Birds of Prey

Black Mask threatens Harley Quinn

Directed by: Cathy Yan

Starring: Margot Robbie, Ewan McGregor, Mary Elizabeth Winstead, Jurnee Smollet-Bell, Chris Messina

This is rated R for swearing and violence, with a handful of f-bombs and a few "ooh, that's gotta hurt"-level moments of injury or death. Its major problem, really, is that it doesn't go far enough with its R content to justify it, so all the rating did was make it harder to market. I've seen some voices joke that it didn't do well because it was about girls, but there's a million girl films that do well. It's just that the film wasn't that great, and locked out a major chunk of its audience by being rated R. That said, I'd still give it a three out of five, and recommend it to anyone who's a Harley Quinn or comic book fan. 

The premise - After announcing her break-up with the Joker, Harley Quinn finds herself at the center of a maelstorm of violence as disgruntled criminals come calling. At the same time, a young thief steals a diamond lusted after by criminal boss Black Mask, and the resulting chaos brings a swirl of unlikely partners together - the Birds of Prey. 

So, the pluses - they make the action fun and frequent. They're creative with the characters without straying too far from the comic roots (with one notable exception). The villain, played by Ewan McGregor, is excellently done, coming across as a pastiche of metrosexual '70's icons like Andy Warhol and Elton John. The film has a colorful style that feels retro without feeling obsolete. And the actors all do a good job, clearly enjoying the work. All great superhero films just paste themselves into another genre, and this felt like a Tarantino-style pulp adventure, full of quirky violence and shout-outs and casual criminality. 

The problem is, the film doesn't go far enough with that last part. It feels one rewrite short of greatness. The characters never get to act act, the script is a little one-note, and the crux of the whole story feels frustratingly flat. It feels 80% finished, not 100%. If you're a comic fan, you'll be glad to just to see your faves onscreen, but if you're not, you might be constantly confused by the switching around and mix of characters. There are moments that work great - the Black Canary singing was a great piece of art - but most of it is frustratingly less-than-stellar. That said, it's still all right, and I don't regret spending money to see it. If you like it, you like it. If you don't, you don't. That's all