(Posting this in the correct thread)
Birds of Prey (and the Fantabulous Emancipation of One Harley Quinn)
Yikes. This movie is a mess.
This is like three movies mashed into one: Harley Quinn's emancipation (which is not earned), Birds of Prey origin (also not earned), and whatever the hell Black Mask was doing.
1. How is Warner Bros going to make a Harley Quinn emancipation movie without The Joker? That's who she's emancipating from. That can and should be a whole movie, possibly even two given Suicide Squad barely covered anything so to get the full effect, we need to see that relationship for more than a few flashbacks then Quinn needs to free herself from her abuser. Also, the emancipation part could really use Poison Ivy. I didn't know anything about this movie before I watched it, but the whole time, I was waiting for Poison Ivy to show up especially since they shoved Huntress in there for maybe five minutes of total screen time.
2. There are four origin stories in this: Black Canary, Renee Montoya, Huntress, and Cassandra Cain. Black Canary and Renee Montoya got the most screen time of the limited screen time left over from Harley Quinn. If they want to make a Birds of Prey movie, just make a Birds of Prey movie. Then, if they really want Harley Quinn, add Harley Quinn later in a sequel to both movies. Also, how they decided to make a Birds of Prey movie without Barbara Gordon is beyond me. Finally, I generally like Rosie Perez as an actress. Unfortunately, I thought she was too old to be Renee Montoya.
3. Black Mask is just The Joker from Suicide Squad. They're both mob bosses. I didn’t think they did enough to make Black Mask more villainous than Harley Quinn. There’s one scene where he abused and embarrassed some random woman for laughing. It happens really late in the movie and seems so out of place. I know what they’re trying to do, but they’re doing it badly. It needs to happen earlier if they’re going to do it at all.
This movie really needed The Joker in order to work in any capacity. My understanding is Jared Leto wasn't available to film Birds of Prey (and the Fantabulous Emancipation of One Harley Quinn). Fine, but don't make this movie until he is, or just cast someone else as The Joker. I didn't even like Jared Leto's Joker (did anyone?). At the same time, this movie really shouldn't happen without the character. It's so weird that they learned nothing from the dumpster fire that was Suicide Squad. The Joker so clearly should have been the main villain in that movie just like he should have been the main villain in this. It was all like right there on a platter yet they were like, "Hmmmmmmmmmmm, no. LOL."
Anyway, 90% of this movie is narrated. No. Just no.
The non-linear structure is confusing and doesn't add anything. That only works if the audience can follow what you're doing without narrating it to them and if there's a payoff. Neither of those things are true in Birds of Prey (and the Fantabulous Emancipation of One Harley Quinn). Take Pulp Fiction for example. It's a movie that doesn't need to be told in chronological order and even benefits from not being told in order because each sequence is its own self-contained story that share certain characters. There are clear visual clues to piecing it together if you want (e.g. Jules and Vincent wearing Jimmy's dorky clothes in "Vincent Vega and Marsellus Wallace's Wife" then finding out why in "The Bonnie Situation"). Birds of Prey (and the Fantabulous Emancipation of One Harley Quinn) is just scenes seemingly thrown in a lottery ball tumbler then the editors decided to pick them at random and leave the film like that.
The action is so stupid and frustrating in this. Harley Quinn storms the police station by herself to find Cassandra Cain and only really gets away with it because the police in Gotham City are useless, oafy dipshits who have apparently never received police training before. Even Renee Montoya just fucking stands there gun drawn while Quinn throws the phone in the air and does this cartwheel kick into the phone which hits Montoya in the face. This, somehow, knocks Montoya out cold.
Black Mask sends other mercenaries to find Cain alive and the first thing they do is shoot in her direction with machine guns. They're actively shooting at Harley Quinn, but Cain is like right there.
I don't have the time or patience to run through all the dumb **** in this movie in depth. Why is Harley Quinn just walking around freely in broad daylight and playing roller derby? Batman isn't going to do literally anything about this? For some reason, Harley Quinn rescues a hyena at what is seemingly a regular pet store which then merely exists for the whole rest of the movie. It never does anything except violate Chekhov's Gun. Even when it supposedly dies, Harley Quinn never even really even grieves all that much. No one really tries to shoot Harley Quinn ever. They’re just holding guns and waiting for Harley Quinn to disarm them. The owner of this Chinese restaurant is introduced and built up as the only person who cares about Quinn, betrays her five minutes later, then just fucking drives away. He's just like "I have to go now. My planet needs me *slide whistle*". There's no comeuppance for that like... at all?
The moment when Harley Quinn, Black Canary, Renee Montoya, Huntress, and Cassandra Cain team up is just:
Harley Quinn: We should team up now.
Everyone: Yeah. Okay. Fine.
Towards the end of the big action set-piece, Renee Montoya gets shot in a bullet proof corset. She should be fine, but acts like she has stage four cancer and AIDS at the same time. Then, she hands Harley Quinn a gun and says, "I trust you."
WHY? YOU'RE A DETECTIVE AND HARLEY QUINN MURDERS PEOPLE! WHAT IS HAPPENING.............
I digress. I like Margot Robbie as Harley Quinn. Her talent is just wasted here, just like it was wasted in Suicide Squad. Huntress was lowkey one of my favorite characters in the DCAU. I just like the character, and Mary Elizabeth Winstead did as good a job as she could give the weak... everything in this movie. Black Canary was fine. Seemed a little out of character, and also, she uses her Canary Cry once. Just once. It blows dudes away, dozens of feet in the air yet Harley Quinn just roller skates through it with her fingers in her ears beca...
I can't do this anymore. Birds of Prey (and the Fantabulous Emancipation of One Harley Quinn) is laughably terrible. You may get something out of it if you go in with the right mindset. It's going to be a bad time, but it may be so bad its good as long as you understand it’s going to be a bad time.