Birds of Prey (And the Fantabulous Emancipation of One Harley Quinn) is an odd-duck of a film. It is a sequel to a film that by all objective reasoning could be considered a critical failure, and while it probably made enough money back to justify a sequel/spin-off’s existence, it didn’t scream out for one to be made. When I wrote about Suicide Squad at the time of the film’s Blu-ray release I was far from kind to the film, though I will say I tried to find a silver lining in the film’s Hot Topic colored clouds.
I went into Suicide Squad hoping for a fun Guardians of the Galaxy by way of DC romp, and ended up fantastically disappointed. Watching the Harley Quinn/Birds of Prey vehicle, I finally got the film I wanted back then, and I will go so far to say that of all the DC Universe films that WB has made thus far, this is the one I have enjoyed the most, and the one I am most likely to return to (Joker was very good, but not exactly enjoyable, and one I’d see myself returning to).
Birds of Prey opens with Harley Quinn trying to find a new criminal identity having just broken up with Joker. At first she is still using her Joker-given immunity to have one last night of fun, until she realizes that her identity was tied into the Joker, and decides to forge forward on her own. As such she blows up the Ace Chemical plant, and finds herself on the outs with all the villains in Gotham who now want her blood.
At the same time Black Mask (Ewan McGregor) is trying to get a hold of diamond that will unlock a fortune. This diamond now resides in the stomach of a teenage shoplifter. This brings together Huntress, Black Canary, Renee Montoya, and Harley Quinn in order to protect her, and the diamond before Black Mask can get his hands on her.
Birds of Prey was an absolute blast. The film has an eclectic carnival-esque style that is fitting to the characters and story. The film has a reasonable running time, and flows well scene to scene, and moment to moment never dragging and feeling boring. The third act of the film feels like the conclusion of a late 80’s beat ’em up video game through the lens of the Chiodo Brothers (Killer Klowns from Outer Space) which totally had me on board.
The Blu-ray From WB looks standing in a rock solid 1080p AVC encoded presentation. Colors pop, detail is excellent, blacks are inky and deep. Audio uses a Dolby True HD track in English which comes through crisp and clear. Extras include a Birds Eye view mode, featurettes on the making of and other aspects of the film, and much MORE.
Director – Cathy Yan
Cast – Margot Robbie, Ewan McGregor
Country of Origin – U.S.
Discs – 2
Distributor – Warner Brothers
Reviewer – Scott MacDonald