9/16/2023 0 Comments Harley quinn birds of prey endingNever fear, though, for this film’s ending sets up the future potential of the Birds of Prey as Harley’s foil, so there’s opportunity to revisit and and learn more. (Though with respect to Cain, what we have on screen is an evolution from her comics past as a neurodivergent child killer.) It’s an odd choice with those last two as they provide the backbone for the primary plot, and I wish we got to know them a bit better. Winstead’s Huntress doesn’t make an appearance until the final third of the film, and Basco’s Cain gets superficial treatment. Similarly, you feel Black Canary’s fear that she will not get out from under Sionis’s thumb without harm, but it only goes so far as we lack the context for that relationship in the first place. Your heart breaks when Montoya gets the dressing down from her male superiors, but with little understanding of her prior police career it rings hollow. No doubt Harley is our star, but there’s some character development of our ensemble, particularly Perez’s Montoya and Smollet-Bell’s Black Canary, though uneven. Fortunately, those moments are few and far between. Is this deliberate disruption overused? Perhaps, especially when it’s done just for the sake of doing it. Harley’s in control, and she’s going to tell the story her way: smashing the fourth wall (including in a fun post-credits audio moment), rewinding time and playing the record scratch trope at inopportune moments, a cinematic ode and prayer to the joys of the bacon egg and cheese breakfast sandwich right in the middle of a chase scene. That balance of exposition and action continues throughout the film in very quick order (this whole film is just under two hours), though perhaps not in any coherent or focused order. By the time the title card appears on screen in pink punk glory, you know who Harley is and how she got to her current state of affairs. If you didn’t see Suicide Squad, no need to worry. And with the help of Harley, all of them reach that finish line. Each of them is on their own journey of emancipation, be it within the workplace or home life, finding their own voice and their own agency in a world that just wants them to shut the hell up. Not just for Harley, but for her new found family: teenage Cassandra Cain (Ella Jay Basco), bitter Gotham cop Renee Montoya (Rosie Perez), Diana Lance/Black Canary (Jurnee Smollett-Bell), and the Huntress (Mary Elizabeth Winstead). But there’s also a second: that of the emancipation in the title. And just as she’s trying to figure out her new normal (and keep herself alive at the same time), she gets in the middle of a diamond heist, a teenage thief, and Roman Sionis/Black Mask (Ewan McGregor), all at once. J are no more, and without his protection, she’s in a lot of trouble in Gotham. Harleen Quinzel, aka Harley Quinn (Margot Robbie) as we kick off this promised fantabulous emancipation. What is a harlequin without a master to serve? No one.
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