Deep Dive DC: Wes Looks at Birds of Prey and the Fantabulous Emancipation of One Harley Quinn

Friends, welcome back to Deep Dive DC month. After our rather somber look at the saga of Mr. Freeze, I think we need a more lighthearted palette cleanser, so let’s return to the DCEU for a movie about one of the most popular characters in the history of DC Comics, Harley Quinn. Welcome to Birds of Prey and the Fantabulous Emancipation of One Harley Quinn. Before we get into the film, let’s talk about Harley herself. Created by Paul Dini in 1992 for Batman the Animated Series, Harley was initially little more than a background henchwoman for The Joker but over time, thanks in large part to the incredible voice acting talent of the great Arleen Sorkin, the character proved incredibly popular and eventually made the leap comic book pages and was given a backstory where she was a young psychiatrist at Arkham Asylum who was seduced and manipulated by The Joker. While her bubbly personality made her a massive fan favorite, in actuality, Harley was a tragic figure, a victim of The Joker’s manipulation hopelessly trapped in an abusive relationship. More recent years have seen Harley move away from The Joker and become a badass anti-hero in her own right, which feels like a natural growth for the character in a medium where, unfortunately, a lot of classic characters are sometimes doomed to stagnation. Naturally, it was only a matter of time before Harley made the jump to live action films, which she eventually did in the 2016 film Suicide Squad film. Despite that film being so terrible Warner Bros. decided to take a mulligan five years later, most who saw the film agreed that Margot Robbie as Harley Quinn was one of the only good things in it, so, four years later, Harley ended up getting her own solo film… kind of. Make no mistake, this IS a Harley Quinn movie, but it also happens to be guest starring the titular Birds of Prey, a team of female street level DC superheroes. We’ll get to them as we go along, but let’s talk about the premise for this particular film. As the film opens we learn that Harley and The Joker have recently broken up, and Harley isn’t taking it well. One night in a drunken rage, Harley blows up the Ace Chemical Plant, the place where she and The Joker and Harley consummated their relationship. This sends the message to all of Gotham that Joker and Harley have split, which means every single person with a grievance against Harley but was too afraid of retaliation from Mr. J is now gunning for her hide, none more so than ruthless crime lord, Roman Sionis, aka Black Mask. Harley, not wanting to have her face peeled off by a sadistic madman, cuts a deal with Roman and agrees to help him recover a diamond encoded with bank codes that would give him access to the fortune of a rival crime family. The problem: The diamond was swallowed by a sassy little pickpocket named Cassandra Cain. Harley now must choose between turning this kid into Roman, or teaming up with an undervalued detective, a singer who works in Roman’s club and a mysterious vigilante out for revenge in order to take down Roman’s entire army. Let’s take a look at Birds of Prey.

Main Character:

I have to admit, for a number of years, I was something of a Harley Quinn purist, feeling that it didn’t feel like Harley unless it was the originator, Arleen Sorkin, providing the voice. I was a dumb gatekeeping asshole back then. For as god awful as the first Suicide Squad movie may have been, I think it was Margot Robbie’s brilliant performance in it and subsequent movies that got me to soften that stance. It helps that Margot Robbie is a brilliant actress. She nails Harley’s light and bubbly side, but she also knows when to reign it in and handles the dramatic moments well too. She’s a goof ball and an ass kicker, but the movie never lets you forget that she’s also a tragic figure. As much as I love Deadpool, sometimes the character being all jokey all the time can wear a bit thin after a while. In this movie, we see Harley finally on her own for the first time and trying to figure out who she is without The Joker and can she make it on her own. Afterall, the only reason she was able to have free reign of Gotham and get away with all her antics was because everyone was too afraid of The Joker to retaliate. With Joker out of the picture, that protection she enjoyed is now gone. However, probably my favorite thing about this version of Harley that so many other interpretations tend to forget is that Harley has a freaking PHD. I’ve seen so many versions of Harley where she’s portrayed as an air-headed blonde bimbo, and to be fair, that is the aura she sometimes presents, but she’s also a med-school graduate with a degree in psychology, and every once in a while Harley will utilize those skills in this movie, often to very comedic effect. So yeah, I think there’s room in this world for versions Harley Quinn beyond Arleen Sorkin, especially this one played by Margot Robbie.

Villain:

Our villain for this movie is a crime lord named Roman Sionis, also known as Black Mask, played by a positively unhinged Ewan McGregor. I mean, most of you probably already knew this after he was the best thing about the Star Wars prequels, but god damn, Ewan McGregor is awesome and he absolutely nails it playing the absolute cartoon supervillain that is Roman Sionis. I would watch this performance a thousand times before I watch McGregor sleepwalking through the Obi-Wan Disney+ show again. Seriously, every second McGregor is on screen, he looks like he’s having the time of his life and you’re having the time of your life watching him. You get the sense that Roman one day purchased a copy of the big book of cliché villainy and now regards it as his personal bible. That or McGregor made a bet with Christopher Walken that he could play a DC villain more goofy than Max Shreck. He also has Victor Zsasz as his right hand man, who works well enough in this movie, but if you’re not in the know, trust me, Zsasz is way creepier in the comics. Everything about Sionis says “Hello, I’m a sleazy narcissistic asshole,” but at the same time, you never forget he is a serious threat and a twisted sadist. An early scene shows him pealing the faces off a rival crime boss and his family. He’s about to spare the guy’s teenage daughter, but he changes his mind when he sees a snot bubble. That’s how Black Mask is in this movie, he’s always trying to maintain a level of sophistication and class, but he’s barely able to conceal his true self which is this unpredictable psychopath. In a weird way, even though he’s not actually playing The Joker, he’s actually playing a better Joker than Jared Leto did in Suicide Squad. Honestly, there are parts of this movie where I wish he was playing The Joker. That certainly would have made his final confrontation with Harley carry a lot more emotional weight. Oh well, what are you going to do. I still loved the hell out of this character and every goofy and menacing moment that emerged from McGregor’s performance.

Side Characters:

Well, we’ve made it this far, we may as well talk about the titular Birds of Prey. First up, Detective Renee Montoya, played by Rosie Perez. Montoya is a GCPD detective whose partner took all the credit for a major drug bust and ended up making captain while she’s stuck at the detective level and perpetually frustrated about it. Rosie Perez is a great actress and movies like Pineapple Express have shown that she has excellent comedic timing. Huh, she played a cop in that movie too, how about that. Anywho, Perez brings that talent over to this movie and does a really great job. It takes a special kind of skill to play a fairly dramatic scene while wearing a t-shirt that reads “I Shaved My Balls for This.”

Next up, Black Canary, played by Jurnee Smollett. While they take a few creative liberties with this classic character, she’s still the same ass kicker she’s always been. In this version, she’s a singer in Roman’s club who later becomes his driver and cuts a deal with Montoya to act as an informant. Also, she has her Sonic Scream powers as well, which kind of come out of nowhere in this movie. Like, it doesn’t bother me because I know how Black Canary works in the comics, but to a non-comic book fan seeing this movie in theatres, this must have been quite confusing.

Now we need to talk about the character that nearly ruined the movie for a lot of comic book fans and while I don’t count myself amongst them and am usually the first to scoff at the excessive negativity of the fandom, this time, I get where they’re coming from. There’s nothing wrong with this character in and of herself. She’s just a streetwise juvenile delinquent who becomes the target of a dangerous crime boss when she steals something she shouldn’t have. As a living MacGuffin, she’s honestly not bad at all. Here’s the problem. This character, is not Cassie Cain. In the comics, Cassie Cain, a fan favorite character for Batman readers, was a mute raised by a brutal assassin who grew up knowing only the unspoken language of combat and would eventually take up the mantle of Batgirl. This new character does not act like Cassandra Cain, and shares virtually nothing in common with Cassandra Cain except for maybe the fact that they’re both Asian. Now, I am not against the idea of making changes to a character when adapting them for the big screen. In fact, I’m usually in favor of it since it allows the filmmakers to get creative and put their own stamp on the character. This is not what happened here. There is a massive difference between putting a creative new spin on an established fan favorite character and creating a completely unrelated character and slapping them with the name of an established fan favorite character for the sake of name recognition. So yeah, she doesn’t ruin the movie for me, but I get why people don’t like this character.

Finally, there’s Huntress, played by Mary Elizabeth Winstead. This might be the funniest character in the entire film. Helena Bertanelli was the last surviving member of a powerful crime family that was massacred by a rival gang. Having spent years training as an assassin, she returned to Gotham to take her revenge on everyone involved in the death of her family. She’s got the skills down, proving to be a hell of a fighter and deadly accurate with that crossbow, but when it comes to the intimidation factor, let’s just say she’s still a work in progress. I love every second of Huntress desperately trying to be cool and badass, but failing miserably and just coming across like a dorky teenager with rage issues. Her whole character reminds me a lot of Darkwing Duck, and long time readers will know that such a comparison is one of the biggest positive endorsements I can give out. At the time I’m writing this, James Gunn has recently announced his plans to reboot the DCEU, but I still hold out hope that we see more of this version of Huntress one day.

Songs:

This is not a musical. I wish it was, but sadly, it is not. However, I do want to take a brief moment to praise the soundtrack, which is loaded to the brim with needle drops, but not in that way that Suicide Squad was desperately trying to be Guardians of the Galaxy. Each track feels like it connects to the scene and it’s awesome. Special praise to Jurnee Smollett’s rendition of James Brown’s Man’s World. That girl’s got some pipes on her.

Memorable Scenes:

At one point in the movie, there’s a shootout in a police evidence locker and Harley takes cover behind a huge stack of cocaine. Naturally, the cocaine dust gets everywhere and Harley accidentally ends up with a nose-full and we’re treated to a glorious cocaine fueled ass-beating set to Black Betty by Ram Jam. This movie knows what I love.

Speaking of, I have to talk about my favorite scene in the movie. It’s the morning after Harley blew up Ace Chemicals and she’s starting her new life with her favorite thing in the world, a delicious, mouth-watering bacon egg and cheese sandwich. I swear to God, the way they describe this sandwich makes it sound like the sexiest thing on the planet. I think it’s meant to be satire of some kind, parodying how women are objectified in the media that they may as well be inanimate objects like that sandwich. And, to be honest, it works, because that sandwich is sexier than any woman in Hollywood. True story, when I saw this movie in the theatre with my Girlfriend, and it got to the part where she loses the sandwich, I yelled out in the crowded theatre, NOT THE SANDWICH followed promptly by my girlfriend laughing her ass off. Good times.

Story:

There are definitely some strong feminist overtones in this movie, but I think there is also a read where the message is one about universal independence. Either way, one of the major throughlines in this film involves Harley learning who she is without The Joker and learning she can be a badass without him and that her past with him does not define her. It’s ground that even at this point had been tread over and over again with Harley, but it’s still a nice message.

More than that though, I just really like that this movie is not afraid to be silly and fun. From frame one, you can tell this movie isn't taking itself too seriously, and, in my opinion, that's when the DCEU is at its best. I've been seeing a lot of people calling for the restoration of the Snyder-verse, and frankly, I can't understand why. Like, everyone's tastes are different, sure, but for my money, dark brooding humorless pretension just isn't my cup of tea. These are comic books for crying out loud. They're supposed to be weird, fun and ridiculous and I say let them be what they are. Keep your Snyder cuts and give me more Peacemaker, more Aquaman and of course, more Birds of Prey

The Dark DC Factor:

This movie is not afraid to get violent. I mean, early on, we see Harley feed a man to a Hyena, and towards the end of the film, Black Mask gets exploded by a grenade and pieces of him go flying everywhere. I don’t know if there’s anything here I’d term as disturbing, but it’s not afraid to flex its R-rating when it has to.

Final Thoughts:

I love this movie. I love everything about this movie. This is the movie I wanted the original Suicide Squad to be, it's an excellent showcase for Margot Robbie's Harley Quinn and has a stellar supporting cast. It's probably my favorite movie to emerge from the DCEU which makes it my second favorite piece of media from the DCEU overall behind Peacemaker. If James Gunn's new direction for DC is anything like this movie, then DC has a bright cinematic future indeed. Next time, we dive deep into one of the strangest films I've tackled since starting this series two years ago when we look at, Batman Ninja.