Birds of Prey: enjoyable chaos and mayhem

Mon, Feb 17, 2020

OK to start off, I am not a massive fan of DC movies or Marvel movies, or any kind of superhero movie, so it is safe to say I wasn't holding out for much when I rocked up to Omniplex Salthill to view Birds of Prey, Birds of Prey: The Fantabulous Emancipation of One Harley Quinn, or Harley Quinn: Birds of Prey or whatever title DC has decided to place upon their newest release. However, I have to say it wasn't that bad and I rather enjoyed a huge chunks of the movie.

So Birds of Prey (this is the title I will use during the piece) sees Harley Quinn (Margot Robbie) in a post break phase from The Joker (as seen in Suicide Squad). This is explained via a quick recap of a series of events which saw their explosive love liasion come to a halt. But while Quinn was able to have all the dangerous, unimpeded, fun that she wanted due to her enemies' fears of her other half, without her "J-man", Gotham City's bad guys want revenge. None more so than Roman Sionis aka 'Black Mask' (Ewan McGregor) who agrees to a stay of execution for Quinn if she can find a diamond which has a rival mob's bank account details.

Via this treasure quest, we meet the other 'Birds of Prey'; Dinah Lance aka Black Canary (Jurnee Smollett-Bell), a singer turned driver for Sionis; Cassandra Cain (Ella Jay Basco), a teenage pickpocket who picks up the diamond from an unsuspecting mobster; Detective Renee Montaya (Rosie Perez), an old-styled cop who loves to utter 80s cop show phrases; and Helena Bertinelli aka Huntress (Mary Elizabeth Winstead), an assassin who is picking off all those who murder her family. But despite being billed as a film about the 'Birds of Prey' and their exploits, the plot essentially revolves around Quinn and Sionis' personal battle while the other 'birds' feel like add-ons which is a disappointment as they all had interesting back stories - I smell a sequel.