Birds of Prey
Harley Quinn may bomb the box office, but the fans are thrilled by her as usual.
Imagine Birds of Prey had the same freedoms as Joker? Imagine Joaquin Phoenix and Margot Robbie together as psychotic lovers in a movie like Joker 2? That day may never come. Birds of Prey is a revenge film where Harley Quinn goes through the motions of a break up while also discovering that her actions have reserved her a spot as public enemy number one. This movie has all the right components, a lovable character we’ve been following since Suicide Squad, comedy, post break up withdrawals, and some hard hitting A-list actors. But what can be missing to make this film bomb at the box office? Gotham hardly ever spits out bad movies, but I have to admit that Harley Quinn is the driver for this “Aright” movie, and we are the passengers.
Harley Quinn (Margot Robbie) and Joker just broke up. Harley develops an idea to drive a truck straight into a chemical plant where they shared one of their deepest moments and all hell breaks loose from there. When finally captured by Black Mask (Ewan McGregor), she is given an opportunity to hunt down a diamond that is in the stomach of a child. Along this journey she allies with three deadly women who are fighting their own demons ; Huntress, Renee Montoya, and black Canary, who also all have a specific past with Black Mask and his right hand man Victor Zsasz as well.
Birds of Prey starts off exactly how you think it will, Harley is running up a muck with her eccentric weapons and style of fighting, letting her emotions control her actions. Less than half of the way through the intro , Harley begins to self narrate the film guiding us through the twisted timeline of the film and that is where I believe the issue lies. This movie has its timeline on messy, slapdash style of presenting itself. What secures this movie as enjoyable is the constant downfalls Harley encounters and her rise from them all. By the end of the movie, we’re almost positive we’ve seen a third of Gotham’s small time criminals and how Harley has tortured them one way or another. The ongoing issue Harley faces is that her opponents do not believe she is any kind of threat without Joker.
If it wasn’t for Harley’s continuous narrations throughout the film and art like freeze frames giving us character breakdowns of each person, we just might be lost throughout the film. Like most DC movies, this one tends to be miss a few points in the plot for certain characters which makes the movie Semi Swiss cheese like, but still enjoyable nonetheless. Add in colorful and Smokey effects to play along side a nice crisp clear cinematography, and you got Birds of Prey And The Fantabulous Emancipation of One Harley Quinn.
One thing that was outstanding in my opinion was the soundtrack choice and how this movie was produced. Some songs represented that moment in Rock n’ Roll where women began to top the charada with songs induced with heartbreak and regret towards men, really enrapturing the idea of what was going on in Harley’s mind the entire time. Other songs were slow and daring or upbeat and vengeful which represents the constant tones throughout the movie of the characters approach to the scenarios laid out in front of them. It really helps enhance the female empowerment feeling that’s given throughout the film which we all love to see going forward in the field of film.
Birds of Prey score an even 6/10. If you’re a fan of the one and only Harley Quinn, this ones for you.
