Birds of Prey

Rating: 4.75/5

A colorful knock out, Birds of Prey is full of energy, excitement, and is an overall enjoyable time.

Harley Quinn (Margot Robbie) is reeling from her breakup with the Joker, whom she affectionally called Mr.J. Before, when she and Mr.J were a couple, she caused a lot of chaos and put herself on numerous people's bad sides all throughout Gotham City. Now that she no longer has the protection of the Joker, it seems to be open season on Harley Quinn, and everyone she's ever wronged appears to want a piece.

As Harley spends her time avoiding all the people who want to kill her, she finds herself in the middle of Roman Sionis' (Ewan McGregor) search for the Bertinelli Diamond. Sionis has been terrorizing Gotham in his quest for the infamous jewel, and soon a young girl named Cassandra Cain (Ella Jay Basco), becomes his primary target. Through an unexpected chain of events, it is quickly up to Harley and four other wronged women from the city, to stop him Sionis before he harms Cass and takes possession of the diamond.

Before seeing Birds of Prey, I wasn't really sure what to expect. I had only seen the briefest of teaser trailers, and in all honesty, I never saw Suicide Squad, so I wasn't sure if this film was going to be a continuation of that and whether or not I was going to be confused because I was missing important plot elements. Luckily, I did have a fair amount of knowledge about Harley Quinn and her involvement in DC beforehand, so I wasn't going into the movie completely in the dark. After seeing Birds of Prey, I can genuinely say that I am really glad I didn't know too much about the story beforehand. I had no idea what to expect, and that made all the twists, turns, action, and nonlinear plot-line, all the more exciting.

I loved that the set up of this movie seemed to care as much about being chronological, as Harley Quinn appeared to care for the general well-being of others. It throws caution to the wind and does exactly what it wants, just like it's main character. I've rarely seen a movie who's style and tone reflects its namesake so well. If Harley Quinn were a real person, there'd be no doubt that if she were to make a film, it would like and feel exactly like this one. It's 100% over the top at times, but it thrives on that wildness and vitality. When you watch this movie, it's incredibly clear that the primary creative team was headed by women, and it's not just because the story focuses on a group of female vigilantes. It's the smaller and more subtle comments made by the characters that make it so obvious; the things that would very likely not have existed in the movie had it been written or directed by a man, such as the offering of a hair tie before a major fight. Those minor additions to the story make the whole film feel a lot more authentic, genuine and realistic, which couldn't have been an easy task to do, when presented with an outrageous comic book movie based around a character like Harley Quinn.

Though there are many, many things to love about Birds of Prey, what I really enjoyed the most about it was the physicality of it. I'm not one to usually take a major notice to stunts in movies, as I feel they have a tendency to blend together over time, but the action sequences of Birds of Prey really caught my attention. For one, they looked more raw and real compared to some of the glossy fight sequences that can be found in similarly themed films. Yes, of course this movie used stunt doubles, but there were many scenes where you could see the actresses that made up the cast really performing these insane and dangerous feats, and I found that very impressive and intriguing to watch. Most notably for me, was Mary Elizabeth Winstead, who played The Huntress. Her character was both humorous and powerful and was my personal favorite of the women that made up the Birds of Prey.

Birds of Prey is a movie that some people may not like, whether it be for it's vividness or devil-may-care attitude, but I for one really liked it, and honestly a lot more than I had anticipated I would. It's great when you go into a theater not fully knowing what to expect, and walk out of it being full of energy and adrenaline because you enjoyed what you just saw so much, and Birds of Prey was definitely one of those times for me.