A superhero movie, this ain't.
What "Birds of Prey (& The Fantabulous Emancipation of One Harley Quinn)" is, instead, is a screwball comedy-adventure/crime drama that is never sure of what it's supposed to be.
As with the DC Universe animated series that bears her name, Harley (Margot Robbie, who doubles as a producer) has split from the Joker, and now out on her own. Apparently, budget issues at WB dictated that Harl would have only one hyena, instead of two, as depicted in the comics. Anyway, Harley runs afoul of mob boss Roman Sionis (Ewan McGregor), aka Black Mask, a Batman enemy from the 80's.
So does street urchin Cassandra Cain (Etta Jay Basco), who has pilfered a valuable heirloom belonging to the family of one Helena Bertinelli (Mary Elizabeth Winstead), aka the Huntress, who's after Sionis and his henchman, Victor Szasz, for the massacre that ended her family. In Harley's case, without being tethered to Joker, she's now at the top of everyone else's hit list.
We've mentioned in this space how DC has reposited Harley as their answer to Marvel's Deadpool, who has gone from serious assassin to clown prince since his introduction nearly 30 years ago. This movie reinforces that point to an effect. By herself, if given the chance, Harley would be a one-woman Looney Tunes revue, which makes it all the more galling that instead of being paired with her natural match, Daffy Duck, two years ago, Harley ended up with Gossamer, while Daffy matched wits with "Mistah J" himself.
Casting, aside from Robbie, was an issue. You'll see what I mean in this trailer. Mind the language.
50-something Rosie Perez as Renee Montoya?!?! I guess Sofia Vergara decided she wanted to still do shampoo commercials with her spare time now that Modern Family is ending. By now, we're desensitized to African-Americans playing caucasian characters, in this case, Jussie Smollett-Bell as Dinah Lance, aka Black Canary. It's routine casting.
As for other trailers.....
"Downhill" (Friday): Will Ferrell in a family dramedy.
"Clemency" (March 6): Alfre Woodard in a prison drama.
"The Assistant": Workplace drama with Julia Garner in the title role.
"The Way Back": A former high school basketball star returns to his alma mater more than 25 years later as a coach.
"Birds of Prey" gets a B--.
2 comments:
You are far kinder to this film than most. This film is an insult to just about everyone! The director certainly couldn't have been assigned this film based on her merits (check out how many films she worked on before this one - way outclassed!) and it bears repeating who was this film made for? It's certainly not for DC/superhero fans, femanazis won't watch (movies like this they tend to avoid), and all the male misogyny won't endear the film to men.
Plus - have you seen the ridiculous fight choreography? The scene with the girls fighting several baddies at once looks silly as punches land nowhere near their targets while the bad guy falls and rolls off out of frame!!
I also give it an extra raspberry for the aforementioned race swaps and the insulting mischaracterization of Cassandra Cain! Unforgivable!
I have seen worse fight choreography in music videos (i.e. "Owner of a Lonely Heart") and commercials (Tiger Woods & Arnold Palmer vs. thugs in a video game ad, and Tiger throws a roundhouse kick that misses by a mile, and the stuntman has to sell it anyway).
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