Photo: Birds of Prey logo created by Wikimedia Commons author FLC001. This photo is licensed under the public domain
BIRDS OF PREY is an explosion of candy-colored violence. Like its full name, Birds of Prey (and the Fantabulous Emancipation of One Harley Quinn) is over-the-top, zany, and endless fun. Directed by Cathy Yan, produced by Margot Robbie, and written by Christina Hodson, it is a violent girl-power romp.
The film was made for $84 million, a relatively small budget compared to other superhero movies, which, in the last five years, usually average at about $200 million. While by comparison, $84 million seems like a low budget, the film feels just as grand as any higher budget superhero film. There are huge explosions, extravagant sets, and badass action sequences.
One of the film’s greatest strengths is its casting. Every actor in the film is perfectly cast. Margot Robbie was born to play Harley Quinn: In every scene, it’s clear that she’s having the time of her life, and she perfectly embodies the role. Like Ryan Reynolds as Deadpool, it seems like a role that she was destined for, and it is impossible to separate the actor from the character. While she is, without a doubt, the star of the film, it is also an ensemble story, and the rest of the cast do equally well in their roles. Jurnee Smollett-Bell, Rosie Perez, and Mary Elizabeth Winstead round out the rest of the Birds of Prey cast, giving great performances that balance comedy and action. Cassandra Cain, the little girl the villain is after, is played by Ella Jay Basco, who gives a performance that is both humorous and heartful. The villain, Roman Sionis, is played by Ewan McGregor, who revels in the opportunity to play a bad guy. He delivers his lines gleefully and commits entirely to his sadistic, narcissistic character.
Another one of the film’s greatest strengths is its fight scenes, thanks to both the content of the scenes and the editing. The content is great: The women beat up big bad guys ruthlessly, showing off their skills while not being treated differently by the film due to their gender. They take punches and get hurt, but they punch harder and hurt the other guy more. The stunt coordinator, Chad Stahelski, is the director of the John Wick movies, which are also known for their impressive fight scenes. The scenes in Birds of Prey take clear influence from Hong Kong action cinema, with long takes, impressive stunts, and slow-motion shots of kicks and flips. The scenes are stylish and set to fun pop music by artists like Halsey or hard rock music like “Barracuda” by Heart. The other key to the success of these scenes is the editing, which feels like a breath of fresh air in the superhero genre. In the last several years, especially in Marvel films, the stylistic trend has been to film fight scenes with tight close-ups and frequent cuts, often every couple of seconds. While there is nothing inherently wrong with this style, it is one that can become frustrating if used too often: It becomes clear that this style is used to hide stunt doubles and make action sequences easier to film, rather than to create impressive-looking scenes. Birds of Prey zooms out, using long takes and wide shots that show viewers everything that’s happening. Additionally, there are a lot of practical set pieces rather than green screens, so it is clear to viewers that the stunts are actually being performed on-set in real time, which makes them all the more impressive.
The stakes are low compared to recent superhero films. A popular trend right now is to always raise the stakes and make each film bigger than the last, which means that eventually, stories stop feeling grounded and start feeling empty. In Birds of Prey, the world is not on the verge of ending: Instead, the villain is a crime lord who is trying to get his hands on a fortune, and the heroes are all trying to protect the little girl who has the key. A small-scale story like this is a great fit for the tongue-in-cheek tone. It never feels like anyone in the cast or crew are taking themselves too seriously: They all know exactly what they’re doing, which is making something that’s just pure fun.
The story is narrated by Quinn, who shines as an unreliable narrator. She tells the story out of sequence, bouncing around whenever she realizes she’s missed an important detail, making the film’s pace match her wild attention span. The first half of the film falls into the familiar trap of heavy narration, where the “show, don’t tell” rule is broken in favor of having a narrator explain things that could easily be conveyed through visuals. However, as the film progresses, the narration lessens, and the second half feels much more balanced.
Birds of Prey handles its connection to the critically panned Suicide Squad (2016) well. It includes a few sly references but never becomes too self-aware or reflexive. In many ways, Birds of Prey takes elements that Suicide Squad messed up and does them right. Suicide Squad used text on-screen to introduce characters, an original soundtrack recorded by pop and rap stars, and the loveable anti-hero trope—and failed spectacularly at all of them. Among its biggest problems were horrible editing, tonal inconsistencies, a terrible script, and messy cinematography. Birds of Prey decimates Suicide Squad: It correctly uses the techniques that were attempted in its predecessor and succeeds in every way that Suicide Squad fails.
At the start of the film, Harley Quinn and the Joker have just broken up, and while it’s almost definitely Jared Leto’s portrayal of the Joker that is being referenced, it’s left vague enough that viewers can fill in the blanks with whatever version of the Joker they like. His face is never shown, and he is mostly referenced verbally rather than visually. Despite its connections to Suicide Squad, Birds of Prey manages to stand on its own and virtually cut ties with the films that came before it.
With a fun soundtrack, stylish direction, and great performances, Birds of Prey is a huge success. It’s bloody, colorful, and fast-paced. Not only is it one of the best DC films, it’s probably one of the best superhero films released lately. It’s certainly the most fun.
