Birds Of Prey Review

The colourful and fast-paced storytelling of director Cathy Yan’s Harley Quinn film Birds of Prey is too often a drab and disposably predictable film that relies heavily on its main character and the immature humour that feels forced into every interaction. What the film has to offer becomes immediately clear from the start, energetic yet short-lived action sequences padded by countless moments of tired dialogue and annoying narration. The performances from the cast offer personality and a few moments of brilliance, but the stylistic yet formulaic narrative and the jarringly messy story structure offers little to grab on to.

Birds of Prey follows infamous Gotham criminal Harley Quinn, as her destructive and emotional break-up with the Joker has left her fending for herself in a city that is full of enemies. On the run and with nowhere to go, Harley finds herself in danger with the dangerous crime boss Black Mask and his unpredictable henchman Victor Zsasz, forcing her to try and find a new group of allies to help her out of trouble.

In many ways, Birds of Prey more so acts as an effective acting reel for Margot Robbie than an efficacious film about Harley Quinn. The array of emotions that Robbie projects undeniably elevates her character, further proving that she is the perfect casting for the role. Although much of the acting tends to be on par with Robbie’s, the character’s that the performances are attached to often come off as one-dimensional and unengaging. Even Ewan McGregor struggles to find successful ways to stand out from his source material. The flagrant disinterest in the films supporting cast allows the character of Harley to stand out, but the toll this takes on the film is ultimately more than what she can make up for.

The inconsistent acting is not the only distracting issue, as an unimaginative story bog down the moments of the film that do work. The script of Birds of Prey is a constant issue, often spending time setting up lame and foreseeable jokes in the uncreative ways instead of forming valuable plot points. The jumpy structure with the unnecessary use of flashbacks and blatant exposition dumps only proves how indecisive screenwriter Christina Hodson was about what tone she wanted to achieve.

Overall, Birds of Prey is often bland and underwhelming, an odyssey that feels hastily written and lost despite being helmed by a notable performance from Margot Robbie. The potential to enjoy this movie off of the character of Harley Quinn alone is present. Still, many elements of the film feel too cheap to ignore, as a tiring aesthetic and ill-fitting soundtrack make many sequences of the film feel more like a Hot Topic commercial than a theatrical movie. Birds of Prey will do enough to please fans of the character but lacks the layered engrossment of a well-made film that keeps them coming back.

The electric action and standout performance from Margot Robbie isn’t enough to lift Birds of Prey out of it poor story, lack of cleverness, and questionable structure.

Produced By: Warner Bros. Pictures
Runtime: 109 minutes
Rating: R