Now THAT’S what I call strong female characters.
As many may be aware, I have been disappointed with DC movies for many years. So disappointed, in fact, that I have skipped out on seeing pretty much any superhero DC movie they have released since The Dark Knight Rises (which was the beginning of the let downs). Birds of Prey’s announcement made me skeptical. Sure, Margot Robbie’s portrayal of Harley Quinn stole the show in Suicide Squad, but was she going to be enough to hold her own in a movie? Well, funny enough that is kind of the premise for Birds of Prey.
Most of her life, Harley Quinn was underestimated and thrown away. We all know what Joker did to her. This Harley Quinn is a lovely mix of the Harley of Suicide Squad, Jimmy Palmiotti and Amanda Conner’s take on her, and Gail Simones take on her. She’s loose cannon and doesn’t care about what she does. She cares about her people, but sometimes doesn’t even really care about them. After she dumps Joker she finds herself in the crosshairs of everyone she and Joker have ever wronged. This is where the story beings.
Sing it for me
The story is fantastic and fun. It is big and loud and in your face, all the while not giving a crap who might have something negative to say about it. They introduce each character in a seamless manner and it makes sense for how the story moves along. It does jump around a bit, but that’s because Harley Quinn is the one telling the story, and don’t you forget it! The main players in this are Harley Quinn, of course, Dinah Lance, Cassandra Cain, Renee Montoya, and The Huntress. At first, the movie mostly focuses on Harley Quinn, but as it progresses each of these ladies gets their screen time.
The cast is stellar. Every one of these actors brought their “A Game” and really embodied the character well. Also, Ewan McGregor makes a really great mob boss as Roman Sionis! I also really liked his relationship with Victor Zsasz (who I had no idea was in this movie) and how you could tell that Zsasz really cared about him, more than just for a paycheck. The way Sionis’ fingers were in everything (because of his standing in Gotham) was really interesting too. He was the big bad of Gotham, so having everyone at his disposal made him a fun bad guy. You never knew what else he could do to get what he wanted!
Bing, Bang, Boom!
Action packed and intense are some other words for can use to describe Birds of Prey. At no point during the movie did I feel bored or underwhelmed. With a pop of color, each shot was beautifully crafted. Mostly, it was Harley Quinn that brought the color, but sometimes it was something else like a random costume change or a fun explosion. I loved the fight scenes. The one-on-ones, the major battle, and the big group ass whoppings… all of them! That final fight scene was amazing too.
Each of the girls had their time to shine and none of them ever felt meek or pathetic. It also wasn’t ever a huge obvious “gotta make em happy” moment like some of the other strong female character scenes that have been in recent box office movies (*Cough* ENDGAME *Cough*). Everything they did made sense and there was never a moment I felt like I was being patronized. There was also so much wit and humor spread throughout the movie. The writing was fun and upbeat, not dark and gritty and depressing. This feels very on par with Shazam and how enjoyable that was to watch. The only small nitpick I had was that there were some parts where the CG was not as clean as it could have been. Specifically on Bruce, which was a totally necessary addition to the story, but could have been a bit better rendered.
Final verdict
Do not miss out on Birds of Prey! I beg of you. It was a great movie from start to finish. Take a moment, go watch an enjoyable film filled with badass women, fun bright fight scenes, and a taxidermy beaver. Get lost in the music, the story, the world. Birds of Prey was so much fun to watch and I am honestly going to see it a few more times before it leaves the theatres. Do yourself a favor and do the same!
Did you see Birds of Prey? If so, let us know what you thought in the comments below!
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Brianna is a student, studying communications in AZ. As a lifelong resident of Tucson, she was raised on a healthy diet of cartoons, comic books, music and general geekery. Her biggest dream is to work for the comic book industry in any way possible.
