Wright or Wrong: Birds of Prey

If you look at the full title for "Birds of Prey (and the Fantabulous Emancipation of One Harley Quinn)" and respond with an immediate scoff, you may already know whether or not this film is for you or not.

Following a recently-single Harley Quinn after the events of 2016's "Suicide Squad," the film uses the comic book namesake of its titular team, composed in this film of overworked and underappreciated cop Renee Montoya (Rosie Perez), righteous but street savvy club singer Black Canary (Jurnee Smollett-Bell), and mafia heiress turned lethal avenger following the brutal organized crime backed assassination of her family, Huntress (Mary Elizabeth Winstead), to assemble an action comedy about the aforementioned parties stumbling into the middle of the seedy business of Gotham crime boss Black Mask (Ewan McGreggor), who has his crosshairs set on problem foster child Cassandra Caine.

Courtesy images

The alliances, double crosses, and conflicts generated subsequently are all moving parts in the machine intended to be DC comics' cinematic answer to "Deadpool." While all of the energy and enthusiasm is there, I just wish that I could say that the product itself was similarly more than the sum of its parts. Above all else, "Birds of Prey" is a comedy; one reliant on a manic and occasionally surreal temperament, a frenetic pace, and a sense of humor that is highly based in irreverence peppered with the occasional non sequitur, all with a dark bend.

The film stands by its sense of humor from start to finish and those with a fondness for it, I can only imagine, will be in for a treat that works from start to finish. As somebody that doesn't quite share the temperament that the movie is going for, the experience can grow more irritating than amusing or diverting.

More or less established as something of an allegory for the dangers of co-dependence and domestic abuse victimization in a way that only the superhero genre is capable of, the character of Harley Quinn — despite Margot Robbie's undeniably sincere conviction — struggles to properly function cinematically because everything that defines her as a character that would make the foundation of an arc is more implied than concrete. Her backstory was glossed over in the atrociously made "Suicide Squad," and this very film opens up with a cliff notes concept of her character meant to be obligatory exposition before the film.

"Birds of Prey" wants to ostensibly have its cake and eat it too by selling its main character as somebody that's broken and in need of overcoming the problems plaguing her life to get out of the snafu she's found herself in, but does little to actually grow her as a character because it’s too in love with the wannabe Joker anti-hero persona that it wants to keep on playing with at narrative expense. None of this would matter if the actual comedy were on point, but the movie ultimately becomes a reverse of the sensibilities that make the aforementioned "Deadpool" work so well.

Deadpool may be a wise-cracker but he's also a witty straight man whose foil is the exaggerated universe that surrounds him. His composure is relatable in contrast to the bizarrely alien nature of the world of mutants, robots, aliens and time travel that he populates, which makes his jabs at said settings and the hijinks that ensue within connect.

Conversely, despite a gritty set design clashing against a bright and almost neon color palette, the Gotham of this film is so loud, unsubtle and exaggerated that her antics don't really commentate or bounce off of its presence so much as serve to make the whole ordeal just feel overpowering.

The titular hero-group feels like a product of a completely different movie, which could have been used to strong effect, but just comes across as underdeveloped and half baked despite the solid contributions of the cast. McGreggor's narcissistic, spoiled brat rendition of Black Mask is gloriously hammy and fun to watch, until he has to step up to true supervillain status, at which point he is lost as yet another random odd quirk of a film overflowing with random odd quirks.

Strong thematic concepts present themselves overhead several times throughout the movie, regarding the measure of worth through the desire to sacrifice for others in defiance of institutions, but none of it really has any coherence or succeeds in connecting the characters. The editing focus is purely on the stylistic execution of its own perception of popcorn fun. I realize that this all sounds rather harsh, but the truth is that while I never found "Birds of Prey" to be half as amusing as it finds itself to be, the movie is not bad at all.

Beneath its grating editing decisions was a lean, fun crime flick that could have worked, but even without the stories emphasis on Harley's quirky nature manifested through relaying events out of sequence to the detriment of character impact and plotting, the actors are all superb with the material granted, the action is excellently shot and choreographed, and both culminate into a climax that is so visually inventive and energetically executed that I'm ecstatically hopeful that director Cathy Yan continues a career in Hollywood filmmaking to see what else she's capable of with a budget.

"Birds of Prey" is a well made film that will entertain many members of a moviegoing audience sharing its preferences in humor and the craftsmanship put into it demands a deserved level of respect. It has my respect but I'm unfortunately not a member of that audience.

3 out of 5