Movie Review: ‘Birds of Prey’ glitters with girl power

By Catherine Hadley-Engstrom
Staff Writer

Grade: A

See it if: You loved “Deadpool,” you can enjoy a little degeneracy

Skip it if: You dislike a wild party, you can’t take gore

“Birds Of Prey” has it all: diamonds, a hyena named Bruce, car chases, amazing outfits, glitter cannons, and lots and lots of leg-breaking scenes. The recently unattached Harley Quinn finds herself without the protection she so enjoyed during her previous relationship with the Joker. With a new target on her back, Harley Quinn is forced to team up with a new band of friends if she wants to survive.

Not only did “Birds Of Prey” manage to create multi-dimensional female characters, but it also made them ruthless badasses. Rosie Perez nailed her role as a corny ’80s detective Renee Montoya. Her character is also the first openly LGBTQ+ character in the DCEU. Actress Margot Robbie makes Harley Quinn more than just a sidekick and brings new life into the character.

Not to mention, Ewan McGregor made an amazing Black Mask without eating the entire plot and Chris Messina (Victor Zsasz) might just be king of the creepy henchmen.

“Birds Of Prey” featured entertaining and impressive fight scenes. Harley Quinn knows her way around a baseball bat and Huntress shows her skills with a crossbow.

The set design, costumes and props stole the show. At some points, the film feels like it is crossing over into a Broadway production. This film is colorful, bright, fearless and covered in glitter—just like our heroines. The soundtrack is also on point, blending in new hits and remixing some old break-up and girl power anthems.

In a movie where they could have gone the easy route—focus on the main character’s break-up–they chose to reinvent the playing field for our new pseudo-heroes as they step into their own shoes.

Avoiding the missteps of earlier franchise attempts, “Birds Of Prey” skips the long intros and gets to the story, a refreshing call that paid off. Sometimes it pays to trust the audience to keep up as we mallet our way through a crowd of bad guys.

DC spent a long time in Marvel’s shadow, but if we see more films like this, a new king (or queen) could be taking the comic book film throne. “Birds Of Prey” was a true party of a movie, and it’s one worth seeing in the theater.