Birds of Prey - Cheap Thoughts

Every DC Film is a risk, not in the sense that the franchise lives or dies on the success on each film, but in the sense that regardless of quality they do something different from the last one. From Man of Steel onwards even the worst of the DC Films for nothing else at least it can be said they were trying to do something different from the last one. Birds of Prey is no exception to this, creating a world of such vibrant colours, over the top action and larger than life personality driven characters, Cathy Yan has brought us a fun experiment to be added to the DCEU Library.

Many have already pointed out that the title is somewhat misleading as its more accurate to describe this as a Harley Quinn movie but it at least brings everyone together through a common theme, the idea of surviving trauma. Our movie opens with Harley (Margot Robbie) announcing to the world the end of her relationship with the Joker and her trying to rebuild her life from someone who tormented her so, likewise with all of the other members, Black Canary (Jurnee Smollett-Bell) losing her mother to the world of heroism, Huntress (Mary Elizabeth Winstead) being the victim of organised crime and Renee Montoya (Rosie Perez) being held back by a corrupt system. The group end up coming together for the common goal of protecting teenager Cassandra Cain (Ella Jay Basco) from becoming yet another victim of this cycle. From this perspective it could be argued that this is one of the strongest team-up movies to come out of the genre, these aren’t the most powerful fighters trying to save the world, or even a group of losers who join up through circumstance, but a group of people with similar ideologies that feel they can help at least one person by working together.

It also shouldn’t be forgotten that Harley Quinn is not a good person, she’s certainly better than the Joker and the film has her admit to her own faults and attempt to improve herself, but from beginning to end she never truly finds redemption. What she does find however is a place to belong and people who she can connect with, and at least be somewhat of a better person than she was before, even though never let it be forgotten she is still a wanted criminal who steals, assaults and vandalizes at her own will. There are certainly those out there who would critique this portrayal and say it makes her a flawed from a writing perspective but then there are plenty others who would view it as unique and an interesting choice in protagonist for a superhero film.

The other members of the titular Birds of Prey are entertaining in their own right, specifically Huntress as the stand out, a character written and portrayed so hard to be dark & edgy and always be taken seriously that when she's thrown into a movie that is completely not that tone it allows for some of the best humour of the film. The characters work best as an ensemble, which makes it all the bigger shame that they rarely share the screen together as they're entertaining enough that they make getting breakfast at a dinner one of the highlights of the film.

More so to make the film stand out is that it is popping with personality from both the characters and the directing. Incorporating some of the more neo-punk aspects of Suicide Squad with a more comedic & consistent tone, the film is bouncy, vibrant and sacrifices most forms of realism for the sake of style which is a choice always greatly appreciated around these parts. It’s another point in favour of the DC Films that every single one feels like a completely different film and gives you a new experience, there is plenty of the film that will bring detractors along in terms of both the film’s own components as well as discussed as an adaptation, but it’s unlikely anyone could claim the film is boring, and likewise it could be argued the style enhances the substance rather than overshadow it, bringing the audience into Harley’s perspective to make her more empathetic to the audience, which again considering her actions it doesn’t hurt to give the audience what they need.

On a final note, not to turn this into a DC vs Marvel debacle because at this point it doesn’t really matter, both properties have decided on their identities and you can either roll with it or get out of the way. That being said, something that can never be argued is that DC is much better at it’s inclusions of LGBT+ characters, this film being no exception acknowledging both Harley’s bisexuality and Montoya’s homosexuality. The inclusion of them alone is only worth a certain degree of merit, what’s more interesting is the none-confirmed queer characters and the coding that signifies their sexuality to begin with. Black Mask (Ewan McGregor) is heavily coded to be queer, from his flamboyant personality to his interest in make-up and stylized clothing. Queer Coding in villains is nothing new and has been discussed, criticized and praised in a variety of ways. It’s just interesting that in a film with several openly queer characters, the one who behaves the most stereotypically gay is also the only one not confirmed, which could lean more into common criticisms of this trope as the implication of behaving more stereotypically queer is associated with villainy comes with its own negative connotations. That being said McGregor is an absolute blast in the film and makes for a highly entertaining villain and combine with the inclusion of queer protagonists it could simply be an oversight on the part of the filmmakers, but still a subject matter worth discussing.

-Danny