LOUISA: 
LOUISA SAYS:
I really dug “Birds of Prey (And the Fantabulous Emancipation of One Harley Quinn)” because it is unlike any movie I’ve seen before. There are the conventional-minded and flashy action scenes that accompany most superhero characters, but this is a violent, R-rated, naughty-joke, potty-mouthed comic book tour de force made for women over 25. It’s a boisterous good time for feminists and girl nerds everywhere.
The film is told from the twisted and deliciously sarcastic point of view of Harley Quinn (Margot Robbie), ex-girlfriend of the Joker. When the evil Roman Sionis (Ewan McGregor) puts out a hit on a young petty thief (Ella Jay Basco), the most nefarious villains turn Gotham City upside down looking for her. When Harley crosses paths with Huntress (Mary Elizabeth Winstead), Black Canary (Jurnee Smollett-Bell), and cop Renee Montoya (Rosie Perez), the women learn they have no choice but to team up in order to take Sionis down once and for all.
The heartbeat of the film lies in Robbie’s iconic character interpretation of Harley Quinn. She is terrific in making her naughty character with a mean streak easy to love. Harley isn’t exactly a woman you want to emulate, but it sure would be fun to hang out and be friends with her.
All of the supporting performances here really are first-rate too. McGregor chews scenery with audacious glee, and his villain is truly terrifying. With the addition of a diverse, kick-ass female supporting cast playing equally bad-ass superheros, the film takes a multicultural feminist slant that thankfully doesn’t seem forced by committee.
“Birds of Prey” is the type of scrappy mayhem that gives a sparkle of excitement to the mostly bland and boring DCEU. It’s colorful and chaotic, reckless and energetic, and I am surprised that I enjoyed this movie as much as I did. This is a really, really fun spectacle that could bring new fans to the genre.
Screen Zealots 
I’m so glad you enjoyed this one, it’s such a shame the marketing has been so poor and resulted in a bad box office number. It was such a wild ride!
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Agree! It’s unlike anything I’ve seen, and it’s such a shame audiences aren’t seeing it.
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Looking forward to it.
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Have you seen Harley Quinn the TV show on DCU? Wish they would have had Poison Ivy, which in the comics and animated series is Harley’s emotional ground and center. The Birds of Prey and Harley aren’t nearly as related and integral. Comics don’t have to always mirror the big screen, I’m not a purist, but oh well, this isn’t a bad movie, it was just a little too silly by even Harley Quinn’s standards. Bean bags with glitter?!?! Harley would have wrecked those cops with her mallet. It’s just small stuff like that which is a huge departure from the character which is psychotic, violent and unpredictable.
Anyway, glad to see you and some others have enjoyed this movie. I hope it does well enough to earn another Harley Quinn feature film, but perhaps next time they will make a live action movie based off the animated TV series which is amazing and getting rave reviews.
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Thanks for the comment, and I’ll give you the glitter — that was weird! But they really couldn’t have Harley going around murdering everyone. It’s just such an interesting movie, and one like I’ve not seen before.
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And no, I haven’t seen the show. I’m not a huge DC Comics fan either. So maybe that’s why I didn’t hate it!
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