Birds of Prey (2020)
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Birds of Prey Movie Review
Birds of Prey is a 2020 superhero film directed by Cathy Yan and starring Margot Robbie and Ewan McGregor among others. It’s a messy, but hugely entertaining flick.
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“Oh hey, you’re that singer no one listens to.
Oh hey, you’re the asshole no one likes“
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There is a lot to talk about here, but first let’s just state that the film fulfills its main purpose, and that is the entertainment factor. Yes, blockbuster movies should first and foremost entertain, and this one did that in spades. We can all nitpick to oblivion about its flaws and issues, but there is no denying that the movie is one hell of a fun ride, at least it was to me anyway.
Let’s go character by character, and I will analyze the plot accordingly throughout. First off, Harley Quinn. The movie was marketed and titled all wrong. This is a Harley movie through and through with others only appearing sparingly. And there lies my biggest problem with the film. Margot herself is amazing in the role, truly terrific, and more on that later, but she simply threw everyone else under the bus by putting herself front and center. She never should have been a producer in the first place as her vanity botched what could have otherwise been a terrific flick.
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But on the flip coin, she is undoubtedly phenomenal. I found her only solid in ‘Suicide Squad’, but her character, and everything else really, was drastically improved this time around, and for the first time she genuinely felt like Harley to me. She is such a talented actress, and this role fits her like a glove. Her accent’s great, the emotional scenes are sold in their entirety and she has superb comedic timing. She steals every scene she’s in, and is a genuine star here.
So yes, others are unfortunately much less utilized. And that’s a shame because when they were all together on screen, I found their dynamic truly excellent, and they’ve had a lot of fun together, and the humor was on point there. They needed much more screen time together as a team, and the whole film felt very rushed and overly short for this particular story.
Huntress is hilarious as probably the funniest person here after Harley. Mary Elizabeth Winstead is terrific in the role, and this humorless, very serious and brooding woman was so amusing in her interactions with the others. Renee Montoya is also pretty good, though some of her bits felt forced, especially the feminist subplot. But the 80s cop dialogue was funny.
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Black Canary is so badass in her action scenes, particularly in her kicking abilities. Cassandra Cain is also quite funny with some of her on-point observations, and the relationship between her and Harley is sweet.
I absolutely loved everything they did with Black Mask. He is so campy, so over-the-top and so memorable in his every line of dialogue that he steals the show from many others here. Ewan McGregor killed it in such a different role for him, and once again he proves how talented and undervalued he is as this amazing actor that he is.
Victor Zsasz is also excellent, and Chris Messina is strangely sensual and animalistic in his performance, and it all worked. Yes, there was a lot of queerbating in their not overtly shown relationship, but the hints were there, and I found their dynamic quite intriguing and fun. I loved both of them, and they seemed genuinely dangerous and capable as these great comic-book villains, which is all the more disappointing how they ended up dying, especially Roman Sionis as his death scene was both ridiculous and absolutely horrendous.
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Birds of Prey benefits from some excellent humor as it reminded me so pleasantly of ‘Deadpool’ in its edge and silliness at times. However, it did not need to be R-rated as the end product is awfully clean and bloodless. But the action is absolutely phenomenal throughout, in particular the kicking, the use of the bat and the silly comic-book action with a lot of humor was excellent. I loved all set pieces, excluding the silly fun house sequence of course.
The entire third act was overly anti-climactic and such a major disappointment for me. The whole movie is very rushed and incredibly messy, but it does benefit from some inspired costumes and details at display, continually terrific dialogue and an irresistible sense of fun that is present in its every frame. Certainly its feminist angle is overly toxic in some scenes where it came dangerously close to an anti-male propaganda, but overall the movie is way too fun not to be enjoyed.
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Blockbusters should first and foremost provide entertainment, and that’s exactly what Birds of Prey does as it offers fun in spades. The movie is thus a success, no matter how obviously messy it is. The humor is fantastic as the film is so funny in so many scenes, the characters’ dynamic is stellar, the villains are genuinely dangerous and so much fun, and the action is mostly stupendously executed in both set pieces and fighting choreography. Ewan McGregor is delightfully campy and Margot Robbie is a true star here. Her Harley is so much fun, very humorous and consistently stealing the show from everyone else. But there also lies a problem – Margot is an absolutely horrible producer. She put herself front and center owing to her wild vanity, and thus every other girl here felt ridiculously and unfairly shortchanged, and the team was formed way too late in the game. Couple that with a short runtime, some toxic feminism at display, messy pacing and a very anti-climactic, disappointing ending, and you’ve got one hugely uneven, but undeniably fun flick nonetheless.
