Film Review: Birds of Prey Flocks Together As A Feminist Hit!
Growing up, my brother was A MAJOR, Batman fan, which is why I HAD to watch every series, read the comics, and play with the figurines. Whenever I watched Harley Quinn enter a scene, I always felt slightly sad for her. She had lost her mind/soul for a man that abused her because, if you read the comics, The Joker gets violent with her, as well. Thus, my mentality at seeing Birds of Prey was sheer curiosity as to what happens to a female character who sacrificed her self-identity for a man who thought himself a symbol. Truthfully, this was a REALLY DEEP thought for a film that is, by all means,, strangely-lighthearted and fully powered by WOMAN POWER!
BIRDS OF PREY – Official Trailer 2
Joker Schmoker! Birds of Prey (And the Fantabulous Emancipation of One Harley Quinn) shines as a film about women sticking together and beating up the men that tear us down or tear us apart. Part of the fun of this film is that these women would not be friends on twitter. Yet, they show the nuance of female strength and do something in the film that men are portrayed doing all the time but feel women can’t: work through their differences to thrive against the odds. Hence, the charm of this film is weaving through the dynamics of a group of women that are far from being saints, but they are not going to be any man’s “biyotch”…. at least…. not again.
Margot Robbie is fantastic as Harley Quinn. She expands this character’s worth, particularly her self-worth and further reveals Harley is a bad-ass, loopy, perceptive, funny, and smart woman. Moreover, she is going through something a lot of women go through: post-breakup identity crisis. We find her adopting a hyena and trying to decipher whether she wants revenge on Joker, to mope around her home, or party like it is 1999, which she does all three. Robbie is incredible as our narrator, and comes off like a twisted, vibrant version of Barbie that is as ready and willing to kill Ken as she is to adopt a rescue puppy and throw it an arcade-themed birthday party. It is quite endearing and spearheads why the audience and, eventually, fellow characters love her crazy, especially as she embodies the journey of many woman to either combat men’s toxic or side with it.
5 New Sneak Peek Clips | Birds of Prey
Ewan McGregor is a complete charm as Roman Sionis/Black Mask, and steps in as another psychopathic jerk for Harley to question her loyalty to. He is ripe with egotism, brutality, humor, and finesse; feeling torn from classic comics that made their villains delightfully deranged. The same goes for Chris Messina as Victor Szasz. They make their taste for blood and money appear equal to having a massive sweet-tooth. You simultaneously want them to be stopped and while also sharing bottle service with them. Yet, more importantly, they make women’s “crazy” feel like a welcome compared to men’s.
Rosie Perez ROCKS as Renee Montoya; a hardened, fierce cop just insane enough to want ……justice. The same goes for Mary Elizabeth Winstead as the strong, dry wit of Helena Bertinelli/ The Huntress who shines with a bow and arrow. Both women symbolize how the craziest thing a woman could do is stand up to men that destroy. Trailing this idea, viewers invest in the “redemption” tales of characters like the magnetizing Jurnee Smollett Bell as the POWERFUL Black Canary/ Dinah Lance and Ella Jay Basco as Cassandra Cain: a smart kid over her head. These ladies, in many ways, add layers to Harley’s journey.
Doja Cat – Boss B*tch (from Birds of Prey: The Album) [Official Music Video]
Sonically, the soundtrack has to be one of the best of 2020. Visually, Birds of Prey feels like a Picasso painting of Gotham; it is colorfully twisted and vibrantly bleak with certain scenes feeling like a fight club was started in The Land of Make- Believe. Yet, that dynamic is 100% our narrator, “heroine’s” style. Margot Robbie is not only everything I could picture as Harley Quinn, but expands on a character that, often, solely exists to give The Joker some level of “humanity” while feeling like an empty version of it. Birds of Prey comes out in theaters on February 7.
