Birds of Prey
Ten Second Review: Certainly a better showing that Suicide Squad but still not a film firing on all cylinders. Some great scenes but too many elements that still don’t quite work.
Not exactly a hot take but I thought Suicide Squad sucked. When it was announced that Harley Quinn was getting a solo spinoff it made sense. Take the only successful thing of an expensive mistake and try to spin it into something wildly successful.
So we open on Harley Quinn (Margot Robbie) but without the absently cast Joker. She’s cut ties with him, seemingly not by choice, and is having to make her own way in the world. As the word gets out that Harley is no longer under protection, one man in particular wants to take revenge, Black Mask (Ewan McGregor). As half the city begins to chase Harley she’ll need to make some friends quick. Maybe she could put together a team that would be facing certain death...what would you call that?
This film has certainly ended up a tale with two heads. On the one hand we have the film itself and whether or not it’s any good and the other, the film outside of its content and the seeming lack in interest from the public.
The first is easy enough to discuss; the film is fine, enjoyable even. It’s fits in seamlessly with the incoherency of the DC films as of yet. It’s certainly more of a film than most of the series yet but remains true to the ethos of the DCU and their mission to make films with little to no narrative depth, but enough cinematic moments to cut a cool looking trailer together. That may be harsh in this case but the shoe definitely fits.
Robbie is great in the lead role and certainly should have had more control of the initial showing for the character. This ensemble flick helmed by Quinn works far better than a rough split between a range of characters with a gentle focus on both Deadshot and Harley. McGregor is excellent and you really feel as though he actually enjoyed being a part of this film.
There is some heinous writing and outside of the action scenes (which are mostly amazing) the film struggles. Overall it feels that both the filmmakers and the aesthetic have learnt a lot from Suicide Squad and have fixed a great many of its problems, but there’s still work to be done to bring it to the level it clearly has the potential to be at.
What is curious is that the film isn’t doing very well at the box office. There have been a few suggestions from different sources suggesting that the film isn’t connecting because its female focused, because they’ve “made the characters less sexy” and a great many suggesting that maybe its because Suicide Squad wasn’t very good so people aren’t willing to pay for this. My favourite suggestion has been from the filmmakers who have decided its none of that and instead its that the title wasn’t SEO friendly so changed the name. We’ll see if that helps but it has opened some semi-interesting debates that can only ever really be speculative.
Robbie’s character is enigmatic and by most accounts was enjoyable so her popularity, you’d expect, would carry over. Regarding the female led aspect; Wonder Woman and Captain Marvel posted big numbers last year with both Wonder Woman 1984 and Black Widow set to do the same this year. There seems to be the appetite for more female led superhero films. Reviews have treated the film well with it rarely being wholly negative and generally seeing positive ratings. I’m honestly not sure about the “sexy” aspect of the character and its ability to move the needle to the tune of literally 100s of millions of dollars, but I don’t know what data could be used to look at this.
My biggest curiosity for this film actually relates to another DC film of the past year, Joker. When it was released the cries went up from critics that it was celebrating violence and creating a hero figure out of a villain. Those voices were silenced upon actual viewing of the film and the depth-full iteration of the clown prince of crime and his journey below. What I have seen none of is the same claims of the proudly violent and glamourised Quinn. Let me be clear, my problems with character are minimal, as with Joker, but the link is clear. Why then the criticism for one and not the other, far less apologetic and undeveloped, character.
This film is fine, it doesn’t reinvent the wheel and I doubt it will rock your world but it has certainly presented us with some interesting discussions. What makes people see films? What makes critics write? What is our society actually scared of?
