Saturday, November 28, 2020

Girl Week 2020: Birds of Prey (And the Fantabulous Emancipation of One Harley Quinn)

Welcome to Day 6 of Girl Week 2020. It's Saturday. Saturday's are super. That means they're for superheroes...or supervillains...or the movies about them...or...screw it, let's start.


Directed by Cathy Yan.
2020. Rated R, 109 minutes.
Cast: Margot Robbie, Rosie Perez, Ewan McGregor, Jurnee Smollett-Bell, Mary Elizabeth Winstead, Chris Messina, Ella Jay Basco, Ali Wong, Steven Williams, Dana Lee, Francois Chau, Derek Wilson.

    If you've seen 2016's Suicide Squad, or you're familiar with the character Harley Quinn (Robbie), you know that her entire identity is wrapped up in her relationship with the notorious Joker. He's a controlling, even abusive type, and there's only so much a girl can take. And so, the film begins in the immediate aftermath of her breakup with the Clown Prince of Gotham. As bad a guy as he is, being with him afforded Harley street cred and protection. No one wants to cross The Clown. Once word gets out that the two are no longer a thing, every person she once wronged is out for her blood. Word gets out because Harley herself made a rather public announcement that also has local detective Renee Montoya (Perez) hot on her heels. All of this overlaps with the plans of Roman Sionis (McGregor), who is trying to get his hands on a very particular diamond, the activities of a vigilante known only as the Crossbow Killer. who has been taking out gangsters all over town.

    Whether you love or hate Suicide Squad, and a lot of us hate it, most agree that one of the bright spots was the performance of Margot Robbie as Harley Quinn. This is the last time I'll bring up that movie, I swear. However, I referenced it for comparison's sake. She is great in that film, with only Will Smith's somber performance nearing her level. She's even better, here. She is given full reign over the movie and uses it to her advantage. Robbie embraces the most comic book elements of Harley and camps it up while maintaining a tangible humanity with a full range of empathy-attracting emotions. Her over-the-top veneer is right from the hand-drawn cells of Batman: The Animated Series, but she also has the nuances to make us love her. The screenplay aids her in this, and the combination produces movie magic in the most unexpected places. For instance, a running joke revolves around Harley trying to enjoy an egg sandwich from her favorite local diner, and things going terribly wrong in the process. It's a goofy bit, for sure, but Robbie, along with the writing and camera work, manages to get us rooting for her to have this sandwich from the depths of our soul. It's an impressive feat emblematic of how Robbie consistently turns the silly into the sublime.

    Director Cathy Yan, along with the filmmaking machine at her disposal, also take what's inherently ridiculous and makes it exhilarating. Before this, she had only directed a Chinese film I'd never heard of called Dead Pigs (2018), which she also wrote. Kudos to DC and/or Warner Bros. for being able to find this woman, and having the foresight to hand her the reins to this property. Like lots of folks, I've given them lots of crap for meddling way too much in the making of movies bearing the DC logo. For Birds of Prey, it feels like they took enough of a step back to allow it to feel like the cohesive vision of a singular person. I'm positive they weren't completely hands off, but they don't overwhelm Yan. Therefore, the story flows without any Easter eggs feeling shoe-horned in, and she deftly handles the characters, giving each of the important ones enough time for us to develop real feelings for. Yan also maintains a sense of fun throughout the movie. Like the star at its center, it gives us plenty of comic book style camp, but stays grounded enough not to lose us. When Harley goes traipsing through a police station, Terminator style, we buy it, even though she's taking cops down (not out) with just smoke and confetti. Action scenes are filled with pizazz and shot at a distance where we can actually see our heroines kicking ass. The fight choreography and the action sequences in general, are some of the best the DC has to offer. And I don't just mean the recent DCEU. I'm going all the way back to 1989's Batman. The best part is that this carries all the way through the final act. It's a crazy finale, but unlike most comic book movies since the dawn of the MCU, it isn't an ugly, over-cgi'd mass of pixels. It feels organic to the story we're being told. And it's damn fun.

    None of this would work if the rest of the cast wasn't up to par. They more than hold up their end of the bargain. Jurnee Smollett-Bell turns in another of what's becoming a long string of underrated performances. As Dinah Lace, she provides a perfect counterbalance to the manic Harley. Like the rest of the characters who matter, she has a tragic backstory, but hers hits a bit differently. We feel it more in our core than we do for the other supporting players. Mary Elizabeth Winstead takes a more snarky/meta approach to things and she's wonderful at doing just that. Rosie Perez is also very good. Strangely, her performance works because she's not giving us as much of the Rosie Perez persona as we're used to. The weak link is the only male character with an important role to play, Ewan McGregor as our bad guy. It's not due to lack of effort. In fact, he might be giving too much effort. He's chewing every shred of scenery in his vicinity. He keeps the gas pedal mashed all the way to the floor through all stop signs and stoplights. In a movie with the aforementioned scene in a police station, and an animated sequence featuring Joker, McGregor is by far the most cartoonish thing about Birds of Prey.

    The biggest flaw with this film is that it is a bit overstuffed. It's trying to pull so many strands together that some occasionally get lost. For them, it takes too long to get back to after each visit. They all tie together, but some of them feel haphazardly yanked in at the last moment. Another issue, is one a bit more subjective. The comedy can be a bit too much. It goes full tilt for much of the movie. Some have accused it of imitating Deadpool. I get it. Harley definitely has similar qualities. It works for me, but others might see it as too much of the same thing despite different packaging. Since it does work for me, it was one of the most fun movie watching experiences I had in 2020. That's exacerbated by the fact that it was one of the very few movies I got to see in an actual movie theater. For me, that environment adds to just about any film. However, I have since seen it at home and had just as much fun. 

Click below for yesterday's entries in Girl Week 2020.

Just a Cineast

Dell on Movies


10 comments:

  1. I had such a good time with this. I hated that the title apparently confused so many casual moviegoers.

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  2. I really liked this film as I had a lot of fun watching it in the theaters in February. Sadly, this is the last movie I'm probably going to see in the theaters for a while. Fucking pandemic. Yet, I still enjoyed myself as I liked watching those ladies just kicking ass and talking shit. Plus, I want that fucking egg sandwich.

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    1. At least you had a good movie for your last theater experience. I had crappy ass Bloodshot.

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  3. I'd heard all kinds of negative feedback on Suicide Squad so I never sought it out but even if this isn't something I'd usually watch I might give it a whirl should the chance present itself.

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    1. You can definitely watch this without ever seeing Suicide Squad. Anything you might need to know from that movie is repeated in this one.

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  4. I have not seen this film nor Suicide Squad. I may give it a look over one day.

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    1. Same thing I said to Joel applies. You can watch this without having seen Suicide Squad.

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  5. It had soooooo much fun with this film!
    So weird to think I also saw it in theatres this years. Feels like an eternity ago.

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  6. I've seen it both in theatres and at home and it was so much fun both times. It's not a perfect film but it's arguably one of my favourite of the year. I'm so glad you enjoyed it too!

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