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Birds of Prey: And the Fantabulous Emancipation of One Harley Quinn
Harley Quinn: Birds of Prey / Birds of Prey: The Emancipation of Harley Quinn
USA 2020
produced by Sue Kroll, Margot Robbie, Bryan Unkeless, David Ayer (executive), Walter Hamada (executive), Geoff Johns (executive), Hans Ritter (executive), Galen Vaisman (executive) for Clubhouse Pictures, Kroll & Co. Entertainment, LuckyChap Entertainment/Warner Brothers (DC Comics)
directed by Cathy Yan
starring Margot Robbie, Rosie Perez, Mary Elizabeth Winstead, Jurnee Smollett, Ewan McGregor, Ella Jay Basco, Chris Messina, Ali Wong, David Ury, Sara Montez, Izabel Pakzad, Daniel Bernhardt, Kc Strubbe, Jacky Shu, Paloma Rabinov, Derek Wilson, Joe Bucaro III, James Henry Williams jr, François Chau, Miyuki Matsunaga, Anna Mikami, Bruno Oliver, Keisha Tucker, Matthew Willig, Jeremy Denzlinger, Michael Masini, Charles Carpenter, Daniel Cole, Jesse Bush, Steven Williams, Charlene Amoia, Paul Lasa, Ella Mika, Robert Catrini, Eddie Alfano, Chris Carnel, Buddy Sosthand, Tim Sitarz, Shawn Balentine, Shahaub Roudbari, Pramode Kumar, Christine Engh, K.K. Barrett, David Bianchi, Simon Rhee, Terrence Julien, George Crayton, Caleb Spillyards, Qiang Li, Panuvat Anthony Nanakornpanom, Sala Baker, Christian Womack, Bryan Sloyer, Kofi Yiadom, Efka Kvaraciejus, Sam Hargrave, Dennis Keiffer, Dana Lee, Bojana Novakovic, Andy Hoff, Eric Michael Cole, Oakley Lehman, Richard King, Tim Rigby
screenplay by Christina Hodson, based on the comicbook published by DC Comics, Harley Quinn created by Paul Dini, Bruce Timm, music by Daniel Pemberton, prosthetics and special makeup effects by Vincent Van Dyke Effects, masks by SCPS Unlimited, vidual effects by Method Studios, Luma Pictures, Weta Digital, Image Engine Design, Crafty Apes, Instinctual VFX
Harley Quinn, Harley Quinn (Margot Robbie), Birds of Prey, Huntress, Black Canary, Joker (cameo), DC Extended Universe
review by Mike Haberfelner
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For years, Harley Quinn (Margot Robbie) has been nothing but the
Joker's (an animated cameo) girlfriend and thus could do what she wanted
because she was under his protection, but now that she has broken up with
him (and presumably blown him up), all those she has wronged go after her
with the intention of killing her - especially the town's crime kingpin
Roman Sionis (Ewan McGregor), whose men actually manage to capture her,
and he's about to kill her when she tells him she can get him what he
wants - because you know, Sionis wanted to get his hands on the Bertinelli
diamond, but when it was already in his right-hand man's (Chris Messina)
pocket, it got stolen. More by chance than design, Harley knows it has
been stolen by young pickpocket Cassandra Cain (Ella Jay Basco). Sionis
lets Harley go and get the diamond, but then puts a prize on Cassandra's
head, meaning that every crook in town now goes after Cassandra as well.
Now Cassandra is presently in police custody, but Harley has no problems
breaking her free using some joke guns - but getting the diamond is not
that easy, since Cassandra has swallowed it, and apparently presently
suffers from constipation. On the run from every goon in town, Harley
arranges to meet Sionis in an abandoned amusement park to exchange
Cassandra for her freedom, something Cassandra's not too happy about, and
at the park, Harley indeed has second thoughts - and soon Sionis, now
wearing a black mask for no reason at all with his whole army of goons,
but Harley and Cassandra find unexpected allies in Sionis' driver Dinah
a.k.a. Black Canary (Jurnee Smollett), who's fairly good at martial arts,
crossbow killer the Huntress (Mary Elizabeth Winstead), who's the last of
the clan who originally owned the diamond, and disgruntled ex-cop Montoya
(Rosie Perez), and between the five of them, they have no problems taking
out Sionis' small army and ultimately blowing him to (unbloody) pieces. So
ok, 2016's Suicide Squad was
a bit of a mess, but most agreed that Margot Robbie was the most memorable
thing about it, so why not squeeze her into a Birds of Prey
movie (she was never a member of the team in the comics, nor the TV
show, where she was a recurring character at least)? So
ultimately the film became all about Harley, with the titular Birds only
being supporting characters - and it also turned into a mess. What's
really off about this film is the storytelling: The film wastes too much
time just establishing that Harley is quite crazy and has broken up with
the Joker, who apart from an animated sequence isn't really in the film,
before even thinking about setting up the (a bit too straight-forward)
plot of the movie, in which the actual Birds of Prey are relegated to the
sidelines and are afforded only the most clichéed character arcs (the
disilluioned cop, the underworld girl who discovers her conscience, the
orphan on a path of vengeance discovering compassion) - topped only by
Ewan McGregor's villain who seems to come right out of a bad 1980s action
flick. Only his demise (blown to pieces by a hand grenade) is really cool,
even if it's a somewhat underwhelming punchline to the finale - that at
times though feels like the old Batman
TV show. Which really brings us to the core of the movie's problem, it
seems to be entirely undecisive if it's an action comedy, a parody, or a
straight superhero movie, and thus seems to trip over itself repeatedly. So
in all, rather a disappointment really, and not the Harley Quinn
film everybody has been waiting for.
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