Harley Quinn: Birds of Prey

In DC comics lore, team-ups can be a rather common occurrence between one time occasions to defeat an ultimate foe or a group being together for a period of time (usually involving either all heroes or villains in a unit). There are a few rarities where anti-heroes find themselves working with normal heroes that end up on their own respective adventures. That rarity hasn't really been seen much on the big screen within the comic book movie genre until Warner Bros decided to take on a big gamble on such a concept. This brings us to Harley Quinn: Birds of Prey (yes I'm using the new title instead of the long one). My only familiarity with the titular birds are that they utilize female characters such as Barbara Gordon, Black Canary, and Huntress. At this point in the current lineup of DC films, Suicide Squad featured someone who could  somehow be one of the reasons to bring in the group: Harley Quinn. The marketing campaign for this new project was a difficult one for the studio due to the R rating preventing a large younger audience from seeing this adaptation as well as the timed release date. I entered the auditorium ready to not take it seriously and left it surprised with how much fun I had with this flawed feature.

What's it about? Taking place after her break-up with Joker (Jared Leto version), the story follows Harley Quinn and other outside forces getting involved in a conflict against a malevolent gangster. The narrative is being told from her point of view, which gets wild to see since her mindset is always disordered and crazy. This turns into a Deadpool-esque narration (fourth wall breaking) while combining the colorful styling of Suicide Squad to better effect. The story doesn't take itself too seriously when it's focused on our main protagonist with some of the action bits being fun to watch. One of my favorite hilarious scenes involves our protagonist lovingly watch a breakfast sandwich get made and, through unfortunate circumstances, loses her chance to eat it (as someone who enjoy those types of work lunch meals, that moment hit me).

However, a main problem arises that affects any investment in the stakes at hand: this is a Harley Quinn adventure that comes with both the strengths and weaknesses that are expected of it. With most of the focus on her, a majority of the other characters are shortchanged in regards to story impact and time on-screen. It's most visible in the third act where those who are against the main villain team-up but it doesn't feel that exciting. In fact, if 2 side characters were removed from the film, a more simpler and engaging adventure could have been gained with those who remained getting some more spotlight. As it is, the screenplay is messy but with memorable moments of fun showcasing the great level of quality that could have been if script was more fine-tuned.

How are the actors? In regards to story importance, the actors to focus on are Margot Robbie and Ewan McGregor. Margot is engaging to watch in her energetic acting where she dominates in any scene with wild glee (considering how she's also one of the films producers its pretty much her project). Ewan gives a good portrayal as well in this villain role where he's overacting quite a bit (it's as if he's getting his party phase out of his system before he puts on his Obi-Wan Jedi robes for the Disney+ series that's on production hold). Honorable mentions go to Jurnee Smollett-Bell and Mary Elizabeth Winstead with the former being surprisingly solid in her acting as well as her action scenes while the latter was unexpectedly funny in her limited role.  Dishonorable mentions go to Rosie Perez and Ella Jay Basco for both of their roles being unnecessary along with the latter's poor performance she gives in the weight of her story part.

Overall Consensus: Harley Quinn Birds of Prey finds enjoyment in its colorful narrative style, mostly good acting, a fun tone, and nice action but suffers from a messy screenplay. ⭑⭑⭑1/2🎟🍿 Runtime: 1 hour 49 minutes R

Reasons to watch it: You are fan of the aforementioned actors and/or director Cathy Yan. You like seeing how hilariously inept the Gotham City police department is. You don't mind problematic scripts in a female team-up flick. You enjoyed the stylistic choice in Suicide Squad used in a better movie. You like this current unpredictable mixes of DC films.

Reasons to avoid it: You aren't fan of the aforementioned actors and/or director Cathy Yan. You are annoyed with problematic scripts in a female team-up flick. You dislike the stylistic choices in Suicide Squad. You dislike this current unpredictable mixes of DC films. You are annoyed with men in movies being portrayed as scumbags.