Film Review: Birds of Prey
DC Women Take Center Stage With the Fun and Colorful Birds of Prey
Baffling title drama aside, Birds of Prey is a boisterous and colorful addition to the DCEU. More “DC” than “EU,” director Cathy Yan assembles a squad of DC Comics heroines in a rollicking, stand-alone adventure. While there’s not much substance to its story, Birds of Prey’s narrative shortcomings are outweighed by its confidence and bombastic action, including a pitch-perfect performance from Margot Robbie as Harley Quinn. Minor spoilers ahead…
There is a small but loud subsection of the DCEU fanbase that has taken umbrage at the fact that Birds of Prey revolves around Harley Quinn’s breakup with the Joker, accusing the film of pushing a “woke” agenda biased against men. Little do they know, Harley Quinn’s struggle for independence and her masochistic love for the Joker have always been in the fabric of her character; created in 1992 by Batman: The Animated Series scribe Paul Dini, Harley Quinn has been a commentary on unhealthy dependency and abusive relationships since her early days. 2016’s Suicide Squad - the much-maligned first appearance of the character in the DCEU - offered a glimpse of the character’s depth and complexity, but instead, mostly settled for simple objectification and exploitation. With Birds of Prey, director Cathy Yan’s defter approach fully embraces Harley’s roots as an anti-heroine with her own agency, fully capable of carrying her own film without the presence of a certain villainous clown. And make no mistake, Birds of Prey - even without its confusing title change (which was altered from Birds of Prey and the Fantabulous Emancipation of One Harley Quinn to Harley Quinn: Birds of Prey post-release) - is a Harley Quinn story. Margot Robbie slips back into the role with ease, complete with the character’s signature Northeastern drawl and chaotic charm, absolutely owning the role.
Taking place after the events of Suicide Squad, Harleen Quinzel has broken up with “Mistah J,” sending countless thugs out of the woodwork to collect their pound of flesh now that her carte blanche status as Clown Princess of Crime has been rescinded. Eventually, this puts her on a collision course with crime boss Roman Sionis (Ewan McGregor, having the time of his life) and a number of other women caught in his orbit. There’s Renee Montoya (Rosie Perez), a Gotham City detective; Dinah Lance (Jurnee Smollett-Bell), Roman’s lounge singer and private driver that may or may not moonlight as a crime fighter; a mysterious vigilante known only as the Crossbow Killer (Mary Elizabeth Winstead); and Cassandra Cain (Ella Jay Basco), the teenage grifter at the center of it all.
“The film’s cookie-cutter plot is mostly in service of stringing together its action, but the set pieces in Birds of Prey are routinely spectacular.”
Not everything within Birds of Prey works. With Margot Robbie and Ewan McGregor chewing up all the scenery, there’s noticeable slack when they’re absent, and there just simply isn’t enough space to service all the characters in a satisfying manner. Mary Elizabeth Winstead makes a dazzling impression with her limited screen-time as Helena Bertinelli, The Huntress, but the other characters - especially Renee Montoya and Dinah Lance - come across as relatively thin archetypes. The story itself is also quite lackluster, involving a Macguffin diamond and hidden mob money, told in a convoluted nonlinearity that’s wholly unnecessary. But Robbie and McGregor are indeed excellent, with Black Mask being one of the more memorable villains within the DCEU’s adversary stable - campy, flamboyant, and dangerous, McGregor is incredibly fun and entertaining as Sionis…until he’s not. Turning on a dime from scene-stealing villain to horrifying misogynist predator in one of the film’s most harrowing scenes, he’s the scariest big bad of this movie universe.
The film’s cookie-cutter plot is mostly in service of stringing together its action, but the set pieces in Birds of Prey are routinely spectacular. Leaning hard into its R-rating, the action is as bombastic as it is bone-crunchingly efficient. And just because the film is able to fill its blood-and-guts quotient doesn’t mean that there’s no restraint: One of the best moments of the movie - Harley Quinn’s frenetic, non-lethal assault on a police station - barely has any bloodshed. A bonanza of beanbag cannons, glitter-spewing guns, and acrobatic choreography, it’s Birds of Prey at its most nimble and fun. And while Margot Robbie is certainly the lynchpin holding together the film, its themes of sisterhood and feminism are a potent mix when the gang finally gets together in the third act. Birds of Prey doesn’t beat you over the head with it, but Emancipation is part of the film’s original title, and it might as well apply to every member of the team: Renee Montoya struggles as she’s continually sidelined by her male colleagues, Helena Bertinelli is on a revenge spree against the men who massacred her entire family, and Dinah Lance longs to escape from under the shadow of Black Mask.
There’s much to love with Birds of Prey, flaws and all. Christina Hodson’s (Bumblebee) script is witty and chock full of attitude, even if it is a little bare-bones and unfocused, but it’s a genuine pleasure to see some more obscure DC comics characters splash across the big screen in a rollicking good time. Writer Gail Simone’s initial run on the Birds of Prey comic is one of my favorites, and this adaptation, with its injection of one Harley Quinn, continues its tradition of ferociously female-driven action and fun, just with a little more confetti, cocaine, and shattered kneecaps.
