Summary:
After breaking up with the Joker, Harley Quinn tries to find out how she fits in the world, while teaming up with a group of superheroes to stop a crime lord.
My Thoughts:
If watching Marvel movies is the equivalent of going to an amusement park, then watching the first entries into the DC universe (“Batman V Superman: Dawn of Justice”, “Suicide Squad”) is the equivalent of watching an incredibly drunk person try to do gymnastics. It’s still somewhat amusing, but it’s certainly nothing special.
“Birds of Prey” started off rambling incoherently, just like the majority of DCU movies. The first forty-five minutes are essentially the film boasting about how crazy it is without ever really showing us that craziness. Continuing my metaphor: it’s like a drunken cheerleader telling us she’s going to do a triple backflip, but she never lines up to do it. Then, finally, after forty-five minutes of boasting about its (her) skills, the film (our drunken cheerleader) actually takes a few steps forward, lining up to do its (her) trick, and though it (she) stumbles in the first few steps and looks awkward when it (she) finally leaps into the air, the film (she) does that triple backflip, and lands, just barely, standing.
While what you would have witnessed wouldn’t have been pretty, I’d bet you’d still be surprised that inebriated person was left standing at the end of the trick, and that’s exactly how I felt at the end of this movie. There were so many bad moments, so many mediocre moments, so many downright annoying moments, that even I am surprised I gave this film a passing grade. Still, I guess it’s not that bad. It’s just not that great either.
“Sorry, I guess I’m just a horrible person.”
After Harley Quinn (Margot Robbie, “The Wolf of Wall Street”) and the Joker split, Harley tries to find a new life for herself, but as she is now free from the Joker’s protection, all the people she has wronged come after her for vengeance. Meanwhile, a crime lord named Black Mask AKA Roman Sionis (Ewan McGregor, “Doctor Sleep”) hatches a devious plot that eventually involves a cop named Renee Montoya (Rosie Perez, “The Dead Don’t Die”), a mysterious crossbow-wielding assassin (Mary Elizabeth Winstead, “Gemini Man”), a lounge singer named Dinah Lance (Jurnee Smollett-Bell), and a child prone to pickpocketing named Cassandra Cain (Ella Jay Basco).
So, the first half of this movie is a total train wreck. It starts off with a bang and goes nowhere, absolutely nowhere, for forty-five minutes. We’re shown a bunch of characters that we don’t care about doing things we have no interest in, and then when we finally get to Harley doing something fun, the film flashes back and gives us a ton of quick backstories for those characters we don’t care about for another twenty minutes. When we finally past the police station fight scene, and the plot is finally laid out, I started to get on board, albeit tenuously.
The first half was so bad, I honestly considered just walking out, but then I realized I wouldn’t have been able to write this review, so I stayed. Usually, this is where I’d say that I’m glad I stayed, that the movie totally redeemed itself in the end, and that I think that the film is totally worth watching. I’m not going to say that this time, because, though I’ve given the film 3/5 Stars, I honestly don’t think it’s all that great- it just does a bunch of tiny things right that amount to a 3/5 rating. The acting is pretty good; there are a couple of extremely funny moments; it’s far more violent than I was expecting; and the themes are forward thinking and feminist. The film is also a mess in terms of structure- shoehorning in backstories and subplots at the most inopportune times; there are dozens of tiny plot holes; some moments that don’t make a lick of sense; and there are plenty of annoying cartoonish sound effects and half-assed fourth wall breaking moments that are there just to make the film more zany. If this film weren’t centered on a literal psychotic clown, it would’ve been absolutely insufferable, but as the film wore on, the gonzo style sort of started to work for me.
Sort of… at times… certainly not always.
For almost everything this movie did right, it undercut itself with something else. For example: I liked the fact that this movie was willing to make Ewan McGregor a darker villain (he cuts off people’s faces), but every time he went to do those dark things, the camera cut away. What’s the point of making this rated R if you’re just going to swear a bunch? Give me some bloody fun, that’s what I came for. Harley Quinn is a pretty fun character, but half of her humor works, and half of it is slightly annoying. I thought it was hilarious when a coked-up Harley breaks both of a guy’s legs with a baseball bat during one fight scene, or when a half-paralyzed Quinn uses her one functioning arm to repeatedly stab an already dead person; but I thought it was really stupid when Harley made jokes about ordering pizza when she and her newly-formed band were about to face off against forty goons, or when her Hyena showed up for no reason, disappeared, and then reappeared, again, all for no apparent reason. I liked the fact that the film threw in some random baddies that Harley faces off against, hinting that she had offended them earlier in her life; I didn’t like that every time we introduced those characters, the frame froze and we learned the character’s name and the grievances Harley committed against them.
So, why did I give this film 3/5 stars if I spend the whole of my review complaining about it? The second half of the film honestly started to win me over. I wont say the second half is entirely one long gonzo fight scene, but there’s certainly a lot more crazy stuff that happens in that second half, and it did a lot to make up for the wreck that was the first half. A lot of the fight scenes are a blast. Margot Robbie is a very likable psycho when she isn’t spouting stupid one-liners. I think the biggest thing I liked about this film, though, were the themes. From what I remember about “Suicide Squad” (I haven’t seen it since theaters), Harley’s character was all about the Joker, and that sort of limits her character. This film takes Harley’s character and, as the title implies, emancipates her from that relationship. The themes of this film are about learning that you don’t have to be partnered to someone else to lead a successful life; you can forge your own path an be your own person and make a name for yourself the way that you want to do that. Yes, the themes are well worn and slightly schmaltzy, but somehow, this movie still made them feel somewhat genuine.
Verdict:
This is an okay movie. I still think “Joker” is probably the best DCU movie, and even that film has lost a lot of the glitz it had when I first saw it (I know I gave it a 4.5/5 when I first saw it; I’ve watched it again, and I’d probably give it a 3.5/5 now). I think most people will find this movie to be fine- it’s entertaining enough to watch once (and just once). I also think this will be one of those movies that, in five years, when you or one of your friends brings it up in casual conversation, most people will say, “Oh, I forgot that movie even existed.”
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