New Film Review: Birds Of Prey And The Fantabulous Emancipation Of One Harley Quinn

BIRDS OF PREY AND THE FANTABULOUS EMANCIPATION OF ONE HARLEY QUINN

Look!! After taking a couple weeks off to recover from Oscar week I have returned and now it is time to catch up!! I have been watching  many films how ever....

Birds Of Prey follows Harley Quinn as she tries to get over The Joker, yet she has a target on her back because of the people she rubbed the wrong way while she was with The Joker. She gets help from The Huntress; Black Canary; and Renee Montoya.

It is an entertaining movie yet messy film. I think the Director Cathy Yan knew the character of Harley was a mess, so why not make the film messy. So she almost shot the story and/or look of the film in a comic book style. Bright colors. Shadows. Some of it worked...the characters themselves..Especially The Huntress! Some did not work. As odd this sounds the overall story worked but the story line was messy and all over. Writer Christina Hodson had a lot of problems with tone. Flipping from violence to humor works if the humor is good (Daredevil). Here...I think the jokes did not work, I maybe laughed once. From awkward fights to humor...(roller skates) just messy.

I feel like I am being too negative here. There is a lot to like:
Margot Robbie is soooo freaking good as Harley. She carries this film. She is in almost every scene. Plus, after busting on writer Hodson , she does at least deliver some tension with the story line.
You need a good bad guy for it to work and Ewan McGregor as the fantastically evil Roman Sios fills that bill perfectly.
Mary Elizabeth Winstead as Helena Bertinelli...The Huntress is the most intriguing character. Winstead does well...she does not look like the Huntress I am familiar with in the comics, but she makes it work.

I am getting long winded, so let me finish. You can do a lot worse than Birds of Prey however it is a bit sloppy with its editing...and with that the tone is off...but the story as a whole works and the acting is wonderful. 3 stars out of 5 for Birds of Prey.

From the shadows as always thanks for your time.