The Mosley Review: Birds of Prey
Edge. Grit. Guts. These are the things that separate the MCU from the DCEU. I have always been a DC fan more than Marvel, but that doesn’t mean I look at any comic book film adaptation any different. What I hope to see is an entertaining and sometimes boundary pushing story with enough depth behind the action and mayhem. That’s exactly what I got out of this film and it was messy, stylish and a hell of a great time. DC has always flirted with the idea of going hard R on many of their stories on film. Some have come close when they should’ve gone the whole way. This film delivers the hard R edge that is completely necessary for the character of Harley Quinn and for the DCEU moving forward. I loved that this was a story about one of the most beloved villains in the middle of the criminal underbelly of Gotham and it gets fully explored. Not only do we get a since of the world she lives in, but we get some truly hilarious points made about some cliches in cinema. The action in the film was kinetic and hefty. You feel every punch, mallet smash and bone crunching hit with a bat and its all very brutal and very satisfying. This was hands down a great girls night out film where they all kick some serious ass.
Margot Robbie has a whole film to herself to truly inhabit and grow into her version Harley Quinn and she did. I loved her constant dilemma between doing the right thing and then turning on the decision. She was the Harley I like and she fully embraces her physicality in combat and her fun psychotic charm. Jurnee Smollett-Bell was excellent as Dinah Lance/Black Canary. She fit perfectly into this new and darker world and I loved her fearless attitude. Mary Elizabeth Winstead was perfectly cast and awesome as Huntress. She was brutal, awkward and fierce in all of her action scenes. Rosie Perez was fantastic as one of my favorite DC characters Detective Renee Montoya. She was a cliche at times, but it was needed to push the story along. Ella Jay Basco was good as Cassandra Cain and I’m interested to see where they take her character in this iteration. Chris Messina was a good choice to play Victor Zsasz and I did like that we got to seem his love for cutting fully realized. Ewan McGregor is a class act in every way and he was outstanding as the famous DC crime boss Roman Sionis/Black Mask. I loved that they captured his unpredictable rage issues while giving him a mild phobia. Ewan captured the essence of the character, but I do wish he got more into the action at times, but crime bosses have their minions for that.
The score by Daniel Pemberton was pulsating and elevated a number of scenes. Not only was the score great, but the soundtrack was bangin in ever scene. This was a great playlist of well timed and perfectly placed songs. There were moments where the film does lose focus on it’s objective and some of the choreography became too flashy at times. Overall, director Cathy Yan has made a badass and fun adventure into mind and world of Harley Quinn and friends. When you do a film about villains or anti-heros and especially from the DC universe, it is a requirement for it to be a hard R and they have learned that lesson. It was a risk and I’m glad they took it. Check this film out!
