Birds of Prey
and the Fantabulous Emancipation of one Harley Quinn
There are some movies that are harder to review than others. I find that I need to connect with a film to be in a place to properly write about it. Birds of Prey is a movie that while watching seems like a whole lot of fun but after pondering on it a little, it feels like a hollow experience.
It feels more like a prequel to the actual Birds of Prey movie and plays like a sequel to the terrible (personal opinion) Suicide Squad.
I will say though that Margot Robbie perfectly embodies the character of Harley Quinn and just as she was the best part of Suicide Squad, she’s also the best part of this film.
She’s funny, doesn’t take herself too seriously and seems to be having a lot of fun with her character.
The rest of the cast are interesting in their own way but there isn’t much fleshing out going on there and I really didn’t connect with any of them and in an ensemble film, I don’t think that’s a good thing.
Ewan McGregor plays a cartoonish villain and I’ve always found one note characters to be a bit boring as there’s no depth to them other than that said person is bad just because.
The cinematography is really well done; it’s very colourful and some of the action sequences look really good (I know that single shot fight choreography aren’t always easy, but I honestly wish that would become the standard someday).
In the end, Birds of Prey is a whimsical fun comic book movie that’s less than a sum of its parts. Some will eat it up (I think the demographic it’s focusing on is mostly women) and others won’t.
Watch Birds of Prey because you want to support movies about empowering women. Watch it because you like fun popcorn movies. Watch it because you liked Suicide Squad and want to see more of that world or watch it because you like comic book movies.
If any of the above isn’t your thing, skip it. I’m sure they’ll be a lot more for you to see and the year goes by. This is a Harley Quinn movie and not a Birds of Prey movie.
Final verdict: 6/10
