Squid Ink

It’s really nice to see the DC movies finally getting their act together.

Yes, there were a lot of early stumbles, but their last few movies (Wonder Woman, Shazam!, and Aquaman) have been good, if not great. Yeah, I know, I’m not really saying anything new or original there, but for me, it’s true.

And I say this as one of the people who actually enjoyed Suicide Squad. Yeah, mainly for Margot’s Harley, but for other reasons as well. But that is a whole other review, for another time. For now, we’re here to take a look at Dr. Quinn’s latest outing, Birds of Prey and the Fantabulous Emancipation of One Harley Quinn. But make no mistake from the title, this is mostly Harley’s movie. Which is one of my only issues with it, but I’ll get to that.

For now, here’s the setup. This movie is a sequel to Suicide Squad. No soft reboot, no reimagining or reset, we’re picking up a bit of time after the Squad’s adventure in Midway City. The events are even directly referenced by Harley at one point in the flick. And that’s not really a bad decision, as for most people Margot’s Quinn was the best thing in Suicide Squad, so don’t change what worked.

We get an opening narration by Harley (Margot Robbie) bringing us up to speed on how she’s been living the high life in Gotham since we saw her last. She’s been free to do whatever she likes, running roughshod over everyone and wreaking havoc wherever she goes, as no one wants to get on the bad side of Mr. J.

Until, that is, they break up.

We get a nice montage showing us how she’s trying to cope with being on her own (and not doing so well), but no one seems to believe that she and the Clown Prince are really no longer an item . . . until she blows up Ace Chemicals. Then everyone realizes they’ve well and truly split.

Once word gets out that Harley really is on her own, everyone who’s ever been shod roughly by Harley comes crawling out of the woodwork for revenge.

One of the people annoyed by Harley is Roman Sionis (Ewan McGregor), aka Black Mask, a club owner and crime lord with designs on taking over Gotham’s underworld, with the assistance of his head henchman Victor Zsasz (Chris Messina). After Harley had crippled Sionis’ driver, and caused all kinds of trouble in his club, he’s ready for some payback.

Our next major player is Dinah Lance (Jurnee Smollett-Bell) aka Black Canary, who starts out as a singer at Sionis’ club, until he spots her beating up some guys, and promotes her to his new driver, see above about what Harley did to his last one.

Into this mix we add Renee Montoya (Rosie Perez), a GCPD cop who’s seen too many 80’s cop movies, been repeatedly screwed over by her boss, and is valiantly trying to find a way to bring Sionis down. Mainly, that she’s uncovered his big plan to take over the city, involving a stolen diamond that’s been etched with the data key to a lost fortune from another (now wiped out) crime family, the Bertinellis.

As all this is going on, someone is riding a motorcycle around Gotham, murdering mob guys with a crossbow. Montoya is convinced they’re working for Sionis, while he wants to know who’s killing his men.

The answer: it’s The Huntress (Mary Elizabeth Winstead), aka Helena Bertinelli, out for revenge for her murdered family.

It sounds more convoluted than it is, just stick with me here.

Our final player to enter the scene and the one to kick off the main plot, is Cassandra Cain (Ella Jay Basco), a street kid/pickpocket, who happens to pick the wrong pocket. Specifically, Zsasz’s pocket, with the Bertinelli MacGuffin, er diamond, within it.

From here we get action, betrayals, car chases, explosions and lots of fire-forged friendships. And a pretty good time, truth be told.

BoP: FEOHQ holds on to a lot of what worked (and toning down what didn’t) in Suicide Squad. It has an irreverent tone, funny narration by Harley, lots of freeze frames with funny text commentary about the character in the freeze frame, manic energy, some fantastic fight scenes with brutal yet cartoonish violence, cool effects, and some surprisingly great character work. I can’t think of a weak performance in the entire movie.

Robbie’s Quinn is the joyful anarchist we saw last time, but tempered with her struggle in trying to figure out her new role in life, free from her Puddin’ Cup.

McGregor & Messina have great chemistry, and may have a deeper relationship than just Boss/Henchmen (though it would have been nice if that had been more text than subtext, but that’s another article).

McGregor is also clearly having a ball with Sionis, chewing on the scenery without going completely over the top. He plays him as a crazed, mercurial force who’s laughing one minute, then ordering people’s faces peeled off the next. In fact, he’s very much in the mold of how the Joker should feel as a villain to me. Scarily unpredictable, and it’s that shifting nature, friendly and smiling one moment, then a ranting menace on the edge of bloody violence the next, that makes him someone to be feared, as you don’t know what, if anything, could set him off. He’s just a touch more restrained than Quinn’s ex.

Perez and Smollett-Bell are fun as Montoya and Canary, while giving both characters some depth and weight as their histories are unfolded. The fact that they both hold their own with the energy put out by Robbie & McGregor is saying something.

Basco is good as Cain, though her main role is to be the smart-aleck street kid for Harley to bounce off, while providing her the motivation to become a (slightly) better person.

The weakest bit is Winstead’s Huntress, though by no means is it her fault. She really doesn’t get too much to work with, but what she does have, she nails. To be fair, she also gets one of the movie’s funnies scenes involving her and a mirror. I just wish that she’d been a bigger presence, and had more to do.

Which, as I said at the beginning, is really my only problem with the movie. It’s called Birds of Prey, but the BoP themselves feel more like guest/supporting players in what is totally Harley’s movie. We do get to know these ladies, and they’re important, but I just wish it had felt like they were on more of an equal footing with our leading lady.

The movie is very much the story of Harley Quinn, and her growth from Joker’s hench-girlfriend to anti-hero in her own right. Which, again, is only a minor problem for me, and not enough of one to really bring down the flick for me.

In the end, BOP: FEOHQ is a fun, exciting, action-packed thrill ride of a (deservedly earned) R-rated comic book movie. It’s well written, well directed, has a solid cast, fun characters, cute Easter Eggs, great fights (the climax, set in a funhouse inside an abandoned amusement park that is right out of Batman: The Animated Series, is stellar), cool moments, and continues the DCCU’s current upward trend.

Hopefully we’ll get a sequel which will focus more on Canary, Huntress, and Montoya, while Harley & Cain get their own buddy-crime movie. Or at least one with all of them on a more even footing as a true team.

Then again, this is their origin story, so with all of that “getting them together” business out of the way, maybe it will be easier to do that next time.

If you’re a fan of comics, Harley, the Birds of Prey, or just a good time, you should check this out.

Gary Mitchel is Revolution SF’s own Black Canary, but with more screaming.