Kevin C. Wong

Movie - Birds of Prey (2020) [+]

Birds of Prey is a DC Films action film starring Harley Quinn (Margot Robbie). Breaking up with the Joker puts Quinn in a funk until she declares her breakup in spectacular fashion. But now that she's no longer invulnerable everybody is out to arrest her or wreck vengeance, including Detective Renee Montoya (Rosie Perez) and Black Mask (Ewan McGregor).

Meanwhile young Cassandra Cain (Ella Jay Basco) manages to steal (and swallow) a diamond that Black Mask desperately wants. With killers after her it's up to former lounge singer now Black Mask's personal driver Dinah Lance (Jurnee Smollett-Bell) who is tipping off Montoya in order to keep Cain safe.

Another plot line is the mysterious Crossbow Killer (Mary Elizabeth Winstead) murdering mobsters all over town. Turns out it's Helena Bertinelli, who calls herself Huntress. She's mostly on her own storyline until the big meetup scene when she show up to murder Black Mask's main henchman Victor Zsasz (Chris Messina)...

Harley Quinn provides narration and although I think she's mostly truthful she tends to skip back when she remembers a plot line she forgot. And of course it's humorous when she describes a scene and we see how it's actually playing out. In general this is a fairly comedic film, more so than Suicide Squad but less so than Deadpool.

Action is pretty good. Quinn especially shows off her gymnastic fighting skills and gets to wield a big mallet while wearing roller skates on a rotating carnival ride. She also has another cool scene assaulting a police station with a shotgun that shoots beanies and glitter-dust balls.

Overall was quite a good film. Good action, funny story, and Harley Quinn is a great character.