In the last couple years, DC Films has made a greater effort not only to diversify their movies in aesthetic and tone, but to experiment and take more chances -something that’s certainly a mark in their favour given the admitted homogeneity of a lot of the entries in their rival cinematic universe Marvel. Birds of Prey is definitely one such example, based as it is on a comic run almost no one outside of the comics fan community would ever have heard of. And while this tactic had previously paid off wonderfully for both Guardians of the Galaxy and DC’s own Suicide Squad (in spite of its numerous shortcomings), Birds of Prey had the additional obstacles of being a follow-up to that same poorly received film and starring a cast of even more obscure characters barring the lead who were all women. With that in mind I’m glad it made it to the screen, even if the script could use more than a bit of fine-tuning.
The story’s mood and structure I can only really describe as punk comic, with plenty of fourth-wall breaking, humour driven by action, and darkly idiosyncratic personalities and priorities. There’s a whole miniature arc for example, revolving around a breakfast sandwich. It’s a style that certainly suits the eccentric nature of the Harley Quinn character, the figure at the centre of the film played with wild, brazen dedication by Margot Robbie, also one of the films’ producers. Since her debut in Batman: The Animated Series, Harley has always been this ball of energy and mayhem -as enjoyable for her unpredictability as for her mad wit. Robbie successfully realizes that here and her manic energy becomes the axis point for the whole film, which has the effect of making Birds of Prey funny and exciting in a modestly unique way (its’ freeze frame and voiceover jokes, and parallel or out-of-sequence storytelling owes a lot to Guy Ritchie –the movie even shares a plotline with Snatch). The inventive action scenes seem to be where director Cathy Yan is most fixated, utilizing her geography well and playing with the physics in clever ways. Harley is at the centre of all of these, and Robbie keeps each beat fresh.
However, this preoccupation with the films’ most marketable character often means the neglecting of the ensemble Birds of Prey is supposed to be named for. With the exception of the child pickpocket Cassandra Cain (Ella Jay Basco), who is essentially a human MacGuffin with an attitude in the mould of Julian Dennisons’ character in Deadpool 2, the other women suffer for Harley’s prominence. Rosie Perez’s Renee Montoya and Jurnee Smollett-Bell’s Black Canary headline a couple subplots but aren’t permitted to really develop their characters distinctively (and Ali Wong has little more than a cameo as Montoya’s ex). In contrast, Mary Elizabeth Winstead is able to get a handle on her Huntress pretty quickly, but not until late in the film after receiving the least exposure of the central team. As a result of the women only coming together at the end, we don’t get to see much chemistry on display, the film by then mostly concerned with the obligatory elongated action set-piece wherein they battle a horde of violent toxic men. It’s very well-done and can be momentarily cathartic, but it’s also the most generic act of the movie and disappointing for how many narrative and character opportunities are missed.
Of course the embodiment of this male aggression, and in one way or another the target of all the women is the sometimes gimp-mask wearing gangster Roman Sionis, played with revelrous psychopathy and an unhinged narcissism by Ewan McGregor -who is perhaps the most fun and eccentric personality after Harley. With extravagant tastes, a gaudy personal style, and a slight penchant for camp he’s certainly one of the better DC movie villains. Even his henchman/possible lover played by Chris Messina has more dimension than is usual with that kind of character.
For as unconventional as such isolated elements are, the movie is ultimately anything but. Its’ storytelling is far more pedestrian than you’d expect from a Harley Quinn-fronted vehicle, and while many of the jokes in Christina Hodsons’ script land, it’s also prone to perennial flatness in story direction, dialogue, and even the structure and tone -the self-aggrandizing cleverness of which wears a mite thin after a while. In a way the film seems to be attempting to compensate for this by loading up it’s set-up acts with such irreverent punchiness that the pay-off in spite of the merits of its action scenes is anti-climactic (especially the face-off between Harley and Sionis), by exploiting its’ Hollywood ‘Girl Power’ initiative, and by reminding the audience occasionally of its’ R-rating through a strategically dropped curse word or a moment of explicit violence. But unlike comic book movies such as Deadpool, Logan, and even Joker, there is no reason for Birds of Prey to be R-rated, except to entice a particular (and ironically juvenile) demographic -or maybe just because Deadpool did it and Birds of Prey is striking a similar sensibility.
To my understanding, Harley Quinn in the comics has little to do with the Birds of Prey. However I also understand that she being one of the few highlights of Suicide Squad, it makes sense for DC to merge two disparate comic entities so she can be used to sell a lesser-known IP, going so far as to rename it in the promotional campaign to Harley Quinn and the Birds of Prey in the time since I saw it (the initial subtitle, “…and the Fantabulous Emancipation of One Harley Quinn” is much more in keeping with its tone, if not as accessible). But I can still see the two movies trying to be one and for all their efforts, not succeeding -epitomized in the final product through a perfect metaphor: Harley can have her breakfast sandwich, but she can’t eat it.
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