Birds of Prey

TL/DR version. I wanted very much to love this, but it was terrible.

I barely got through the opening credits and I already wanted to go home. Holy whining, Batman! This movie is just one big whine fest. Margot, whiner. Ewan, whiner. Ewan's sidekick, whiner. Margot's sidekick kid, whiner. Whine, whine, whine. Everyone is whining.

Yes, there are some badass women in this film doing some badass things. I'm HERE for that. However the awfulness of the entire presentation could not be saved by a few badass characters.

Ok, so I didn't like it...at all. Aside from perhaps the most gorgeous of all egg sandwiches ever seen on screen, and the occasional laugh (Voted for Bernie, I shaved my balls for this), this was a tough slog to sit through. Read on if you want spoilers and more of the same.

Background, I did NOT see 'Suicide Squad.' I consulted a couple of sources, and was told it really wasn't necessary. One such source, who I ended up seeing this with, said about that film, "Save SS squad for a day when you're sick and have to stay in bed. That’s the best time to watch it...when you can’t get up and leave." So with that, we went off to see it for FREE (thanks again to Essex Cinemas for the year of free movies!)

Synopsis: Dr. Harleen Frances Quinzel, better know as Harley Quinn (I was glad to learn this backstory) has just broken up with The Joker, and now her safety in Gotham City is in question. Everyone wants to kill her, that is basically the gist of the whole story.The plot is...thin.

Despite the film's title "Birds of Prey," this is a Harley Quinn film, those other Birds are largely afterthoughts and thrown together at the last possible minute to form a "team" of sorts. This is where it really missed for me, I expected what was essentially just the ending to be much more of the film. Characters like Black Canary, and Huntress have such potential but never learn to fly on their own.


Again, I know what I'm getting with comic book films generally but there were so many continuity issues that you can't ignore even if you try to mentally check-out and enjoy this as a popcorn flick!  For example, towards the end in the "funhouse" somehow roller-skates magically appear on HQ, so obvious you can't help but see it even if you're trying not to over analyze.

I am a fan of the Gotham universe, and enjoy most everything that is done around it by anyone. Even the bad ones are generally entertaining, and there were moments in here where I was in, but then it lost me just as quickly. It was exceedingly long for something with little substance and needlessly jumped around in time. The narration was entirely annoying to be honest. It just didn't work for me. Margot owned the part, and was solid with what was given. Ewan's character was awful, poorly developed, and forgettable. Rosie Perez was exactly the character she always is, and everyone else was loosely placed with little success. In the final sequence of the film, I begin to get what I thought I would be seeing given the title, but it's beyond repair, the ship has sunk and this film stunk.

Its pretty violent, I'd keep the kids at home. Thankfully, I don't have any.

I'm not very critical of anything, especially a comic book based movie, I understand what it is supposed to be/do but to me this didn't achieve....anything. I'm glad it was free, and I can't say I'd recommend it but I'm curious what you all think.