With Birds of Prey (and the Fantabulous Emancipation of one Harley Quinn), Margot Robbie joins a fast-growing club. After watching Marvel corner the market on perfect casting for superhero movies, DC continues to follow suit. Gal Gadot in Wonder Woman, Jason Momoa in Aquaman, Zachary Levi in Shazam!, and now Robbie. She completely owns the role and it’s now already impossible to picture anyone else as the deranged character. For a studio whose superhero efforts long lagged far behind those of Marvel, you love to see this kind of positive trend continuing.
The “emancipation” in that obnoxiously long title refers to Harley breaking up with the Joker, and finding her independence. She thinks the breakup will allow her instant freedom, but she would be wrong. Now that she doesn’t have Joker’s protection to rely on (she was untouchable as his girlfriend) those she has wronged are out to exact their pound of flesh in revenge.
Posing the biggest threat to Harley is Ewan McGregor’s delightfully psychotic Roman Sionis, aka Black Mask. After alluding his various henchmen, Harley and Sionis enter into an agreement. A pickpocket has stolen a very valuable diamond from Sionis, and if Harley can retrieve it, Sionis will spare her life. This eventually leads Harley to meet the rest of the titular Birds of Prey, as their stories intersect in often sloppy and convoluted ways.
Harley Quinn showcase
Bird of Prey’s title (the full title, at least) and the studio’s marketing indicated this would be a full on group team-up movie. But make no mistake about it, this is Harley Quinn’s movie. It’s her story, even narrated at times by her, in a semi-fourth wall breaking manner similar to Deadpool, the closest Marvel equivalent (in more ways than one). And when the movie focuses on Harley, it’s mostly quite fun. Robbie seems to truly understand this character, and that shows through in every scene she’s in. Birds of Prey has its share of problems, but Harley isn’t one of them.
Supporting cast
The issues here are less with the character than how Birds of Prey uses them. The worst example is Mary Elizabeth Winstead as Huntress. She is fantastic and often quite funny as the cross-bow wielding assassin. But she’s barely in the movie. She didn’t need a starring role, by any means, but she deserved more screen time than she got. Jurnee Smollett-Bell as Dinah Lance/Black Canary gets more time, and has her share of ass-kicking moments. The biggest problem with her is how the movie explains her abilities: it doesn’t. Those who know her comic book origins, or were fans of the CW’s Arrow, will be familiar with the character. But for those who haven’t seen Black Canary before? When she finally has the chance to showcase what she can do, it’s going to feel completely out of left field.
Detective Renee Montoya (Rosie Perez) is easily the weakest character in the movie. While Perez is perfectly fine, Montoya is a walking cliche. A detective whose partner took what should have been her credit for a career-making case. She has an alcohol problem. She’s not divorced, but Birds of Prey still manages to shoehorn in other relationship problems. And it all sticks out even more as she’s a character we’ve all seen before working next to a collection of unique, interesting, ridiculous characters.
But on the positive side, McGregor is absolutely having the time of his life as Roman Sionis. He’s chewing up the scenery like you’ve never seen him before and it’s a blast to watch. Likewise, Chris Messina as his right-hand man and hit man Victor Zsasz is enjoying hamming it up every chance he gets.
Fun action
In addition to Robbie, this is where Birds of Prey shines. It features some of the most fun and creatively choreographed fight scenes of recent memory. One in particular will likely remain on “Best Fight Scenes of 2020” lists from now until the end of the year. The setting, the teamwork, the props, it’s all gold. This same scene is a perfect example of why the Academy needs to add an Oscar for Best Stunt Coordination (but that’s a conversation for another time).
Weak plot
As fun as many of the characters are, Birds of Prey doesn’t really give them anything interesting to do. Yes, (most of) the characters and the action are enough to keep you engaged. But the driving story is just the hunt for, and then the protection of, the MacGuffin. Director Cathy Yan finds creative set pieces and sequences to fill in around it. But when you really boil it down, there isn’t anything driving these characters that an audience will care about. There are hints at further character development that could have made for a much more interesting story. But those are quickly abandoned for the easy plot.
These birds don’t quite take flight
Buoyed by well-constructed action and strong, enjoyable turns by most of the cast, Birds of Prey makes for a fun enough movie. But its ceiling is capped by underdeveloped characters and a forgettable and messy plot. The groundwork is there, however, for plenty of quality spin-offs and sequels.
The Verdict: 6.7/10
Birds of Prey is now playing in theaters everywhere.