed as much in the screenplay as Harley Quinn and Black Mask were.

Jurnee Smollett-Bell as Black Canary in Birds of Prey.

This gets into my main criticism of the film and the one problem that holds it back from being something really good: the screenplay is weak, scattered, and underdeveloped. The film tells its story non-linearly. The first half is narrated by Harley Quinn. It opens with her detailing her origin, then beginning the film’s story - but really we start about halfway through the film. She will regularly interrupt the story to tell us some details or explain a character we are just being introduced to. It’s essentially an attempt to do the character bios from Suicide Squad but in a way that’s less obnoxious. However, it doesn’t work as well as they think it does.

The end result of this non-linear structure is a story that feels top-heavy. They basically mix the first and second acts with the story structure, telling the entire first act through flashbacks scattered through the second act. It creates a weird disconnect where none of the story flows naturally until we arrive at the third act.

I understand the intention here. This is supposed to be Harley Quinn’s movie, so it’s told in a way that makes her the main character and that it’s told through her perspective, but it comes off confused instead. This leaves us in a place where the Birds of Prey themselves, Harley is not one of them, get far less screentime or time to develop themselves without the influence of Harley Quinn. It’s as if they mixed two versions of the script together: one that’s a proper Birds of Prey team-up film and one that’s a proper Harley Quinn solo project.

Birds of Prey leaves us in a place that’s ultimately frustrating. There’s so much to love about the film: the style, the action, the performances. It’s such a fun and entertaining flick at points. The team dynamics are great. The villains were so delightfully evil it was almost intoxicating. On a technical level, it’s extremely well made and well crafted. I highly recommend seeing it in theatres. The showmanship and the theatrics of the film are complimented greatly in a proper theatre. I left the screening wanting to see more of the Birds of Prey in a future film. But the screenplay leaves so much to be desired. It tries to do double the work by being both a Harley Quinn solo movie and a backdoor pilot for a Birds of Prey spinoff.

It simply cannot balance it all.

It’s fun but doesn’t work as well as it could. I certainly want to see more from Cathy Yan and these characters, but hopefully with a more polished narrative and in a place where they can each shine to their fullest potential.

Birds of Prey is now playing in theatres. 

Score: 3.5

Birds of Prey Quick Facts
Directed by Cathy Yan
Written by Christina Hodson
Starring Margot Robbie, Mary Elizabeth Winstead, Jurnee Smollett-Bell, Rosie Perez, and Ewan McGregor
Released February 7, 2020