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