A fantabulous review of Harley Quinn: Birds of Prey:
(Some very light spoilers but nothing major.)
Okay getting the ‘bads’ out of the way:
They should have had Barbara. She was the original member of the Birds of Prey. We could have had some epic female-written disability representation but she’s not even mentioned.
Why have Cassandra Cain be named Cassandra Cain if she has no correlation with the actual Cassandra Cain?
Gotham is still a lot more colorful than it has been in awhile but it still just resembles a quirky NYC. Bring back the 80s set-pieces, you cowards!
As long as they were going for the upbeat tone, they should have put in some references to the 1960s Batman. Just for funsies.
Okay now the fantabulous:
It was so much better than I thought it was going to be; I was absolutely delighted the entire way through.
I love how the first half is basically Kill Bill meets Batman
The cinematography is incredible
BLACK CANARY’S VERSION OF “THIS IS A MAN’S WORLD”
THE WHOLE “DIAMONDS ARE A GIRL’S BEST FRIEND” SEQUENCE INTERCUT WITH THE INTERROGATION
WHEN HIT ME WITH YOUR BEST SHOT CAME ON
AND I DIDN’T EVEN REALIZE WHAT SONG IT WAS
UNTIL RIGHT BEFORE THE DROP OF THE CHORUS
WHEN I WAS LIKE, “IS THIS…?” AND IT WAS
AND THE C I N E M A T O G R A P H Y
Harley Quinn dominating roller derby and randomly finding time to put on roller-skates in the climax then catching a ride on the back of a motorcycle and everything that follows is everything I didn’t know I needed in life!
The diversity of the characters, and I don’t just mean in skin-tones/body-shapes/etc. though that was definitely amazing, I mean that each woman (and girl) and their own fleshed out characters.
And at no point did I ever think about any of my characters or even of any of my favorite characters. Like, I’ll see empowered female shows/movies and just think, “Yeah, they remind me of ____.” but what I’m really saying is, “Yeah, they used the same tropes that I/another writer” used. None of these characters fell into that category which means that they were all original characters written by extremely skilled writers who are using tropes far beyond my expertise and that is fantastic!
But they still felt relatable?
The fact that Dr. Harleen Quinzel kept diagnosing everyone
The scene where Harley gives Black Canary a hair-tie in the middle of the battle? Iconic!
I became distracted by my fittingly pink/blue tango ice blast but I’m pretty sure at one point, a supervillain is going through Harley’s pockets in the typical “disarm the main character” scene and all he pulls out is a tampon and she smirks at his discomfort. CINEMA WAS BORN!
The juxtaposition between Harley lamenting that she’s got nobody in the city and has no life outside Joker while showing us all of the little shops and niches she knows/trusts.
The whole sandwich bit…I only lived in NYC for two years but I felt that and I too would take revenge if my favorite semi-expired-bodega-meal was knocked out of my hands during a police chase.
The Inexplicably Called Cassandra Cain’s character was fantastic.
I think my favorite sequence of shots, tied with the next bullet-point, was during the big battle in the funhouse when Cassandra sneaks out from her hiding spot and each woman protects her while fighting off the goons in their own way before passing her off to the next woman. An absolute masterpiece!
GIRLS/WOMEN DON’T WANT FETISHIZED “DADDY’S GIRL” STEREOTYPES, GIRLS/WOMEN WANT AN EMPOWERED WOMAN DOING CARTWHEELS WHILE SHOOTING CORRUPT COPS WITH CONFETTI CANNONS, TAKE NOTES
“I stole your ring.” and what happens after.
The women all cheering when an exasperated Cassandra goes to the bathroom because they’re all in this together. That’s solidarity, babes.
“But wait, if Barbara literally doesn’t seem to exist in this universe, then what’s going to happen to Cas…OH, THAT WORKS!.” - Me at the end.
The fact that we never see Joker at all. An absolutely spectacular move! 10/10. The fact that fanboys are sobbing makes it even better!
Did I mention HIT ME WITH YOUR BEST SHOT??? (Fire away…)