★★★
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.
Classification: 15
One of the few bright spots of 2016's comic book villain team-up film Suicide Squad was the passion the cast had for their characters, the whole press tour filled with stories of bonding, tattoos and dead pigs (one cast member got really committed). So while the final product received negative criticism for its direction, sporadic editing and inconsistent tone, certain characters did capture audiences' attention, one of which was Margot Robbie's enthusiastic portrayal for the psychotically giddy Harley Quinn. About four years later, director Cathy Yan, screenwriter Christina Hodson and Robbie as both producer and star have brought back the comic book icon, newly emancipated from both Jared Leto's Joker and the Suicide Squad for an adventure celebrating women kicking ass against a crime-ridden patriarchy. Cathy Yan's vision of the film is very much her own but influences from the past are not lost on this spiritual spinoff as Birds of Prey (and the Fantabulous Emancipation of One Harley Quinn) is a gaudy disco-punk riot filled with campy performances but thin storytelling.
Margot Robbie as Harley Quinn is utterly delightful in this film, while Hodson's script falters with narrative depth, she captures the manic energy and voice of the character in a creative way. Quinn very much drives the whole film, regaling the audience with fourth-wall-breaking narration, animated visual aids and plenty of ass-kickings as Robbie is having a blast from beginning to end. Her enthusiasm and love for the character is infectious and is radiating from every piece of her performance, exploring Quinn's worth beyond her relationship to The Joker (Jared Leto's infamous clown prince does not make an appearance). Essentially after their breakup, Harley's safety in Gotham is kaput and a target is placed on her back from everyone she's ever pissed off, double-crossed or tormented. The few moments when legitimate drama takes focus, Robbie captures this vulnerability to the character and how alone she really is, the complicated nature of how she loves (her rebound is to get a pet hyena named Bruce) and while she forms a sisterly bond with similarly targeted pickpocket Cassandra Cain, Harley is someone not seeking redemption but is someone the audiences sympathises with. Robbie's a great dynamite lead of hilarious, active force and a large part of what makes Birds of Prey a fun time at the theatres.
The Gotham of Birds of Prey is a dangerous place for women with Yan using the more outlandish elements to highlight commonplace misogyny in our society. Rosie Perez as an embattled police detective Renee Montoya faces workplace discrimination with her successes being accredited to others and having her suspicions of antagonist Roman Sionis be dismissed as hysterical. Jurnee Smollett-Bell as Dinah Lance, a lounger singer at Sionis' club is treated as an object and plaything by Ewan McGregor's campy but lecherous crime lord. Quinn herself is merely viewed as a "piece", something that belongs to The Joker rather than her own being, the film builds its struggles from all these women breaking free from this oppression they face; mostly through bombastic fights against Sionis' army of killers and other foes. While the girl power is great on screen, Yan and Hodson's structure of the story leaves much to be desired as Quinn's narration makes a lot of the story non-linear, having to go back, recontextualise, introduce and give backstories to all the new characters. By the time everyone's caught up and introduced, Yan is delivering the third act and never feels that Birds of Prey had time to develop much of anything, repeating the same points through all the violence and confetti. Mary Elizabeth Winstead's Huntress not really becoming part of the film until the third act as the structure keeps her more like an anomaly to the other character's stories with her efficient assassinations capturing the attention of Quinn, Sionis and Montoya. Winstead is great though when she can finally interact with the ensemble, having her badass persona be revealed to be socially awkward and explosively temperamental as character's question her use of a crossbow, though the more tragic elements of her back story are brushed aside.
While on paper Birds of Prey doesn't have much to sink its teeth into, Yan still delivers a storm on screen as her production teams deliver a visual spectacle of flamboyant vibrancy. Erin Benach's costume design is fantabulous, from Harley's various outfits of circussy glee; frills! suspenders! high heels!, to Black Canary's intricate jewellery, everything feels so detailed and reflects the layers of their unique image these women have cultivated, like armour against their world. K.K. Barrett's work with production design is absolutely wonderous especially when the film descends into its more loony locations in the third act; giant ceramic hands, giant lazy susans, disco lights mixed with the grit and grime of Gotham really elevates the film's impressive action. Harley Quinn gets an upgrade of her own for her solo outing as Jonathan Eusebio, stunt coordinator for cinematic anti-heroes such as Deadpool and John Wick, lends his and his excellent team's talents to make Robbie and co. dazzle with all manner of physical and weapon combat. Quinn's raid of a police station armed with a glitter cannon and baseball bat it a pure treat as Robbie happily tears through her opponents with graceful yet brutal choreography; belting thugs with abandon after a huff of cocaine, like Popeye eats Spinach. All those delightful elements captured by Matthew Libatique's impressive cinematography which both keeps Birds of Prey grounded but also with a progressive flight to more comic-booky territory; with concussion induced musical numbers, rollerblading chases (with Robbie seemingly doing a majority of her stunts), and creepy fog ridden abandoned amusement parks right out of a Scooby-Doo cartoon.
Birds of Prey can feel very cartoonish at times in entertaining ways, the film even opens with an animated retelling of Harley's backstory (a creative way of avoiding Suicide Squad flashbacks and royalties) but its the campy nature that makes some performances really stand out. Ewan McGregor as Roman Sionis, also known as crimelord "Black Mask" is quite a scene-stealer, an emotionally unstable, insecure flamboyant sadist. While his grand master plan revolves around a diamond with bank account numbers carved inside (the MacGuffin which you guessed is picked up by the film's resident pickpocket), Sionis has a vendetta against Quinn and anyone who dares defy him, putting all the titular Birds in his crosshairs. The film's more disturbing scenes having Yan push the upsetting lengths Sionis will go to prove his authority, from having his henchman Zsasz mutilate rival competitors to sexually harassing patrons in his club. McGregor has great energy in the film, playing off against Robbie and Smollett-Bell really well and with his own amazing costumes but his potential is wasted as Hodson's script demotes him to a generic villain by the third act.
There are minor drops in logic and continuity though as editors Jay Cassidy and Evan Schiff do their best to tie together all of Quinn's recollections to make for a fun adventure. Birds of Prey isn't perfect by any stretch but you can feel the passion Robbie has for her character and its extension through Yan's direction in an almost self-aware fashion. While more screentime for Winstead would have been appreciated, the film does work as an interesting back door pilot for a bunch of new cinematic DC characters but its still clearly the Harley show than a proper ensemble piece. It's fun with the campy performances and action keeping audiences invested in its strange little world, although a more focused screenplay to flesh out these characters really could have elevated the themes of empowerment.
Director: #CathyYan
Screenwriter: #ChristinaHodson
Cast: #MargotRobbie, #MaryElizabethWinstead, #JurneeSmollettBell, #RosiePerez, #ChrisMessina, #EllaJayBasco, #AliWong, #EwanMcGregor
Release Date: February 7th 2020
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Written review copyright ©CoreyBullochReviews
Images and Synopsis from the Internet Movie Database
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