A Reel Review: BIRDS OF PREY (AND THE FANTABULOUS EMANCIPATION OF ONE HARLEY QUINN)

In 2016, Warner Bros. gave us the DC Comics bad-guy team-up film SUICIDE SQUAD; a collection of established Batman enemies who in the film never bothered with Batman. It was a disaster of a movie; so bad that Warners has decided to give us two make-up films, with the first being BIRDS OF PREY: (AND THE FANTABULOUS EMANCIPATION OF ONE HARLEY QUINN). 

After breaking up with the Joker, Harley Quinn (Margot Robbie), is forced by criminal underworld boss Roman Sionis/Black Mask (Ewan McGregor), to recover a diamond which has bank-codes embedded inside. When the diamond winds up in the hands of a young pickpocket named Cassandra (Ella Jay Basco), Harley takes her under her wing…and is then pursued by Roman’s driver Dinah/Black Canary (Jurnee Smollett-Bell), a troubled police detective (Rosie Perez), and a revenge-seeking vigilante named Huntress (Mary Elizabeth Winstead). 

Margot Robbie’s take on Harley Quinn was arguably the only good thing about SUICIDE SQUAD, and Warners seems intent on capitalizing on that. Despite having her name in the sub-title, BIRDS OF PREY (AND THE FANTABULOUS EMANCIPATION OF ONE HARLEY QUINN) is very much a Harley Quinn movie. It’s all about her and her attempts to find her new place in the world now that she doesn’t have Joker in her life. In the early goings, she keeps the break-up a secret which gives her power and intimidation over her friends and enemies. Once she tires of that and changes her relationship status (by blowing up the chemical plant she and Joker fell in love at), half the city of Gotham gets after her. With Cassandra, she finds something to do and a little bit of meaning. It’s light fare, and the script does not dive very deep, but it works. 

The rest of the “birds” serve more as plot points than actual characters, with Huntress getting the only backstory (she has a history with the diamond). Eventually Harley and the Birds settle their differences and get together in a way that feels organic for the big fight and chase finale. That big finale is set up and executed nicely, and is preceded by some of the most fun action-scenes we’ve seen in DC Comics movie in a decade. Fights are choreographed with a lot of zip and are a blast, and never resort to the goddamn shaky-camera to hide what’s going on. Director Cathy Yan keeps the humor coming in doses, and the film is a high-energy rush that never lets up. It’s a swear-fest with potty-mouth language everywhere, but very little blood and the R-rating is a soft one. 

Acting is fantabulous. Margot Robbie has to play a character that is un-hinged but human, and her balance of hurt and happy really works. Ewan McGregor chews the scenery like bubble gum and is fine, although his character is paper-thin and amounts to nothing more than a stock villain. The rest of the cast is very good, with Mary Elizabeth Winstead’s Huntress a standout (give us that solo movie next, please). 

BIRDS OF PREY is the first of two films from Warners to try and help us forget about SUICIDE SQUAD, with James Gunn’s THE SUICIDE SQUAD coming in 2021. Before we get there, this is a solid, albeit thin stepping-off point, and by far the most fun a DC Comics movie has been in a very long time. 

BOTTOM LINE: See it