Birds of Prey: How Harley Steals the Show
By: Maya Lia Vela
Tags: DC Comics, Birds Of Prey, Harley Quinn, Dc Universe, Dc

By: Maya L. Vela

★★★★

Girls just want to have fun — and in Harley Quinn’s case, an amazing breakfast sandwich. Birds Of Prey (And The Fantabulous Emancipation of One Harley Quinn) brings iconic DC Comics women to the big screen in a colorful, well-written, action-packed and “f” bomb filled film.

Margot Robbie reprises her role as Harley Quinn from Suicide Squad and she’s armed and dangerous with her signature baseball bat and the occasional margarita.

While the movie deviates from the traditional Birds of Prey team from the comics (sorry comic fans, that means no ‘Oracle’ appearance) like many other DC films (and superhero films in general) the film works with the characters that they do have and everyone has a purpose.

Birds of Prey is a film that deviates from the usual superhero film and takes out the boring overly-scientific lingo and repetitive action scenes and replaces it with loud, joyful and insanity-filled chaos. Everything from the characters, plot, and art merge together to make a colorful mess that seems to work.

Without giving away the best parts, Harley gets dumped by the Joker and is left to fend for herself in for the first time in a long time. This proves to be difficult for her as now, without her “Puddin’s” protection, there are many who she has wronged, hurt or messed with, that want sweet revenge.

The film starts with Harley narrating an animation about her personal history and then the live-action movie itself. But she isn’t good at telling things in order, so the Queen of Crime’s narration darts around in the timeline so as to tell her story of the “fresh start” she desperately needed. She backs up the story more than once to remember details. While at first, it may seem off, it ends up being a clever story-telling device and there’s little confusion when she backtracks.

Notorious club owner and villain of Gotham City, Roman Sionis AKA Black Mask (Ewan McGregor) and his right-hand man Victor Zsasz (Chris Messina) make things even harder for Harley when they set their targets on her face — and they’re not talking about her makeup.

To keep herself alive, she teams up with the Sionis’ club singer Dinah “Black Canary” Lance (Jurnee Smollett-Bell), the breakfast sandwich ruining cop, Renee Montoya (Rosie Perez), the mysterious cross-bow wielding killer, Helena “Huntress” Bertinelli (Mary Elizabeth Winstead) and a young pickpocket, Cassandra Cain (Ella Jay Basco).

Margot Robbie’s performance was charming, fun, and hilarious. The acrobatics she trained ruthlessly for in her first film as Harley showed in the fight scenes and were precisely executed.

Although we have seen and get to know Harley Quinn more, other characters like Renee, Cassandra, and Dinah aren’t flushed out which is a shame because the audience gets a small glimpse of Dinah’s back-story from Renee that leaves more questions than answers.

The chemistry between the characters, especially the main squad of women didn’t seem forced and every conversation was natural. From crying and binge eating and drinking after getting your heartbroken, to offering hair ties, and keeping another woman safe after they’ve drunk one too many — It shows that the characters in movies promoting feminism don’t have to bring down men to get their point across. The men in the film did that perfectly on their own.

Credit for accurate women representation must go to the director, Cathy Yan. She is the second woman to direct a superhero film (after Patty Jenkin’s “Wonder Woman” and is also DC — step it up, Marvel).

The costumes were also vibrant and reflected what realistically they would wear to feel good and confident about themselves and not for the “male gaze.” High waisted shorts, overalls, and fluffy confetti-like jackets are just a few of the pieces that Harley sported in the movie while taking down anyone who messed with her. The low-waisted and revealing outfit she wore in “Suicide Squad” reflected how Joker wanted to see her. Now that she is free from his abuse, she is able to dress for herself and her own confidence and she looks stunning.

Birds of Prey is a film for Harley, DC and comic fans alike and is as empowering and heartwarming as it is thrilling. The chaotic energy throughout the movie holds everything together just as Harley does with the members of the Birds of Prey. It shows that women support women even when they ruin your perfect breakfast sandwich.