Tag: DC

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The Suicide Squad

Warner Bros, 2021

What does the director of two of the most popular Marvel films do when the studio fires him? Well if you’re James Gunn you get to work for the competition, with the reboot/sequel to 2016’s dismal Suicide Squad, conveniently and confusingly titled The Suicide Squad. It certainly doesn’t seem like Gunn holds any ill will towards the MCU which has now re-hired him but it’s hard to imagine there wasn’t a little revenge channelled into what amounts to DC’s own version of Guardians of the Galaxy, only better in almost every way. With a surprisingly endearing core cast of outsiders and plenty of gore and crass humour, The Suicide Squad is an endless ride of entertainment, even if it does steer into familiar territory for Gunn.

For those who wisely steered clear of the 2016 original David Ayer directed film, have no fear, you will miss out on absolutely nothing plot-wise, as the concept of the squad – outlaws with bombs implanted in their heads sent on dangerous missions in exchange for reduced sentences – is quickly explained within the opening minutes. From here its all cylinders firing as the returning Amanda Waller (Viola Davis) gathers her team of misfit criminals – the central crew consisting of Harley Quinn (Margot Robbie), team leader Rick Flag (Joel Kinnaman), Idris Elba’s assassin Bloodsport, John Cena’s peace-loving mercenary Peacemaker, clinically depressed Polka Dot Man (David Dastmalchian), the rodent controlling Ratcatcher 2 (Daniela Melchior) and King Shark (voiced by the great Sylvester Stallone) – and sends them on their merry way to infiltrate and destroy a defunct Nazi base on the South American island of Corto Maltese which secretly houses a scientific project with world-ending potential.

Warner Bros, 2021

It’s a deceptively simple plot that Gunn manages to wring every last drop of movie out of, throwing in side-quests and more than a few twists and turns to keep the viewers on their toes. Not the least shocking of these is his commitment to live up to the name of the film. No one is safe and while the central team consists of those previously mentioned, there are many other obscure DC characters assigned to the mission, not all of whom make it out alive. This is explained to you through a brutally bonkers opening scene that sets the irreverent tone Gunn continues to build on perfectly: he might bring in one of your favourite comic characters who otherwise would never have had a chance at a big screen feature, only to blow their heads off a few minutes later.

At this point Gunn has all but trademarked his signature style of film, favouring stories of found families and disparate, conflicting personalities that must be brought together for the greater good and honing it with each retelling. Now, unrestricted by PG ratings and having to tie the story to a larger shared universe, the writer/director has perfected the formula, with a superbly written script that really understands the interplay between these huge, criminally insane personalities. It says a lot that he can take a character like the Polka Dot Man – a guy who literally excretes and shoots multicoloured, corrosive polka dots from his skin – and make him such a deeply sympathetic and dryly hilarious figure. A man who hates himself and has completely resigned his fate to death but who can’t help but find some gleeful joy in being a super-hero. Even a throwaway comment lamenting a largely pointless side-character’s demise does a lot to highlight the depth of the writing – these characters are more than their goofy superhero gimmicks, they’re fully rounded people that you can’t help but root for.

Warner Bros, 2021

The casting is obviously a huge reason that the writing succeeds in the way it does. Dastmalchian is excellent as Polka Dot Man alongside other standouts in Elba, Cena and Stallone. Elba’s Bloodsport is the most obvious leading man stereotype of the bunch and it’s plain to see that Gunn is having a great time deconstructing that stereotype, giving the character a crippling fear of rats before plonking him on the same team as someone who literally controls all of them. And Elba goes for it, cowering from the rodents and turning his back on the team time and time again in a way that other leading men of the 80’s and 90’s would never do for fear of diminishing their masculinity. When push comes to shove he doles out the expected level of ass-kicking but just knowing that small flaw goes a long way to being able to attach to the character amidst all the chaos.

If Bloodsport is the stoic, quietly calm assassin, then John Cena’s Peacemaker is the complete opposite: a boastful, arrogant mercenary who doesn’t care how many people he has to kill to achieve it. It is easily his best performance to date, still as physically imposing as ever but unintentionally and hilariously self-deprecating in the complete paradox he has devoted his entire being to. The sheer stupidity Gunn has Peacemaker saying at times – delivered with a deathly serious, almost militaristic deadpan – is absolutely hilarious and the constantly bickering, macho rivalry between Peacemaker and Bloodsport ensures that there is always a joke or exasperated sigh to put a smile on your face, even in the middle of a massacre. Then there is King Shark, a giant half-man, half-shark dullard who steals every scene he is in. That’s largely due to the inherent hilarity of him being voiced by Sylvester Stallone, whose line readings sound like even he doesn’t know what is going on (Gunn gets bonus points for having Rocky himself repeatedly say “nom-noms”). He’s more than just another Groot-like animal sidekick however, with a sweet friendship with Daniela Melchior’s Ratcatcher 2 that hits on an emotional level more than it has any right to.

Warner Bros, 2021

The downside of making three consecutive films in a row with similar plots and character archetypes is that the audience starts to notice the rhythm and crutches that Gunn tends to rely on. Just about every time we build to some kind of profound dramatic or emotional moment we cut to a comedic moment instead, which at this point is less funny and jarring than it is annoying. You know it is coming but sometimes it would feel far more gratifying to actually see these characters hit their big emotional beats rather than cut away and imply that these are already known. The bizarre positive of that is that Gunn builds a strange sense of anticipation in the audience when he gears up for one of these moments. You know that a big tonal shift is coming and the fact that it could be anything from a dick joke to somebody being dismembered keeps things fresh in a way that the Guardians films could never achieve without the shock factor of an R rating.

What could initially be seen as ill fortune has turned out to be a blessing in disguise for James Gunn, who has crafted his most outright enjoyable and sharply written film to date with The Suicide Squad. Taking a left turn where most superhero films would go right ensures that things stay fresh throughout the motley crew’s adventure; whether that be through the sheer insanity of the characters on-screen, the over-the-top gore or the constant stream of NSFW gags. If this is what the man can do with characters like Captain Boomerang and The Detachable Kid (as stupid as it sounds), then give James Gunn the keys to the whole DC kingdom and watch him go.

Warner Bros, 2021

The Suicide Squad stars Margot Robbie, Idris Elba, John Cena, Joel Kinnaman, Viola Davis, Jai Courtney, Peter Capaldi, David Dastmalchian, Daniela Melchior, Michael Rooker, Alice Braga, Pete Davidson, Nathan Fillion, Sean Gunn, Flula Borg & Sylvester Stallone – In cinemas now and streaming on HBO Max in the US.

Rating: 9 out of 10.

9/10

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Movie Reviews

Zack Snyder’s Justice League

Warner Bros, 2021

Director’s cuts are not an uncommon occurrence in the movie industry. We’ve seen classics like Blade Runner and Apocalypse Now improve upon the already iconic finished products and some not as successful attempts (sorry George Lucas). Zack Snyder’s Justice League may be the most deserving of all for its director to be given a second chance, with the original 2017 film caught in a storm of personal grievances and restrictive studio mandates which eventually led to his replacement by Avengers director Joss Whedon. The resulting product was a surface level fight-fest, with nary a full character arc in sight, that attempted to please studio executives rather than the fan base rampant to see out Snyder’s vision, which began with 2013’s excellent Man of Steel. Finally, after years of vehement online support, Warner Bros acquiesced, allowing Snyder to present his full, gigantic 4 hour vision of the ultimate DC super-hero team-up on streaming services around the world. Does it live up to the hype? Yes and no. Let’s get into it.

For the uninitiated, the broad strokes of Justice League centre around Batman (Ben Affleck) and Wonder Woman (Gal Gadot) attempting to recruit a team of super-powered individuals to fight against the oncoming threat of Steppenwolf (Ciarán Hinds), an intergalactic being hell-bent on destroying the Earth and cultivating it into an apocalyptic wasteland for big bad Darkseid (Ray Porter). In order to do this, he must collect the DC equivalent of the Infinity Stones, the Mother Boxes; three cubes scattered across the globe which, when combined, create an unstoppable force to change the planet to the user’s will. As the newly formed Justice League – now including Aquaman (Jason Momoa), Flash (Ezra Miller) and Cyborg (Ray Fisher) – clash with Steppenwolf, they begin to realise that their only way to achieve victory may be through some less than ethical means and a recently deceased Kryptonian.

Warner Bros, 2021

Simply put, Zack Snyder’s Justice League is the vastly superior version of the film, feeling like far more of a thematically and tonally consistent sequel to Man of Steel and Batman v Superman than Whedon’s cut. Narratively it is a very similar beast, with majority of the big action set-pieces remaining intact, but where Whedon’s version threw away character development and story in favour of quippy one-liners and mindless filler scuffles, Snyder restores these aspects, with a particular focus placed on the characters of Cyborg and Steppenwolf, two of the most underserved and generic characters from the 2017 film. Cyborg’s origin and relationship with his father is the emotional centre of the film, leaving the baffling question as to why Whedon chose to remove the only fully fledged character arc from his movie. Fisher is wonderful as the troubled half-man half-machine, conflicted over his feelings towards his father’s work that left him alive but cost him his mother and any semblance of a normal life. No longer does Cyborg simply become a hero after a pep-talk from Wonder Woman, but from some serious soul-searching and forgiveness, a theme Ben Affleck’s caped crusader learnt the hard way in Batman v Superman.

Ciarán Hinds’ incompetent villain Steppenwolf is also reworked into a more sympathetic character this time around, less concerned with collecting macguffins to destroy the world than he is to serve out a debt owed to Darkseid and win back his place as the right-hand man of DC’s answer to Thanos. Sure this may be shown in something of a clumsy and eerily relatable way, with Steppenwolf communicating with his boss via a series of magical Zoom calls, but using redemption as a motivator following an implied betrayal of Darkseid makes for a much more interesting character. Steppenwolf’s revamp extends to the visual side as well, marking a significant upgrade for the creature who has gone from a poorly rendered, gladiator armour wearing alien to a ferocious, spike clad minion of death, worthy of the threat Snyder insistently reminds us he is to the newly formed league of heroes. The scenes involving Steppenwolf also showcase a new feature of the Snyder Cut: the R rating. Gore features heavily as Steppenwolf slices and dices his way through scores of Amazonian and Atlantean soldiers, who explode in puffs of viscera at the blade of his lethal axe. It’s an unneeded touch for sure, likely to alienate the ever-present audience of young children who come to these films to see Superman and Wonder-Woman kick butt without any evidence of actual harm, but it certainly fits in with Snyders MO of throwing everything at his likely last outing in the DC universe.

Warner Bros, 2021

That’s right, all the quirks that come with Zack Snyder’s style are present here on a scale larger than anything we have seen before. That includes some truly cringe inducing dialogue, a return to the gritty, grounded characters of before (gone is the giddily childish humour of Whedon) and as much slow-motion action that the human mind can physically endure before exploding. Seriously, at times it feels like a quarter of the film is just slow-motion shots of our heroes narrowly avoiding a bullet or pushing something out of the way of harm. The lack of a restriction on runtime allows for all sorts of overindulgence on Snyder’s part, from an extended scene of hymns to Aquaman sung by an Icelandic village to an almost Return of the King number of endings, including the much hyped “Knightmare” sequence, which serves as an intriguing, if unfulfilling look at where Snyder’s proposed trilogy of films would have gone. Jared Leto’s singular scene as the Joker here is better than the entirety of Suicide Squad, even if it is about a fraction of the length of that mess, but doesn’t elevate the film significantly or warrant a complete viewing on its own merits.

The continued narrative of Superman continues to be Snyder’s greatest contribution to this iteration of the DC universe, even if he doesn’t lean into the character’s moral compass as much as in Man of Steel, with his endlessly positive message of hope ringing louder now than ever. It is genuinely exciting to see him return to save the day, and the touches of Hans Zimmer’s Man of Steel score in Thomas Holkenborg’s completely re-recorded and otherwise rather generic score are goosebump inducing during the climactic fight scenes. Cavill’s performance is one for the ages and the fact that this may very well be the last time we see him don the blue and red (or black this time around) suit can’t help but feel bittersweet, especially given this film’s lack of importance to the overarching DC story going forward, with Warner Bros declaring Whedon’s cut the canonical entry in the franchise. There is some retribution in knowing that Cavill’s last appearance as the Man of Steel isn’t marred by a digitally removed moustache (Google it) but here’s hoping it isn’t the last time we see him on-screen.

Warner Bros, 2021

Zack Snyder’s Justice League is a fascinating experiment of a film. Whilst it is an undoubtedly good thing that Snyder was allowed to see out his full creative vision, the fact remains that this version of the superhero epic – whilst superior to Whedon’s – is at times a bloated, directionless cluster bomb of a movie, with the director let loose to throw everything and the kitchen sink into the viewer’s eyeballs: the good, the bad and the godawful slow-motion (seriously stop doing that). As a continuation of his previous DC work, this feels like a satisfactory, suitably epic conclusion, even if the epilogue scene doesn’t convey that sense of finality. While it is easy to look at the Snyder Cut as a win, it also represents something of the toxic side of fandom, where “fan ownership” of characters leads to the bullying of studios and individuals into getting what they want. I’m more than curious to see what Zack Snyder would do with the sequels to this film and I genuinely hope they get made, but only if the creative team has genuine interest and supports the project, not as a result of a bunch of bullish, entitled fans. When part of the fandom turns as dark as Darkseid’s minions, no one wins.

Warner Bros, 2021

Zack Snyder’s Justice League stars Ben Affleck, Gal Gadot, Ezra Miller, Jason Momoa, Ray Fisher, Amy Adams, Diane Lane, Willem Dafoe, Jesse Eisenberg, Jeremy Irons, Connie Nielsen, J.K. Simmons, Ciarán Hinds, Amber Heard, Joe Morton and Henry Cavill – Streaming on HBO Max in the US and on Binge in Australia now.

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Movie Reviews

Wonder Woman 1984

Warner Bros, 2020

I appreciate the original Wonder Woman for what it is: a fun, well made superhero film with some exceptional scenes (No Man’s Land) and some great chemistry between Gal Gadot’s Diana Prince and Chris Pine’s Steve Trevor. It was the perfect introduction for the character of Wonder Woman, brought down a few pegs by the disastrous CGI mess of a final fight scene; a scene director Patty Jenkins has recently gone to great lengths to distance herself from, citing studio interference as the reason for its existence. For the sequel, Wonder Woman 1984 Jenkins takes up writing duties alongside DC veteran Geoff Johns, meaning she is in far more control of the muddled mess of a film that she has crafted this time around. From the awful CGI to the incredibly annoying, terribly written villains and almost incomprehensible plot, Wonder Woman 1984 fails on many levels, only kept chugging along thanks to the star power and charisma of Gadot and Pine. That plot is so incomprehensible at times that it is almost necessary to dip into some minor spoilers here and there, so consider this your warning.

Things get off to a roaring start with an introductory flashback scene to Diana’s homeland of Themyscira providing exciting thrills as a young Wonder Woman competes against a bevy of fully grown Amazonians in an Olympic games style triathlon. It’s all terrifically shot, with quick fast cuts and an exciting theme from Hans Zimmer that enraptures you quickly and never lets go, even if the scene never really justifies its relevance to the overarching plot. After this, it is straight into the titular time period and Jenkins seems hell-bent on earning that title, with a suitably cheesy fight scene in a shopping mall featuring some questionable fashion choices and Stranger Things style synth music announcing loudly and proudly that this film is set in the eighties. This scene pops with colour and seems overloaded with eighties references, a theme that crops up in a few noticeably lighter moments in the film, with montages of eighties fashion a joke that the film relies on quite a bit. Other than these visual gags however, the film doesn’t seem to really have much of a reason for being set in the eighties, using it as a visual and comedic crutch rather than for any meaningful plot significance.

Warner Bros, 2020

That plot starts to lose its way almost 20 minutes into the bloated 2-and-a-half hour run-time, as we meet our first of the film’s two villains: Barbara Minerva (Kristen Wiig), a scientist who works with Diana and a bumbling klutz who means well, but lacks the social skills necessary to really connect with anyone. Wiig is a terrific actress, as we’ve seen in films like Bridesmaids, but here it seems her only instruction is to play the character as annoyingly as possible, like something out of an SNL skit. When Minerva is tasked with uncovering the origin of the mysterious dream stone by the museum, she stumbles upon a story of the stone granting wishes, and – fresh off an encounter with new friend Diana – tests it out by wishing to become more like her, unknowingly committing herself to a future filled with super-strength, speed and unbridled power she could never dream of. Like an episode of the Oprah show, Jenkins gives every major character a go on the stone, as Diana finds herself wishing for the return of her love and fraudster wannabe oil tycoon Maxwell Lord (Pedro Pascal) wishes to literally become the stone, granting wishes for others in an effort to establish power over all the worlds major players and resources.

It becomes clear shortly after the plot reveals itself that Jenkins’ only concern is Diana herself. Every other character in the story is simply there to service her arc of coming to terms with the loss of Steve and diving into the future, unafraid of showing emotion or letting herself get invested (a prelude to her keenness to assemble the Justice League?). Minerva’s change from good-hearted, if somewhat overzealous friend to full-blown villain is so ham-fisted and unexplained, relying on an inexplicit obsession with Maxwell Lord borne from him showing her the smallest amount of previously unreceived attention. Why does she suddenly hate Diana, her former friend, who has done nothing wrong to her? How does she become Cheetah? I still have no idea. The closest approximation I can make to any affinity towards the African cat is a scene involving a pair of cheetah print high heels she remarks on Diana wearing. Her ability to later walk in heels is the incredibly cheesy and cartoonish representation of the strength she has inherited from Diana which again, explains absolutely nothing about her motivations to turn into a supervillain. When she does, the CGI used to bring her newly feline form to life is laughably bad, with fights involving her shot in frustratingly low light and with such quick cuts to hide as much as possible.

Warner Bros, 2020

Similarly, Pedro Pascal’s Maxwell Lord is an interesting enough villain at first, driven by his lust for power but also the desire to show his son that he is not a failure and can make something of himself. The performance is, similar to Wiig’s, dialled up to eleven as Pascal screams and yells about any number of things, playing off his cheap television persona to get ahead until he becomes one with the dream stone, suddenly turning calm and ominous in his tone. Pascal does what he can with the role, but any attempt to redeem Lord through his relationship with his son feels completely unearned when he hasn’t given a damn about him as he rips the world apart. The clichés never cease to end in both characters and plot as we head towards a typically large scale, end of the world scenario that we’re told can only be saved by Wonder Woman’s inherent goodness. That message in itself is hammered home multiple times throughout the film but doesn’t hit like it did in the first film. In the original Wonder Woman Diana was a symbol of peace, fighting the wars of men in an attempt to end the violence and show them the error of their ways. Here it is as simple as Diana is good and Minerva and Lord are bad so she has to win. It never gets any deeper than that.

Here’s where that minor spoiler comes in, you have been warned again. As you have probably seen throughout the endless streams of trailers and clips that have been released in the lead up to the film’s release, Chris Pine’s Steve Trevor returns to the fold, after having sacrificed himself at the end of the first film. This is obviously Diana’s wish on the dream stone, but the film makes the frankly mind-boggling decision to place Trevor in the body of a random civilian rather than his own. Over the course of these increasingly epic adventures, that excellent chemistry between Gadot and Pine is undercut by the fact that no one in the film is actually seeing Chris Pine, not even Diana herself. The film presents Steve as Pine to us the audience because that is who we are familiar with and that is how Diana remembers him, but in actual fact a complete stranger is joining her on all these adventures, completely robbing every moment of its emotional impact. If it is some attempt at conveying the “beauty is on the inside” message it doesn’t land, muddying up an already confusing storyline with a downright bizarre decision. Would it have been so hard for Steve Trevor to have regenerated in his own body? There isn’t a pre-established logic to the fantasy of wish fulfilment in a superhero movie.

Warner Bros, 2020

Wonder Woman 1984 is a disappointment on nearly every level. The sequel to one of the most beloved superhero films of recent memory fails on almost every level as it fills its terribly paced, excessive runtime with nonsensical plot points, poorly written characters and mixed messages that contradict each other. With only a handful of memorable scenes and less than that of actual action, there is simply too much of a burden placed on Gal Gadot and Chris Pine’s chemistry to carry the picture, and it crumbles under that weight. Do yourself a favour this holiday season and watch Pixar’s Soul instead. The wonder is missing from this instalment of the franchise.

Warner Bros, 2020

Wonder Woman 1984 stars Gal Gadot, Chris Pine, Kristen Wiig, Robin Wright, Connie Nielsen & Pedro Pascal – In Australian cinemas now and streaming on HBO Max in the US.

Categories
Movie Reviews

Birds of Prey

Warner Bros, 2020

I was not looking forward to Birds of Prey, or to use the obnoxiously-long full title Birds of Prey (And the Fantabulous Emancipation of One Harley Quinn). The last film to feature Margot Robbie’s ridiculously over-the-top psychologist turned maniac, 2016’s Suicide Squad, was a major disappointment: a misleading bore of a superhero-team up sold on its use of colour (it had none), pop-culture references (excessive) and endless blasting of pop songs (constant and mind-numbingly loud). Harley Quinn was a standout for most people – although I must admit I find the character extremely annoying and boring – and Warner Bros saw fit to give her another shot. This time around however, the film was being sold as a superhero team-up full of colour, pop-culture references and modern radio friendly tunes…. and that’s exactly what you get: a boring, meandering film of slightly better quality than Suicide Squad but with almost all of the same problems.

The central plot is simple enough. The Joker has had enough of Harley Quinn (he’s not the only one) and has severed his ties with her, leaving the poor psychopath on her own as a bevy of villains look to exact their revenge for the various evildoings she carried out while under the clown prince of crime’s protection. This leads Harley on a journey of self-discovery and preservation as she evades the people she has wronged, particularly the wealthy and well connected crime lord Roman Sionis (Ewan McGregor), familiar to fans of the Batman franchise as the villain Black Mask. To save her own skin, Harley must retrieve an extremely valuable diamond for Sionis – which just so happens to have been pickpocketed by local Gotham teenager Cassandra Cain (Ella Jay Basco) who is oblivious to the significance of her latest steal. As Harley befriends Cain and navigates the dangerous streets of Gotham City, she crosses paths with a number of quirky characters who all have their own motives for going after Cain and their own grievances with Sionis. These include the hard hitting detective-turned-vigilante Renee Montoya (Rosie Perez), Cain’s neighbour and Sionis’ reluctant associate Dinah Lance (Jurnee Smollett-Bell) and the recently arrived to Gotham, crossbow-wielding assassin Huntress (Mary Elizabeth Winstead).

Warner Bros, 2020

If this sounds like more of a Harley Quinn film than a team-up to you then you’re absolutely right. The supporting cast is woefully underutilised with the exception of McGregor as Sionis, who dials the campiness up to 11 to play the flamboyant, tantrum-prone germaphobe mob boss. His scenes are easily the most hilarious and enjoyable and his odd, are they/aren’t they relationship with his right-hand man Victor Zsasz (Chris Messina) is one of the strangest, and honestly one of the only fully realised relationships of the film. Yet this film belongs to Harley Quinn and if you’re a fan of the character then Robbie’s interpretation is about as close to perfect as you can get, right down to the voice. While her arc in the film is fairly standard and doesn’t really go anywhere unexpected, there’s no doubting the commitment and passion that Robbie has for the role, clearly relishing playing the character as she imbues Quinn with endless energy and sass. Mary Elizabeth Winstead is fine enough in her role as Huntress but she just isn’t given anything to do; with an attempt to establish her backstory and motives coming so late in the game and so fleetingly that it’s hard to really care all that much. The standout besides Robbie here is Jurnee Smollett-Bell as Dinah Lance – who fans of the show Arrow will be familiar with. She brings a nice balance of street-smarts and toughness with genuine kindness and a desire to be good that results in a character the audience can latch onto; she owes Sionis for dragging her off the streets but at the same time doesn’t condone the terrible things that he does and we want her to get out of this situation.

From a technical and story point of view, Birds of Prey is a letdown. Decisions have been made to make the film more quick-paced and manic, perhaps to make us see things like Harley Quinn, but these hinder the film more than they make for an enjoyable viewing experience. Large chunks of the film are narrated by Quinn herself as though she is relaying the story in real time to the audience, complete with time jumps backwards and forwards as Harley recovers from a hangover and recollects events. The result is an uneven pacing and a confusing plot that can go from two characters discussing something to an intense, in-your-face action sequence in a matter of minutes with no build-up or storytelling as to why the fight is happening. These action sequences vary in quality from an absolutely spellbinding sequence in a police station to an incredibly mundane final battle as far as super-hero movies go. The action is at its best when director Cathy Yan chooses to be play with the environment more and shoot the scenes in a more stylised fashion with slow motion shots and fast, quick cuts. In contrast to Suicide Squad, this film is colourful – filled with flashes of vibrant greens, blues and reds that really help to establish a visual style even if they don’t always make sense (why would a chemical plant explode in multicoloured fireworks?). Yan has clearly tried to lend her own personal flavour and style to the film and she should be commended. As for the music choices, the less said about that the better, as clearly nobody has learned from the mistakes of Suicide Squad in this regard.

Warner Bros, 2020

Birds of Prey wasn’t a movie that was begging to be made. Warner Bros took what worked from Suicide Squad and figured they could build a film, potentially a franchise, on the strength of Harley Quinn alone. It’s an interesting experiment, if ultimately a failure. There’s no denying that Margot Robbie plays the character to perfection but the film around her just isn’t interesting enough to warrant much of a response from the audience. While there are flashes of style and some solid action scenes – Cathy Yan has clearly tried to do something different here – it ultimately doesn’t come together as a whole and I wouldn’t be surprised if I forget the film entirely after a few days. Harley Quinn certainly isn’t going anywhere however and it’ll be interesting to see how someone like James Gunn, famous for directing the Guardians of the Galaxy films, handles the character in his upcoming Suicide Squad sequel.

Warner Bros, 2020

Birds of Prey stars Margot Robbie, Ewan McGregor, Rosie Perez, Mary Elizabeth Winstead, Jurnee Smollett-Bell, Ella Jay Basco & Chris Messina – in cinemas now.