The Bird is the Word - Birds of Prey (REVIEW)
written by Justin Prince (@prince_justin)
The DCEU has been on a roll since distancing itself from Snyder’s vision with Justice League, and while the road has been rocky since, it’s been getting exponentially better. With the sheer excellence of Wonder Woman, Aquaman, and Shazam I walked into Birds of Prey super optimistic. So that’s where I stood walking in, and while typically letting myself be too hyped about a movie lets me down… as Justice League did, but walking into Aquaman and Shazam I had super low expectations and walked away loving everything… so what the heck, let’s be hype. Birds of Prey and the Emancipation of one Harley Quinn stars Margot Robbie, Rosie Perez, Mary Elizabeth Winstead, Jurnee Smollett-Bell, Ella Jay Basco, and Chris Messina.
First off, as a comic fan it’s clear that Harley Quinn isn’t really Birds of Prey material. Since her comic book emancipation from the Joker she’s established herself as a strong and independent anti-hero and a true leader of the Suicide Squad. This character is far removed from the one dimensional “Joker’s Girlfriend” character she was originally envisioned as. So one thing I feel I need to point out is that this movie isn’t JUST about Harley Quinn, it isn’t JUST about the Birds of Prey, and it isn’t about Harley creating some sort of badass all lady crime fighting group in formulaic and predictable fashion. Much like the bombastically long title of this film, it’s an origin story of the Birds of Prey while also acting as the emancipation of one Harley Quinn.
“Birds of Prey is like if Suicide Squad tried less to emulate Guardians of the Galaxy, was written and directed by talented women who love the characters, and was sent to Warner Brother’s with a glitter bomb”
Birds of Prey centers around four women and one young girl, all caught in the cross hairs of Gotham City crime lord Roman “Black Mask” Sionis (McGregor) and his top enforcer Victor Zsasz (Messina). Sionis hopes to claim the fortune of the Bertinelli family, but those plans get a wrench thrown in when Cassandra Cain (Basco) pick-pockets the means to the Bertinelli fortune from an unwitting Zsasz. This forces four unlikely heroines to band together with former supervillain Harley Quinn (Robbie), disgruntled GCPD detective Renee Montoya (Perez), metahuman lounge singer Dinah “Black Canary” Lance (Smollett-Bell), and surviving Bertinelli Helena “The C̶r̶o̶s̶s̶b̶o̶w̶ ̶K̶i̶l̶l̶e̶r̶ Huntress” Bertinelli (Winstead). Birds of Prey took some interesting liberties with many of these characters while in my opinion staying true to their comic counterparts. I loved everything they did with these characters and even the change to Helena Bertinelli’s backstory helped to make her feel like a more relatable character. The Huntress is one of my favorite Gotham City Sirens and I was so glad they included her here, but I am even more jazzed at how they characterized her. While her role was arguably smaller than the other ladies, I feel like Mary Elizabeth Winstead’s portrayal gave me hope for the character going forward. While Harley was the foundation of the story, her emancipation never felt like it overshadowed the Birds and their origin. The cast was large and unlike Suicide Squad it felt more balanced.
Elements from the Amanda Conner/Jimmy Palmiotti Harley Quinn books were expertly transitioned to the silver screen, from her career as a Roller Derby bruiser to her taxidermy Beaver Bernie. It fit with the bombastic fireworks of this whole ride, even taking the often serious Birds of Prey and fitting it with the strobe light panache of Harley Quinn’s comics post Joker aesthetic. One major complaint I had in Suicide Squad was how they failed to let Harley Quinn be the genius she was. Let’s not forget that she isn’t some one-dimensional bimbo, she was a criminal genius who used her background as an accomplished Doctor of Psychiatry to great effect. While there was one scene in Suicide Squad where she flexed her PhD cred, Birds of Prey Harley was incredibly more forthcoming with flexing it.
The style and panache of Birds of Prey continues into the action scenes, hands down some of the best fight scenes in a movie since John Wick. Everything felt visceral and weighted, from Harley cracking a goon in the head with her mallet to several scenes of guys getting their knees hyperextended in brutal fashion… something that always makes my stomach churn a little bit.
Birds of Prey is like if Suicide Squad tried less to emulate Guardians of the Galaxy, was written and directed by talented women who love the characters, and was sent to Warner Brother’s with a glitter bomb. The whole movie felt like a having glitter and sequins rained down on me, with a side of strong female leads and a heaping helping of charismatic villains. Any hero is made up by their villain, and Ewan McGregor’s Roman Sionis was no exception. While I’ve sung the praises of the main leads, I would be remiss if I didn’t talk about how exceptional Roman Sionis was as a villain. Hands down one of my favorite DCEU villains and felt both familiar and unique. They took parts of Roman’s comic book origins and melded it with the glitter bomb aesthetic to make a memorable villain. Playing Black Mask like a petulant child, still standing in his family’s shadow while trying to establish himself as a powerful mob boss. While in the comic Roman Sionis was always a typical mafioso with a gimmick, Birds of Prey’s Roman Sionis felt like a sexually ambiguous club owner running illegal businesses out of his club’s back door. One point of contention was how I felt there was a bit of queer-baiting with Roman and Zsasz. Maybe I missed something in my watch, and will pick up on more later, but I would love a director’s cut that expands on the dynamic between Roman Sionis and Victor Zsasz.
I find it hard to believe that anyone would not find this movie sexy. I’ve seen the contention of angry comic book nerd boys who claim that Birds of Prey is not sexy. Are you guys crazy? Have you never seen a real woman or even had a real relationship? I know this is a bit off base but damn, this movie was sexy! Birds of Prey was a fun romp and hands down one of the best DCEU films. Fun, fast, and a rocking good time! If you haven’t heard that the bird is the word, get on it!
A
An explosion of glitter in all the best ways
