Feathers fly in new Harley Quinn story
‘Fantabulous?’ Well, let’s not get carried away by these Birds of Prey
Say what you will about the Marvel cinematic universe — I’m talking to you, Martin Scorsese — but the bloated series always seemed to know where it was lumbering to, more or less.
Phase 1 (2008-2012), introductions. Phase 2 (2013-2015), adventures. Phase 3 (2016-2019), increasing mayhem.
Compare that to DC’S offerings, of which the breath-busting Birds of Prey: And the Fantabulous Emancipation of One Harley Quinn is but the latest. Superman meets (and fights) Batman, then Wonder Woman and Aquaman. But — time out — there was
2016’s Suicide Squad, due for a sequel (or is it a reboot?) next summer. Then the silly shenanigans of Shazam! And now Birds of Prey or (the Unexpected Virtue of Ignorance), which takes place in a Gotham City somehow devoid of both Batman and Joker.
Front and centre this time is Margot Robbie as Harley Quinn, Joker’s badass, bat-crazy girlfriend from Suicide Squad. They’ve since split up, and the film opens with her nursing her wounded pride in the only ways she knows how — abusing substances and people in roughly equal measure. She also hasn’t told anyone about the breakup, since the relationship status keeps her safe on Gotham’s mean streets.
The film is a triumph of female-led filmmaking, with a screenplay by Christina Hodson, who also wrote the excellent Transformers movie — yep, I said those words — Bumblebee. It’s directed by Cathy Yan, who made the indie festival favourite Dead Pigs in 2018. And the Birds of Prey — a grizzled cop (Rosie Perez), a smoky-voiced singer (Jurnee Smollett-bell), a young pickpocket (Ella Jay Basco) and a crossbow-wielding assassin (Mary Elizabeth Winstead) are a strong and resourceful bunch.
But I wish they had a little more cohesion. They’re brought together by a shiny Macguffin in the form of a diamond that somehow holds the secret to an offshore fortune, as well as being immensely valuable because, you know, it’s a diamond. They’re thwarted at every turn by Roman Sionis (Ewan Mcgregor), a wealthy criminal mastermind who also goes by the name Black Mask. But this isn’t much of a branch on which to hang a handful of origin stories.
Mcgregor is easily the weakest link in the narrative chain. Every scene he’s in feels like it was overseen by a rotating series of guest directors. Is Sionis seriously unhinged? A mad genius? In love with his chief henchman, played by Chris Messina? Obsessed with money, or power or sex? You could make a case for all these explanations and more over the 109 minutes of Birds of Prey or: How I Learned to Stop Worrying and Love the Bomb.
And while some fans may thrill to the Deadpool-esque chatter from Harley Quinn — she swears, breaks the fourth wall and is forever interrupting her own narration to introduce some additional layer of flashback — I found it all a little tiresome.
It’s almost a relief when she has to pipe down and kick butt, although even here there are unanswered questions, like how does a police station’s jail cell and evidence warehouse not have more police officers in them?
And just how big is Gotham
City’s abandoned-amusementpark-and-spooky-pier quarter? You could dump the cast of Scooby-doo into this movie and they might never even run into the Birds of Prey.
In the end, Birds of Prey, Thanks for Everything! Julie Newmar is best defined by what it’s not. Not as feminist-fantabulous as Wonder Woman. Not as annoying as Aquaman. Not as busy as Justice League, as juvenile as Shazam! or as pointless as Batman v Superman: Dawn of Justice. It’s squarely mid-level DC, and while I’m glad it emancipated Harley Quinn, I’m already eager to move on and see what she gets up to next.
At 29, Oscar-nominated Margot Robbie knows exactly what she wants: a long career, disparate roles, success as a producer and a chance to keep playing Gotham’s craziest anti-hero, Harley Quinn.
“I just love her sense of humour,” Robbie says. “I’ve always thought how she loves to provoke the people around her using her knowledge as a psychiatrist is such a fun aspect to her character.”
Quinn, who first appeared in Batman: The Animated Series in the early 1990s, was a scene stealer in 2016’s Suicide Squad. Shortly before that film’s release, Robbie was already thinking of ways the Mistress of Mayhem could unleash her brand of candy-coloured chaos in a spinoff movie.
But given that the character is tied so closely to Mr. J — a.k.a. the Joker — Robbie knew she wanted to explore a story away from that character, perhaps with some of the other female anti-heroes inhabiting Gotham City. The afternoon after Birds of Prey’s première, Robbie spoke about why Harley holds such a special place in her heart.
Q After Suicide Squad, audiences really dug your interpretation of Harley Quinn. What made you fall in love with her? A I liked that she was deeply flawed and complicated with her relationship with the Joker. She was in love with someone who treated her so badly. That was baffling to me and it took me a minute to figure that one out. In Birds of Prey, we wanted to see what would happen when Harley doesn’t have that perceived protection of being Mr. J’s girl. At the beginning of the movie, they break up and she is shocked to learn that half of Gotham wants to kill her and now that the Joker is not around they feel free to go ahead and do that. Throughout the course of the film, she tries to find her feet, be an independent woman. She’s not feeling it yet. Ultimately, it’s about her understanding that she doesn’t need a man’s protection — she can handle herself pretty (well) on her own. Of course, she also acts as a catalyst of chaos — as she often does — her actions have a domino effect that brings a bunch of disparate storylines to a head.
Q After Suicide Squad there was talk of a Harley Quinn/joker movie. Gotham City Sirens was another one we heard about. Why did you gravitate to the Birds of Prey storyline?
A I can’t speak on the behalf of those other stories, but I pitched the idea of a girl gang film fourand-a-half years ago when we were still making Suicide Squad. It’s something that I felt there was a lack of in the market. On a character level, I felt that Harley was a girl’s girl and she wanted a group of girlfriends. I knew I didn’t want to stop playing her, but I really wanted it to be a female ensemble. So on a personal level and a professional level, I was really craving that. I don’t know what (the studio’s) plans are or what else they’re hoping to do. I love, love, love the relationship between Harley and Joker. It’s fascinating to me. But I also really love the relationship Harley has with Poison Ivy in the comics, both the storyline that portrays them as a romantic couple and the ones that show them as friends. Either way, that’s something I’d be keen to explore. But the thing that I pitched and wanted to explore was this storyline.
Q You’re up for an Oscar this Sunday for your work in Bombshell. That film showed a newsroom environment that was plagued by sexual harassment. Did what happen in that movie come as a surprise to you?
A I guess, yes and no. It’s shocking when you put yourself in the shoes of someone who had that happen to them. But then again, when you stand back and consider the big picture, I’m not surprised when you see these stories of men taking advantage of women and holding their careers hostage. I think it’s something that women have an innate understanding of as we move through life. We’ve all had that moment where we realize that maybe the deck is stacked against us one way or another. Exploring it through a situation that happened to be true is extremely horrifying, but I’m glad that the movie got put out into the world and it’s giving audience members — particularly male audience members — a chance to feel what that is like. If they can feel what it’s like to stand in (my character’s) shoes in that moment where she’s standing in Roger (Ailes’s) office when he asks her to raise her skirt, that’s a wonderful thing. If we can provide more empathy for each other in this world, that’s only ever going to be a good thing.