REVIEWS

Director: Cathy Yan

Writer: Christina Hodson

Cast: Margot Robbie, Mary Elizabeth Winstead, Jurnee Smollett Bell, and Rosie Perez

Breaking up with the Joker may be best for your mental health but as Harley Quinn learns, it can be detrimental to your physical health. Without the crazed villain protection, Harley is thrown to the wolves making matters worse is the price placed on her head. Despite having her own safety at risk, a newly single Harley Quinn joins forces with crime fighters, Huntress, Black Canary, and Renee Montoya to save a young girl from criminal mastermind Black Mask.

Director Cathy Yan breathes new life into the DC universe with this long-awaited sequel to 2016’s Suicide Squad. Though new to the superhero genre, Yan has brought the franchise to new heights with this colorful action-packed comedy. The film is all about girl power as it chronicles, Harley Quinn’s newly discovered freedom as well as introduces three new heroines into the DC Cinematic Universe: The Huntress, Black Canary, and Renee Montoya. Though Harley Quinn is one of DC’s most notable characters, her story is often overshadowed by the Joker. As his love interest, she mainly offered a certain comic relief and often goaded him into bizarre but comical acts of villainy, the yin to his yang the duo was one of DC’s most celebrated couplings. Birds of Prey, and the Fantabulous Emancipation of one Harley Quinn, gives this villain turned heroine an opportunity to shine on her own. The film is narrated by Harley and filled with her trademark wit and destructive personality. Though many assume her antics were heavily influenced by the Joker, in her own words we discover she was her own woman all along.

Joining Harley Quinn on her personal journey of discovery, the “Birds of Prey” offer their support by saving Harley from herself more than once.  Misogyny, chauvinism and toxic masculinity are all tackled in this film without any preachy heavy-handed speeches, just a foursome of powerful women, kicking ass. DC Comic book fans should note that The Huntress in this film follows the Helena Bertinelli timeline in which a young Helena witnesses the death of her family and becomes the Huntress as she seeks revenge on the killers. For the film they’ve taken Huntress’s no-nonsense persona and made it comically awkward, even depicting her practicing her catchphrase in the bathroom mirror. Mary Elizabeth Winsted straddles comedy and action with ease making Huntress, fierce and but relatable. Jurnee Smollett is Black Canary, a nightclub singer with a supersonic voice.  The film hints at her abilities early on as she belts out a sultry version of James Brown’s “It’s a Man’s Man’s World”, shattering glass with the final note. Comic fans are well versed with this heroine’s otherworldly abilities but, Black Canary’s wings were clipped for this film, hopefully saving the awesome magnitude of her powers to be displayed later on. National treasure Rosie Perez gives us Lethal Weapon vibes as the loose cannon Detective Renee Montoya, a disgruntled member of Gotham PD, who eventually sides with the vigilantes over the boys in blue. Montoya also has the distinction of being DC’s first openly gay character, a fact that is glossed over in the film despite the appearance of one of her exes. Despite Birds of Prey being the truncated title, the story is mainly a coming out story for Harley Quinn, an allegory for moving on and rediscovering yourself. Birds of Prey is a well thought out, hilarious thrill ride that catapults Harley out of the Joker’s shadow and into the spotlight where she belongs.

Catch Birds of Prey in theaters, Friday, February 7, 2020!