Birds of Prey (and the Fantabulous Emancipation of One Harley Quinn)

Birds of Prey (and the Fantabulous Emancipation of One Harley Quinn)

7/2/2020 1h 49m 6.9/10

Overview

Harley Quinn joins forces with a singer, an assassin and a police detective to help a young girl who had a hit placed on her after she stole a rare diamond from a crime lord.

Director

Chad Stahelski

Top Billed Cast

Margot Robbie

Margot Robbie

Harley Quinn

Ewan McGregor

Ewan McGregor

Roman Sionis

Mary Elizabeth Winstead

Mary Elizabeth Winstead

Helena Bertinelli / Huntress

Rosie Perez

Rosie Perez

Renee Montoya

Jurnee Smollett

Jurnee Smollett

Dinah Lance / Black Canary

Ella Jay Basco

Ella Jay Basco

Cassandra Cain

Reviews

TalisBriedis

3/9/2020

1/10

Garbage. Nothing, and I REALLY MEAN NOTHING good to say about this.

SWITCH.

SWITCH.

3/27/2020

9/10

'Birds of Prey' its absolute thrill ride. It's unapologetically fun and crude and violent. To quote Saoirse Ronan from 'Little Woman'... "Women." - Chris dos Santos Read Chris' full article... https://www.maketheswitch.com.au/article/review-birds-of-prey-im-here-to-report-a-terrible-crime-dc-has-saved-cinema

Adishake

Adishake

4/22/2020

7/10

**Very refreshing and funny**, The movie is very different from like any team-up movie I've ever seen, it will make you forget that it's a superhero movie entirely it feels like it's just a crazy movie with criminal minds all over the city moving quite freely in fancy dress until one scene of Black Canary where you realise yeah you're watching a super-hero movie they gota show their powers. **It's violent and humorous and Margot Robbie's Harley Quinn is Fantastic and I really loved the Crossbow Killer**, DCEU has come up with really great works since the Justice League (ignoring the Aquaman) and if you're counting the upcoming DCEU movies then you'll see a very great future for DC with Batman, Shazam 2 and Wonder Woman sequel.

Gimly

Gimly

5/19/2020

8/10

If COVID-19 ushered cinemas off this mortal coil, I'm kind of strangely okay with telling people this was the last thing I ever got to see on the big screen. _Final rating:★★★★ - Very strong appeal. A personal favourite._

JPV852

5/19/2020

5/10

Margot Robbie's Harley Quinn was one of the few highlights of Suicide Squad but once this one was announced, I felt indifferent and the trailers didn't do much to change that to the point I skipped this in theaters. Watching it now, I came away shrugging my shoulders. Some of the action scenes, supervised by Chad Stahelski, were okay but the pacing was all off and the actual BIRDS OF PREY, were sidelined and don't really get any memorable moments. Similarly, Ewan McGregor was alright but a weak villain. As a fan of the Batman comic book, outside of HQ, none of these resemble their counterparts, most notably Cassandra Cain who was a great character (trained as an assassin as a little girl by her father, David Cain, before being taken in by Bruce Wayne). IDK, in the end this was a misfire and don't think it was the fault of an inexperienced director (using the same script, not sure anyone else would've made all that much better). Could be a case of being too much of a vanity project for Robbie. **2.75/5**

Kamurai

Kamurai

9/1/2020

6/10

Average watch at best, might watch again, and can't recommend. There are several ways to look at this movie: 1) From a sequel stand point. 2) From a comics stand point. 3) From a stand alone movie stand point. 1) Sequel stand point THERE IS AN ENTIRE MOVIE MISSING! This is the 3rd part of the "Harley Quinn Trilogy". We're missing an entire transformation of a character from one thing to another for this movie to even be able to happen. And if you're picking at that thread, then there is probably 2 or 3 movies before "Suicide Squad". 2) From a comics standpoint OMG, they pooed all over almost every concept they borrowed from the comics. -Harley leaving the Joker- This was a huge Gotham event, not from a Gotham standpoint, but in the revolution and rebirth of a character that literally is left out of the story here. -Birds of Prey- Never mentioned in the movie, they come together our of necessity, like the Avengers, when the original concept was orchestrated by Oracle who hand picked women in the vigilante field to help her, but at least they included the originals, Huntress and Black Canary -Huntress- I've never loved Mary Elizabeth Winstead more, but they turned the "Crossbow Killer" vs Huntress thing into a really poor joke, making her seem sad instead of powerful, when should be saying, "I am the Huntress" to install the fear of the name into criminals as she was a killing vigilante, the only reason Batman wouldn't work with her, and a main contention with Oracle. -Black Canary- I understand that there are WAY too many white characters, but the solution is not to "wash" characters, just create new characters that help balance out the whole pool. Jurnee Smollett is awesome, and she does a great job, but she's not the same Black Canary that I know, that was an international spy / mercenary (basically an American Black Widow). The gritty reboot is good, I'd just rather it be her own character and have it stand on her own awesome footing. -Cassandra Cain- What a creative way to ruin a future Batgirl movie. And that has to be what it is. They some contention with someone else wanting the rights (or they're elapsing) and we're seeing what happened to Spiderman and Venom, they're using the name so someone else can't. She was supposed to be the assassin turned vigilante, the daughter of Deathstroke, raised in the League of Shadows, but sure 2 bit pickpocket works. -Harley Quinn- They are all over the place with her, from helpless girl to badass to bad fighter to lucky only to clueless to amazing intellect, to violent psychopath to emotional friend. Pick a lane. And the "word on face" thing didn't go over well with Joker, not sure why the kept such a distraction when her face is already the symbol with which she garners the desired attention. 3) Stand alone movie I hate the stupid way they jump around with the story: I didn't like in in "Pulp Fiction" where it had purpose, I doubt I'll ever like it anywhere else. That aside, this is actually pretty great, they spent a lot of money to get the production value where it needs to be, the cast is awesome, the story (when understandable) is pretty good, and the characters are entertaining as hell, even if Harley Quinn now seems to be a lot more Deadpool than I want. Most of its problems are just that it is trying to be a Gotham Knights, DC movie when it absolutely doesn't have to be. Using names that people don't recognize and giving them a different experience only turns your great movie into a good movie. I miss the days when people just made a thing they thought was good and saw if they were right. All this spreadsheet analysis of world wide information is definitely skewing movies, and we haven't even been doing it long enough to see if it's really effective measurement. Long-short: it's a good enough movie to be potentially great if you just pretend you know nothing about anything else.

Adam Rife

Adam Rife

9/8/2020

/10

If you found yourself internally screaming for Ryan Reynolds to shut the hell up during Deadpool, then the relentless, zany narration of Margot Robbie’s Harley Quinn will likely send you gibbering and ruined towards the emergency exit after, oh, 23 seconds.

Ricardo Oliveira

Ricardo Oliveira

12/16/2020

6/10

Harley Quinn: Birds of Prey is DC entertainment's latest effort to conquer the territory of film-adapted comics, a different effort with a really interesting idea at its base. Making Harley Quinn the main character in your own movie after shining on the terrible Suicide Squad makes perfect sense, ridding her of the Joker’s abusive control makes the idea even more interesting (although I’m of the opinion that Joker should have been the great villain of this film). Sometime after the events of Suicide Squad, and after ending his relationship with the Joker, Quinn breaks up with the factory where he gave himself up to his former crush, announcing to Gotham the whole time that he was no longer under the protection of the feared Crime Clown . Of course, in doing so, Quinn makes herself a target to shoot down, due to all the evil she had done in the past, inspiring the villain Roman Sionis (played by an eccentric Ewan McGregor) to chase her, that and a missing diamond causes Harley to cross paths with the group of women whose title the film refers to. I would say that the biggest problem with Harley Quinn: Birds of Prey is the combination of several elements that do not always make the most sense. There are times when the film seems to want to put Harley in the midst of a new team such a Suicide Squad, other times when it is only concerned with focusing on it, as if it were trying to follow a plot in which, in the end, it would face Joker (Since Joker doesn't even make any appearance in the film, being replaced by Roman Sionis). In my opinion, Harley Quinn: Birds of Prey doesn't really know what he wants to be, and I can't help feeling that Joker was supposed to be part of the film, but due to the drama with the negative reception of Jared Leto's interpretation, it was excluded completely from the project. However, McGregor's interpretation gives Ronan Sionis an aura of threat, of terror, as he really seems to be dangerous and we still feel his ferocity emanating from the screen. That said, all the interpretations are really excellent, Margot Robbie is enthusiastic on paper, her character is highly memorable and the only one in the film that is really 100% developed. Mary Elizabeth Winstead is incredible in the role of Huntress, despite the little material given to her, and brings a natural charisma to the character that makes her really special, without her this would be an easily forgotten character. Jurnee Smollett-Bell as Canary is also extremely convincing, and brings to the paper a special magnetism that leaves it as one of the most memorable parts of the film. Harley Quinn: Birds of Prey, on the whole, is not a bad film, although thematically confusing, it is extremely fun and will certainly get a lot of laughs from the audience. Again, Harley Quinn is also the piece that really makes this project so unique, and seeing it on the screen is something that will leave any audience member with a smile on their face. It is also important to note that the film contains incredibly well choreographed action sequences, which become a visual delight as they become crazier. Their performance is delusional and fiery, as in the rest of the film, giving it a very extravagant and remarkable style. So, while Harley Quinn: Birds of Prey is no Wonder Woman (2017) and contains a host of problems, it's also extremely fun, a good time spent in the cinema without the obligation to think about the general problems of life. I can't say that I loved the movie, but I didn't hate it either, it's a decent guilty pleasure and a decent hour spent in front of the big screen.

Kathy Bowing

Kathy Bowing

7/21/2021

5/10

About 'Birds of Prey' writing a lot in principle illegally and unnatural! Tape this clearly does not deserve! After all, the authors and producers completely forgot that people love not only with their eyes but also ears, soul, and brain. And with this love here is clearly stress. Total: an empty bright one-time little interesting cocktail with two famous actors, flat jokes, absolutely not exciting plot.

CinemaSerf

CinemaSerf

3/28/2022

4/10

Sorry, but this is a really poor attempt at an action film. Margot Robbie is Ok as the feisty heroine from the title, but the rest of the cast are instantly forgettable. I am guessing that Ewan McGregor - the dastardly villain of the piece - was only available for a few filming days as his appearances are pretty shallow from a characterisation perspective and add little to the plot. The interminable fight scenes reminded me of "Bugsy Malone" (1976) only without the custard pies.

Nathan

Nathan

6/30/2022

7/10

Birds of Prey starts off incredibly strong, with a fantastic introduction to Harley Quinn and her downfall post Joker break up, but the story starts to fall off the rails towards the end. It was hard to stay engaged in the movie with it jumping around so much due to the unreliable narrator that is Harley Quinn. Even though I get the direction they were going for, it just did not work for me. I really did not care about a couple characters in the main cast and found myself on really liking Harley and Black Canary, the other two felt underdeveloped. Ewan McGregor did a fantastic job as the villain in this film, every scene he captivated me with calm demeanor quickly spiraling into insanity, he stole the show. The fight choreography in this film was top notch too, with plenty of creative kills and interesting visuals to boot. I found myself mixed, where I like a part and got bored at others. Definitely inconsistent, but a fun watch none the less. **Verdict:** _Good_

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