I
managed to get some time to myself to watch this movie, so I took full
advantage. Although boasted as a Birds of Prey movie, I’m not too sure that was
the correct title, as their combined screen time wasn’t close to Harley Quinn’s
and it felt as if their characters were always last place to everyone else in
the movie. This is further emphasised by Harley very rarely being off camera
and even taking on the role of narrator too.
Another person who seems to get
more screen time than the titular characters is the villainous Roman Sionis,
played by Ewan McGregor. Now, I enjoyed his performance as the comic book
gangster, however, one major failing for me was that he was never really
referred to as Black Mask and he maybe wore the mask for about 3 minutes of
screen time. Considering in the comics he is never really seen without it, this
kind of bugged me. Despite that nag, his performance was probably one of the
stronger elements of the film. His campish extravagant performance mashed well
with a sudden flip to extreme rage.
One character which I felt was let
down was The Huntress, initially made to look like a bad ass and this soon got
knocked on its head. Made to look like a bumbling fool, which to me, lowered
her danger level massively. In all honesty I found Rene Montoya a little
forgettable too; I wasn’t getting the “ass kicking” detective vibe I was really
hoping for. Again, another character thrown in, but ends up lost in the shuffle
with very little development considering she is an actual Bird of Prey.
The use of the Cassandra Cain
character was interesting, a far cry from the comic variant, who becomes the second
Batgirl. Instead used as a teenage pick pocket. Which I understand they are
well within their remit to do, yet I didn’t feel this was needed and they could
have used any name for this character. Then added the actual Batgirl into the
squad in a later movie, or even introduced this character at the end of this
movie.
It sounds like I’m being very down
on this movie; but actually, I quite enjoyed it for what it was. I’m always
interested to see how these movies play out and how they fit into the grander
DCEU. Just remember this film is set in the same universe as Justice League,
Shazam and Wonder Woman. The movie does still try to keep itself linked to
DCEU, with a quick shot cameo from Jay Courtney as Captain Boomerang, one of my
favourite Suicide Squad characters.
When going to see a comic book
movie, people are now expecting that post credit scene. This movie doesn’t fail
to deliver a post credit morsel. Yet if you were looking for anything other
than a quick giggle, don’t feel obliged to stay in the cinema once those
credits start. I wouldn’t say I regretted it, but could have lived without
doing it.
The Black Canary was amazing in
this movie, loved her look and how her character felt developed. Starting off
as the lounge singer with a conscious, hiding her powers away and eventually
embracing a more heroic persona. That, I liked. Also took me ages to figure out
where I had seen Jurnee
Smollett-Bell before, she was in an episode of the TV series
House. Mystery solved. HA!
One big plus of this movie was the
fight sequences; the big brawl at the end of the film is a great example of a
good choreographed fight. Set in a whacky fun house, you see all sorts of
random bits used in the fight, such as giant hands. This scene also does a good
job of giving all the main characters some screen time, chance to shine and
this felt lacking in the rest of the movie.
Outside of Ewan McGregor’s Roman
Sionis, you had the sinister Victor Zsasz. A more less known member of the
Batman rogue’s gallery, a serial killer who scars himself every time he kills
someone and they kept this very close to the source material for the movie.
Although demoted to a gang land hitman, he still came across as a legitimate
psycho and this fit in well with the instability portrayed by Ewan McGregor.
I’m not one to disagree with my
tag team partner (Luke), however, I think I preferred Suicide Squad to this
movie overall. I believe the characters in that film had purpose and all fit
into the narrative somehow. This movie didn’t feel that way to me; the Birds of
Prey were just stage hands for the Harley Quinn story.
Yet this movie did what it needed
to do, it gave a nice filler between Suicide Squad movies so that we didn’t
forget about DCEU’s seedy underbelly. With big hero movies like Aqua Man,
Wonder Woman and Shazam, folks may have forgotten about the hard working
villains of the DCEU. I also hope it leads into an actual Birds of Prey movie,
minus Harley Quinn.
So in conclusion, Birds of Prey,
is well worth a watch. Doesn’t take much thinking on your part and delivers a
fun paced comic book jaunt. 3 out of 5 fist rating for me I think.
I’m Big Boss.......... I’m
out....... Peace!
