“Psychologically speaking, vengeance rarely brings the catharsis we hope for.” - Harley Quinn
Birds Of Prey (And The Fantabulous Emancipation Of One Harley Quinn), more commonly known as just Birds Of Prey, is the newest film in the DCEU. It’s directed by Cathy Yan, and stars Margot Robbie, Ewan McGregor, Mary Elizabeth Winstead, Jurnee Smollett-Bell, and Rosie Perez. It takes place after the events of Suicide Squad, and follows Harley Quinn after she cuts ties with the Joker.
Out of all the people I talked to that have seen Birds Of Prey, most of them seemed to really enjoy it, and while there were some awesome choices made, there were also a lot of things that really didn’t work for me, which is why I think the film is just okay. My feelings about Birds Of Prey are very similar to my feelings about 2018’s Aquaman. I think that both films are fun to watch maybe once, but they’re not the types of films that I would find myself rewatching any time soon.
To start with something positive, I think the action scenes are awesome. The fight choreography is much better than I expected it to be, and it looks very convincing most of the time. The movie is also much more violent than I thought it would be, with fight scenes reminiscent of the hyper-violent style of the John Wick films.
Another thing I loved about this movie was the music. Almost all of the songs are perfect for this type of film. The whole film is very loud, sassy and fun, and the music plays a huge part in giving the film that quality.
Birds Of Prey is an all-out assault on your senses, but not just because of the music. The costumes are extravagant, and the colors are very bright and bold. The whole film is filled with bright lights and colors, and is heavily influenced by pop art. Even the official posters are blasted with glitter, rainbows, and neon colors of every hue.
Now that I’ve covered the things I enjoyed about Birds Of Prey, it’s time to start talking about the things I didn’t like. One of the things that bugged me was the acting. I thought Ewan McGregor did wonderfully, and for the most part, so did Margot Robbie. But most of the other actors were simply not very good in my opinion. Rosie Perez has a thick New York accent in the movie, and it was way overdone. Chris Messina portrays the strange Victor Zsasz in a way that I thought was almost a disservice to the original character depicted in the comics, and Ella Jay Basco’s character was incredibly annoying, but not in a good way.
The other thing that really annoyed me about Birds Of Prey was the script. In it, there are scenes that have absolutely no significance to the plot, and felt as if they were thrown in for the sake of getting a laugh or a shock out of the audience. There’s also a lot of unnecessary exposition delivered by Harley Quinn through voiceover. When the movie goes out its way to be shocking, it doesn’t succeed, nor does it succeed when it tries too hard to be funny. Where the film succeeds is where it doesn’t try too hard to be something it isn’t. Sadly, it feels like the film was going out of its way to be funny, and that’s why the jokes failed for me more often than not.
At the end of the day, Birds Of Prey has some things I loved, and some things I really didn’t love. I don’t think the film deserves the amount of praise it’s getting, but I also don’t think it’s a terrible film either. As I said earlier, it’s a fun movie to watch maybe once, but I don’t see myself revisiting it in the near future. If you liked the Deadpool movies, you might like this as well, just don’t expect it to be quite as good or as funny as those films.
Rating: R
Grade: C+
Comments
Post a Comment