Movie Review: Birds of Prey (2020)

[Dave Gray]

Birds of Prey (and the Fantabulous Emancipation of One Harley Quinn) (2020)

Premise: After her breakup with the notorious crime boss, Joker, a psychotic scorned lover finds that the protections from her previous beau no longer exist, and she has to navigate depression, bad blood and her own moral compass, as the mob closes in.

Rating: Quirky storytelling, meta-humor, unforgiving language and violence, and a unique voice elevate what would otherwise be shlocky material into a worthy entry into the superhero genre.

Birds of Prey takes a page from the Deadpool playbook.  Its language is over-the-top and the violence is brutal and played for laughs, and the timeline jumps back and forth.  Characters break the forth wall with voice-over.  Where Deadpool goes sarcastic, though, Harley Quinn is instead demented, unforgiving and damaged, while still retaining humanity and some level of compassion.  She straddles the line between lovable and horrific.  You can't help but root for her, though, as she's up against a bunch of toxic dudes.  Margot Robbie delivers a rock-star performance because this could've gone real cheesy, really fast.  It's a tough line to walk.  She pays homage to the animated Quinn, while still feeling real to this world.

I can't help but feel that this movie is a cross between the Joel Schumacher Batman films and John Wick.  The set-pieces are classic campy Batman (abandoned amusement parks, chemical plants) and the film doesn't shy away from the visual style and colors and Burton-esque style that you'd expect to see.  Normally that wouldn't work for me, but here, it's offset with brutal close-quarters, laugh inducing violence, which creates a unique juxtaposition.  One scene literally involves roller-skating to chase a giant diamond, almost exactly the same setup as in the awful Batman and Robin.  It's nuts that two scenes could so closely share a bad idea and come out completely differently.

Films that center around forming a team have a formula, and this is no different, as several femme fatales group to take down the big-bad boss, Roman Sionis (Black Mask), played by Ewan McGregor, in a way I've never seen.  But Birds of Prey seems to be in on its own absurdity, and makes fun of itself.  It mocks the 80s cop stereotype, the character that gives herself the stupid name, nostalgic references to previous material and the thief with the heart of gold trope.

I was surprised at how much I enjoyed this movie.  It's in the upper tier of the DCU films, just behind Wonder Woman and Man of Steel.

[Phishfan]

Interesting take. You are the only person that didn't trash this movie to me.

[CF DolFan]

Interesting take. You are the only person that didn't trash this movie to me.

Me too. Based on Dave's review I'm likely to check it out now.

[Tenshot13]

This was one of the worst movies I have ever seen, and I love comic books.

[Sunstroke]

This was one of the worst movies I have ever seen, and I love comic books.

I've "started" watching this movie twice now...haven't made it more than 10 minutes in before I was bored with it.

[Dolphster]

I have an unexplainable attraction to weird looking chicks and have thought about watching this movie just to enjoy Margot Robbie decked out in her character.  If I didn't see the first movie, would I be completely confused by Birds of Prey or can I watch it as a stand alone film without having to go back and watch the first one?

[Dave Gray]

The first what?   Suicide Squad, you mean?

It's not a sequel to anything.

Harley Quinn is Joker's ex-girlfriend.  You need to know that Joker is a crazy bad guy, but he's not in the movie....it helps if you're familiar with who Joker is.  That's it.  Everything else is fresh.  And even the Joker stuff is understandable even if you've never seen any Batman movies.

There are little Easter Eggs to other stuff, but that's just extra stuff for fun, like Harley's out outfits, other side characters who were in other movies and comics from the past.  ...but it's all pretty surface-level.

[Dolphster]

Sorry, yeah, I was referring to Suicide Squad.  Thanks for the answer.  I think I'll tell the wife I want to watch Birds of Prey this weekend.  After she rolls her eyes because she will know I want to watch it solely to deposit the image of Harley Quinn in the spank bank for future use, we'll watch Birds of Prey. 

[SlothVomit]

I'm in the same boat as Sunstroke. Me and my GF started this movie and less than 20 mins in had to turn it off. That's saying something when i can actually sit through the theatrical release of JL.