Birds of Prey and the Fantabulous Emancipation of One Harley Quinn

It all started earlier this week when the review embargo for this film lifted just two days before its release. I have been aware of this film for a while now but it wasn’t until I read those first praising reviews and saw its 90% certified fresh tomato that I actually started to get excited for the film.

However, I have to admit, all I felt once the credits started rolling was utter disappointment. This is NOT a Birds of Prey movie, it’s a Suicide Quad version of Harley Quinn movie.

The film does not reach the awfulness of 2016’s Suicide Squad, but does inherit some of its detrimental flaws, such as lazy script, poorly developed character, cringy humour, and a small-scale plot. The film ultimately feels more like a “tv movie” than a featured blockbuster superhero film.

The film is also ambitious in pushing its toxic feminist agenda by portraying every male character as a villain which was also recently done in the recent Charlie’s Angels reboot. I am all for equal rights and portraying strong female characters. However, what I do not support is this new feminist mentality of raising women by tearing down men. It’s toxic and will do more damage than good when fighting for equal rights.

The film does have a few dark and gritty moments along with some top-notch fun action sequences, especially within the third act.

Characters

Instead of focusing its attention on the highly popular character, Harley Quinn, and her new teammates, Huntress and Black Canary, the film lays all of its foundation on the Joker character and lazily conjures up a Joker-like replacement as the villain.

Margot Robbie is a very talented actress, she has the classic Hollywood look combined with an impressive acting range. However, I still do not feel that she truly embodies the Harley Quinn Character. There is a plethora of evidence throughout the film that proves that Margot Robbie’s range as an actress sadly does not cover the capability of successfully portraying the role of Harley. Margot’s performance is that of someone who is acting like Harley Quinn but not of someone who IS Harley Quinn. Her failed attempt at maintaining a Long Island accent is just one of many examples that prove my point.

Harley Quinn is supposed to be the poster-child for women who are in abusive relationships and suffer from co-dependency. These very interesting subject matters are completely ignored and instead, the focus is fully set on revenge-seeking criminals, who are set on killing Harley now that she is not under the protection of the Joker, and some lame diamond.

Margot’s Harley Quinn is also stripped out of all of the sex-appeal and cheesecake persona that she had on suicide squad, which might leave some fans feeling cheated by this new version of the character.

Harley’s voiceover narration throughout the entire film was also unnecessary and an excuse for lazy scriptwriters.

On the other hand, both Huntress, played by Mary Elizabeth Winstead, and Black Canary, played by Jurnee Smollett-Bell, truly shine in this film. Their action scenes are exceptional and both have very interesting backstories. However, their screen time is unexplainably small which makes their involvement in the film insignificant. If you are not familiar with the comics, the Birds of Prey are a crime-fighting team whose main members are Black Canary, Huntress, and Barbara Gordon (Batgirl/Oracle). The fact that the movie was titled after it and both founding members are left with mere minutes of screen times speaks to the atrocity that is this film.

Instead, the majority of screen time goes to Cassandra Cain and Renee Montoya who are both awful and bring down the quality of the film. Casandra Cain, played by Ella Jay Basco, is without a doubt the worst pick pocketer to ever walk this movie planet. The character is both poorly written and acted. Montoya, played by Rosie Perez, is better acted but just plain boring and incompetent. She is used here by the toxic feminists to demonstrate how men get all the credit for the achievements of women in the workplace. I am aware that this does occur in the real world but to choose such an incompetent character to portray such an issue just makes the issue itself a laughing joke as Montoya is shown as an incompetent and silly character.

Ewan McGregor as Black Mask and Chris Messina as Victor Zsasz both do a great job with what they’re given. The character of Black Mask is at times too similar to the Joker which speaks to the lazy conception of the overall plot and its chosen characters.

Conclusion

Overall, Margot Robbie needs to get over her insecurities of being outshined by a new Poison Ivy or Cat woman and give us a Gotham City Sirens movie. And enough with this toxic feminist agenda, it’s not helping the equal rights movement and all it does is divide us.