{🚨SPOILERS🚨}: Directed by Cathy Yan, Birds of Prey follows Harley Quinn (Margot Robbie) after the events of Suicide Squad, now broken up with the Joker and aiming to start a new life for herself in the east end of Gotham city. However, due to the break up, she is now unprotected, and soon gets targeted by Gotham law enforcement, criminals and other people she had wronged.
She ends up in the sights of narcissistic and sadistic crime boss Roman Sionis aka Black Mask (Ewan McGregor) and ends up getting involved in a messy situation involving a special diamond and a street kid named Cassandra Cain (Ella Jay Basco). As Harley tries to deal with the situation she gains unexpected allies such as the vigilante the Huntress (Mary Elizabeth Winstead), the beautiful yet skilled Black Canary (Jurnee Smollett) and the veteran Gotham detective Renee Montoya (Rosie Perez). They come together to take down Black Mask and protect Cassandra from him, his lapdog Victor Zsasz (Chris Messina) and his army, the False Face Society.
So I reviewed this when it was released back in February last year and I absolutely loved this wild, hilarious and violent film, and still do. However, there was a lot more that I have wanted to talk about since my first review, as well as discuss new things I found upon multiple rewatches that made me appreciate Birds of Prey even more.
Cathy Yan and Margot Robbie had a long hard road to make this film happen, due to the many obstacles the studio put in front of them, but they managed to pull through with a brutal, manic and fun flick. This is a mostly Harley-focused story, but even when that was the case all the characters had a chance to shine, with great performances and scenes. They all made me and other people who loved this film wanting to see more of these characters, which shows just how good and impactful they were.
They are all included in a shuffled narrative, told from the perspective of Harley, which can be compared to films with similar structures like Tarantino’s Kill Bill. Both films have different stories but they also contain ultra violence, similar styles, out of order narrative, incredible action, meta humor and, most importantly, passion behind the camera from their individual directors. You can really tell Cathy Yan was getting inspiration from the best while also making her own stamp in the film industry.
And something I really noticed upon multiple rewatches are some of the hidden details that not only connect the shuffled narrative together but also seem to hint at something much more interesting.
As I mentioned before, the story is told from Harley’s perspective, and something the film has hinted at and was later reinforced by director Cathy Yan is that Harley is an unreliable narrator and certain things that happen in the film may not have actually happened or at least not in the way we saw it. Similar to 2019’s Joker, there are a lot of subtle hints that Harley, due to her psychotic nature, might be imagining how things happen that aren’t the same as in real life. In Joker it was made a bit more obvious, but here it is more subtle yet still hinted with scenes like the Ace Chemicals explosion, Harley’s stylish day dream of being Marilyn Monroe as she’s getting beaten by Black Mask, and the glittery attack on Gotham’s police station.
When she blows up Ace Chemicals she and the viewers see some beautiful fireworks and colorful explosions signifying her release from the Joker’s connection. But then later when we see Renee Montoya arrive on the scene with police, the fires and explosions of Ace Chemicals look totally normal and not colorful at all. Then for the attack on the police station we see Harley using glitter bombs, colored smoke and seemingly non-lethal weapons on the cops to take them down, but are we certain that’s the case? There might be an even darker version of that scene that we aren’t seeing. Things like that make the film more interesting upon rewatch and really get you thinking about certain events and question their reality of them.
Margot Robbie as Harley Quinn still remains one of best live action comic book castings, and I feel she was able to be a more fleshed out character compared to her previous outing in Suicide Squad. While she is still the unbalanced, dangerous and hilarious psycho that we love, I did find that she was a bit more humanized in this, when we see the real person inside her come out at times. She really felt like her own character and not just Joker’s sidekick.
On top of that it was really awesome to see Margot Robbie perform all her own stunts for all the stylish and well choreographed action scenes. And it was nice to see some fan service for Harley including having a pet Hyena, who in this film is called Bruce. Bruce was pretty awesome though I kinda wish he was utilized more.
Dinah Lance aka Black Canary was also an interesting character who you could tell has a haunted past, and really well performed by Jurnee Smollett. She may have great fighting skills and a very special gift but she feels held back and lives in fear of her employer Black Mask. The more he draws her into his dark and sadistic world, the more she feels trapped, until she finds the courage to fight back with the help of others. And while she only gets to use her canary cry once, I do like how it was built up and how it looked when it happens. Also she had really great interactions with all the other characters, making her stand out for me, and I’d love to see more of her.
Rosie Perez did an awesome job as the grizzled Montoya who doesn’t take shit from anyone. Her willingness to take action despite the limits of the law made her a character you love to root for.
But the biggest surprise was actually Mary Elizabeth Winstead’s Huntress, who was not only badass but also takes the typical revenge story in a new and funny way. At first it starts out really serious when you see her family get massacred over the prized diamond that Black Mask wants so badly due to what it contains. She goes through her lethal training and gets to kill her family’s killers, but the film actually makes fun of the revenge story cliches along the way, which I thought was brilliant. And while you still love the character you can’t help but also laugh at her social awkwardness and rage issues. Out of all the characters I really wanted to see more of her the most since Winstead delivered a great performance.
Now a lot of people, specifically comic book fans, have shared disappointment over the adaptation of Cassandra Cain, who was done very differently from her comic book counterpart. I have different thoughts on the matter though. As a character in this film I think she is good, plus Ella Basco’s performance and chemistry with the other characters is great and I enjoyed it. There are actually hints towards her comic book origins littered throughout the film, and with the way things end with her going with Harley does open the possibility of the character being taken in a new direction. So it’s not like the character will forever be this way, because she has the chance to evolve in future installments, similar to characters in the MCU who have evolved into better characters over the course of other films. It will all depend on what they will do with the character in the future, but I wasn’t “offended” by her in this film and she still gave a good performance.
Ewan McGregor as Roman Sionis aka Black Mask was an absolute delight in this film, but also a truly terrifying villain. He truly did an excellent job delivering a comic accurate portrayal with his own spin on things. He has multiple sides to him that are shown, from his public face to the real and dangerous one that comes out when things don’t go his way. It was also interesting to see how he appeared to have a serious case of obsessive compulsiveness, how it drives him to commit horrific acts or have Zsasz do them for him. Seeing Roman losing his mind over the course of the film, further unveiling his real face, was so great and even seeing him don the iconic black skull mask in one incredible shot was honestly perfect. It is unfortunate that he gets killed off since I would have wanted to have him around more, even though it is in a pretty awesome and hilarious way. However, there is a potentially a way that he may not be actually dead. Like I mentioned earlier, Harley is an unreliable narrator and her perspective can be exaggerated or not real at all, so things like Black Mask’s death might not have happened, which is also something that Cathy Yan has lightly teased about.
As for Victor Zsasz, Chris Messina was really really creepy, and nailed the unsettling serial killer nature of the comic book character. Seeing him cut the faces off of and slice the throats of an entire family was such a shocking scene, but I’m so glad the filmmakers committed to the character more than previous adaptations in film and tv. He ends up being killed too which is a bit of a bummer, but it makes sense when you realize he was involved in the murder of Huntress’s family. Regardless, he was still great, and he certainly did a lot more than the Zsaz that was in Nolan’s Batman Begins.
The action in this film is a total blast, featuring great stunt work and practical effects. The police station sequences and the big battle at the fun house were probably my favorite of the entire film, offering great entertainment and utilizing the environments to great advantage. With the R-rating they were able to pull off some really brutal, bloody, over the top action which I always have an absolute blast with. I mean, you literally have a scene where a cocaine-fueled Harley Quinn kicks ass and breaks knees, it’s so damn entertaining and would never happen in a PG-13 film.
The visuals and the effects were also really great, giving this film a unique identity, and it remains consistent in tone, especially with the cinematography. There are some seriously gorgeous shots this film, containin so much detail and fleshed out colors. And with a lot of the practical work involved it makes every shot feel much more impactful and the sets more real. CGI was also present that looked pretty great, but there wasn’t that much of it, which I will say was refreshing compared to some of the other DCEU films that are CGI heavy.
And the soundtrack is absolutely killer. There is a great score, but then you also have a collection of classic well known songs and some originals from various artists that are absolutely head bangers. Probably my favorite among them would have to be “Experiment On Me” that played during the jail cell sequence of the Police Station break in.
Overall, Birds of Prey remains as a solid, fun flick that received a lot of unearned hate from some people, and should have had a lot more attention. The poor marketing really affected this film, as well as the false rumors surrounding the film that many people were so gullible to believe in, which in turn affected the film’s box office. It wasn’t a flop but it was an under-performer and deserves much more attention. While we know Harley’s story will obviously be continued, I do hope the other characters get a chance to come back in future installments, or even get their own spin offs via HBO Max, cause because they deserve it and there is a lot of potential to play with. And I do also hope Cathy Yan has the chance to do more projects in the future. Birds of Prey gets an A.
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