Birds of Prey Offers an Entertaining Viewing Experience for the Public
By: Connor O’Boyle
A&E Editor
Cathy Yan’s Birds of Prey fleshes out Margot Robbie’s interpretation of Harley Quinn, while also taking advantage of a mostly female cast to make social commentary on the patriarchy.
The following includes spoilers. Once the film’s fast-paced animated intro fades into view, it is not long before Harley Quinn wittily narrates the night in which The Joker broke her heart. The choice to omit the Joker from the film beyond his appearance in this cartoonish introduction demonstrates Yan’s approach to make a feminist statement rather than just another blockbuster.
With films such as Joker, Avengers, Spider-Man dominating the box office, it is refreshing to see a film directed, written, and starring nearly all women. The comic book violence and colorful environment act as a vehicle to spread a feminist message, which is exemplified in the story itself.
Following Harley Quinn’s break up, every person that Harley ever wronged attempts to take advantage of her due to her lack of a powerful and clinically insane man to protect her. However, Harley’s skillful acrobatics, quick wit, and dumb luck help her prove that she can make it through the harshest alleys Gotham throws her way.
The atmosphere that director Cathy Yan and company display for the film does not fail to envelop the viewer in the black comedy that is Gotham city. Wailing police sirens, endless waves of industrial smoke, and characters dressed as if they had just escaped from an insane asylum fill almost every scene.
While the film’s score can tend to compete with this stark atmosphere, it does enhance the high energy of Jon Valera’s visually appealing fight choreography to an extent. On the other hand, the choice of introducing Black Canary through Jurnee Smollett-Bell’s haunting cover of John Brown’s “It’s a Man’s Man’s World” further reinforce the social statements the film expresses in between its well-produced action scenes.
As the story hustles along, Quinn’s initial doubt in herself following the break up is shrugged off with unrelenting determination, making her empowered transition into single life. However, once she gets captured by the malevolent Roman Sionis, aka Black Mask, her problems are too much to handle on her own.
Without The Joker around to protect her, the eminent threat on her life took a while to sink in. Yan was not afraid to show the true menace that was Roman Sionis. In a previous and graphic scene, he cuts off the faces of virtually innocent people as if it were a mundane chore.
While Yan could have easily panned the camera away during this gruesome scene, her camera crew held steady as Black Mask sliced each victim up with glee. Including this part in the film helped prove to the audience what he was really capable of.
And yet, Quinn is far from crying for her dazzling and psychotic man in laughing armor. Instead, she overhears their desperation to find a diamond that contains the codes to a vast fortune and offers to help out.
Unfortunately for Harley, a pick pocket by the name of Cassandra Cane had already stolen and swallowed the very diamond that she needed in order to stay alive. After breaking the kid out of custody, the two develop a sibling-like chemistry, which makes up the majority of the second half. However, some fans argue that this choice strays too far from the comics.
“While it’s fine to put an original spin on comic book characters, there were problems with Cassandra Cain’s character. Cain is mute in the comics. It would have been nice to see a character with a disability instead of filmmakers erasing that aspect of them like Marvel did with Hawkeye’s deafness,” said Taylor Robertson, managing editor of The Current.
Other characters make their way through Harley’s desperate journey to stay alive, including Renee Montoya, a detective that is consistently suppressed by her male colleagues, and Huntress, the daughter of a wealthy family who was brutally murdered by the mob.
In the final act of the film, these women team up for a final showdown against Black Mask. The set where this took place was the most visually stimulating set of the entire film. Funhouse mirrors, laughing puppets, and giant hands-on spinning platforms littered the immaculately designed house of horrors. Classic action films such as “Enter the Dragon” came to mind. The squad’s eventual triumph seals the film with a somewhat satisfying conclusion that does seem to linger in a half-hearted improvisation between the main cast.
Despite its flaws, “Birds of Prey” is still an enjoyable spectacle that was not only made to entertain its audience, but to empower women and reveal the misogyny that lingers throughout everyday society.
Photo Cred: Marico Silvia
