Thursday, February 27, 2020

Birds of Prey (and the Fantabulous Emancipation of One Harley Quinn) (2020) review


Rosie Perez, Jurnee Smollett-Bell, Mary Elizabeth Winstead, Margot Robbie, and Ella Jay Basco in Birds of Prey: And the Fantabulous Emancipation of One Harley Quinn (2020)

On September 5th, 1992, Batman: The Animated Series made its official debut on the Fox Kids programming block and would go on to span 85 episodes throughout four seasons that would later pave the way for various spin-offs set in the same universe. Since then, the show has gone on to become one of the most beloved interpretations of the Dark Knight, garnering much acclaim for its dark and mature writing, noir-inspired animation, and strongly layered characters. This, of course, includes the show’s iconic interpretations of Batman’s legendary Rogues gallery headlined as always by his archnemesis, the Joker (voiced by Mark Hamill). However, this series would also see the debut of a villain who quickly turned out to be a fan favorite, Harley Quinn, a former psychiatrist at Arkham Asylum who fell in love with the Clown Prince of Crime and promptly became his fiercely loyal second-in-command. The character was largely inspired by her original voice actress Arleen Sorkin, a college friend of the series’ co-creator Paul Dini who once appeared in a jester outfit on the classic soap opera Days of Our Lives, which would influence Harley’s iconic harlequin look. After making her official debut in Episode 22 of the series, “Joker’s Favor”, Harley became such a popular character amongst fans of the show that she was then properly implemented into the comics. And in 2016, she would make her live-action cinematic debut in the DC Extended Universe’s Suicide Squad, where she was played by Margot Robbie. While the film proved to be a dud with critics, Robbie’s portrayal of the iconic villainess turned occasional antihero was considered one of its biggest highlights.

Because of this, plans were then set into motion for several potential spin-offs featuring Robbie’s take on the character, including one that focused solely on her and the Joker and another that would be based around the squad of her, Poison Ivy, and Catwoman known as the Gotham City Sirens. Ultimately, though, the first official Harley Quinn spin-off would end up being one proposed by Robbie herself based on a different all-female squad known as the Birds of Prey. The Birds of Prey were originally introduced in the mid-’90s by writer Chuck Dixon and former DC Comics editor Jordan B. Gorfinkel and, in the context of the DC Universe, was spawned from a partnership between Black Canary and former Batgirl Barbara Gordon who, at the time, had become known as ‘Oracle’ following the controversial events of The Killing Joke. Since then, other superheroines have been featured on the group’s roster over the years including Batwoman, Hawkgirl, and Power Girl. Outside of the comics, there was a Birds of Prey TV series that aired on the WB from 2002-2003 but sadly only lasted one season due to poor ratings (said series also notably featured a version of Harley Quinn played by Mia Sara). But now the Birds of Prey have been given their own film which, as alluded to earlier, primarily came to fruition thanks to Margot Robbie, who initially proposed it during the production of Suicide Squad. Along with headlining the film in her second official outing as Harley Quinn, Robbie is its primary producer via her production company, LuckyChap Entertainment, and prioritized a female-led crew that includes screenwriter Christina Hodson and director Cathy Yan. Thus, we now have a film that boasts the legendary title of Birds of Prey (and the Fantabulous Emancipation of One Harley Quinn), and sure enough, that elaborate title gives you an exact idea of the unabashedly chaotic and highly entertaining comic book flick that it ultimately is.

(Disclaimer: To avoid having to constantly repeat that long title, any future use of it in this review will consist solely of the Birds of Prey part of it and not the Fantabulous Emancipation of one Harley Quinn subtitle)

Sometime after the events of Suicide Squad, former Arkham Asylum psychiatrist turned crazed henchwoman Harley Quinn (Margot Robbie) breaks off her relationship with her longtime boss/lover, the Joker. But while Harley is more than ready to move on with her life, she quickly learns that this now puts her on the hit list of every criminal in Gotham City that she had previously wronged but was always protected from due to her ties with the Joker. At the top of that list is crime boss Roman Sionis AKA Black Mask (Ewan McGregor), who is currently after a diamond that’s embedded with information regarding the elusive fortune of the former Bertinelli crime family. But while he and his right-hand man Victor Zsasz (Chris Messina) end up finding the diamond, it’s then promptly stolen from them by young pickpocket Cassandra Cain (Ella Jay Basco). To save herself from his wrath, Harley offers to retrieve the diamond for Roman but ultimately ends up taking the young girl under her wing instead. In the process, the two also end up crossing paths with a bunch of other women who are tied to their current predicament. This includes Dinah Lance AKA Black Canary (Jurnee Smollett-Bell), Roman’s club singer turned driver who can project hypersonic screams, Gotham City police detective Renee Montoya (Rosie Perez), who’s looking to build a case against Roman, and Helena Bertinelli AKA Huntress (Mary Elizabeth Winstead), the sole survivor of the Bertinelli family who grew up to become a crossbow-wielding vigilante. Recognizing that they all share a common enemy, Harley proposes that they work together to protect Cassandra from the army of goons that are headed their way.

Much has been said about how Suicide Squad ended up being yet another example of the DCEU’s early installments being hindered tremendously by executive meddling, thus paving the way for its mediocre reception. One of the biggest criticisms directed towards it was that despite its marketing campaign’s promise of being one of the flashiest installments of the superhero genre, a lot of the final film was downright ugly when it came to its visuals. Thankfully, that is not the case with Birds of Prey as director Cathy Yan never shies away from the bright visual aesthetic that has commonly defined the character of Harley Quinn. And instead of the arguably quite cynical tone that defined much of Suicide Squad, Birds of Prey achieves a great mix of wacky hi-jinx and solid emotional drama. This is, after all, a film where Harley Quinn finally breaks off her long-standing relationship with the Joker which, despite being one of the most famous relationships in all of comics… is also one of the most toxic relationships in the history of media. In other words, Birds of Prey deserves a lot of credit for being thoroughly committed to producing a female-led superhero film that takes a full-on sledgehammer to toxic masculinity, and if you ask me, it handles this all very well. Sure, the plot can be a little jumbled at times due to all the story elements that it’s trying to juggle alongside the primary storyline with Harley (more on that in a little bit), but the film still flows at a very nice pace throughout. Plus, it also sports some excellent action sequences, with any sequence that was done during reshoots notably being handled by none other than John Wick director Chad Stahelski.   

Prior to the film’s release, there was some concern from fans that despite being titled Birds of Prey, it would end up being more focused on Harley Quinn given that the marketing primarily revolved around her, and to be perfectly blunt… that’s exactly what the film is. Birds of Prey is very much a Harley Quinn film and the titular squad doesn’t properly come together until the final act. However, I wouldn’t necessarily call this a bad thing in this instance since the film properly follows in the footsteps of Wonder Woman and Aquaman by giving its main character quality material that fully matches her commitment to the role. Margot Robbie was already a fantastic pick for Harley Quinn as evident by her performance in Suicide Squad, but just like Gal Gadot and Jason Momoa before her, it’s ultimately Harley’s ‘solo film’ (even though I do use that term loosely in this case) where she’s truly allowed to shine. And while this does mean that the other female leads in the film don’t get as much focus compared to Robbie, they’re all just as phenomenal in their respective roles. Jurnee Smollett-Bell brings a lot of humanity to the role of Black Canary (who’s arguably the most grounded of the group despite her metahuman abilities), Rosie Perez brings the right fiery tenacity to the role of Renee Montoya, and Mary Elizabeth Winstead’s Huntress is a great combination of badass action heroics and solid humor that pokes fun at her overly serious persona. And as for newcomer Ella Jay Basco as Cassandra Cain, she has wonderful camaraderie with Margot Robbie, whom she primarily shares the screen with given everything that goes down plot-wise. Finally, to close out this film’s excellent ensemble, we have our main antagonists Black Mask and Victor Zsasz. Ewan McGregor kills it in the role of Black Mask, fully succeeding at making him a down-right sleazebag of a villain (with some solid dark humor mixed in as well). And while Chris Messina doesn’t exactly get as much to work with as Zsasz, the partner dynamic that he forms with McGregor is top-notch.

Back when Suicide Squad came out in 2016, I was amongst those who thought that it wasn’t too bad; heck, I even gave it a 4/5 in my initial review of it. It wasn’t until recently, however, when I finally re-watched it, and while I will admit that I’m not exactly as positive towards it as I was back then, I don’t ‘dislike’ it. It is, however, still a prime example of an era of the DC Extended Universe that is thankfully over. Thanks to films like Wonder Woman and Shazam, it’s clear that this franchise has now realized that it’s better to develop its characters first before putting them all together in one film, and sure enough, Birds of Prey nobly continues that trend. Sure, at the end of the day, it’s a Harley Quinn film first and a Birds of Prey film second, but the clearly dedicated effort from producer/star Margot Robbie to highlight some lesser-known heroines in the DC Universe is incredibly admirable. In other words, one of the best things about this film is that it shows the incredible potential for future adventures with the squad of superheroines that it sets up. At the same time, it allows Margot Robbie the chance to firmly establish herself as the definitive live-action interpretation of one of DC’s most popular characters, and if that wasn’t enough, this won’t be the last we see of Harley in the DCEU as Robbie is already set to return in next year’s Suicide Squad sequel. And while I know that there are some out there questioning why Suicide Squad demanded a sequel given how it turned out, I can answer that question in two words… James Gunn. Yes, the man who brought us two of the greatest superhero films of the past few years is in charge this time around, and I’m fully confident that he will give us a superior sequel. But in conclusion, let’s also thank Cathy Yan for starting off 2020’s slate of superhero films on a high note with the delightfully madcap adventure that is Birds of Prey.

Rating: 4.5/5

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