*Some spoilers for the DC Universe overall

IMDB Synopsis

It’s open season on Harley Quinn when her explosive breakup with the Joker puts a big fat target on her back. Unprotected and on the run, Quinn faces the wrath of narcissistic crime boss Black Mask, his right-hand man, Victor Zsasz, and every other thug in the city. But things soon even out for Harley when she becomes unexpected allies with three deadly women — Huntress, Black Canary and Renee Montoya.

*The actual title is Birds of Prey: And the Fatabulous Emancipation of one Harley Quinn. It has now been changed to Harley Quinn: Birds of Prey due to poor box office.

In this modern age of comic book madness we as an audience are accustomed to easter eggs and connecting pieces. Sometimes it makes you forget that you are allowed to go to the theater and just enjoy yourself, without thinking of any bigger picture. That is what Birds of Prey (We are not using the real title) did for the DC Universe after the disaster that was Suicide Squad.

But even within that tragedy of a movie there was a bright spot and that was Margot Robbie’s adaptation of the Harley Quinn Character. So it was a bit exciting to hear she was coming back for her own movie, without Jared Leto’s weird ass joker.

What is weird about this movie is that it was marketed as a Birds of Prey movie, but really is a Harley Quinn vehicle. Sure we see Huntress (Mary Elizabeth Winstead), Black Canary (Jurnee Smollett Bell), and Renee Montoya (Rosie Perez) but they literally have nothing to do really until the climactic battle. We mostly just get a movie about a girl who decides to find her own identity after a break up. Just so happens that identity is a Gotham City Hero (or villain, who knows?).

There are some awesome scenes and i will say once the ladies finally team up near the end the results are great. You can tell Chad Stahelski helped on this because the fight scenes had a lot of John Wick vibes to them. They also had some Avengers vibes because they would have the one camera whipping around while the hero’s figure out how best to help each other during the fight. That is always a cool effect to show teamwork in a group fight like this. Outside the fight scenes, even though I liked the attempt at non linear storytelling, I just thought it got a bit confusing at points to keep up with where we were in the story.

The ending also sets up a Birds of Prey Sequel but it does not seem Harley Quinn would be involved. That would be a bad idea in my opinion because I like those other characters, but she is really the centerpiece to all of this.

Stock Watch

Stock Up – Margot Robbie

Unequivocally she carried this movie and won every scene she was in. She is intoxicating in the role and I cannot imagine anyone else in the world who would play this better than her. Robbie plays the character with a lot of humor, but when it is time to kick ass she is a non stop bad ass. I would watch ten movies with her as Harley Quinn.

Stock Up – Ewan McGregor

Boy was he on one this entire movie. He played a whacked out version of the Black Mask villain and had me entertained from start to finish. He was slicing faces, and just having a blast in the role. Between this, Doctor Sleep, and hopefully the upcoming Obi Wan Series we might be in for a McGregorssaince.

*A Couple other tidbits

• So is the Joker Dead?
• The Bacon, Egg, and Cheese gag was hilarious every time it was brought up.
• The bean bag shotgun scene in the police station is pretty epic.
• Is the young Cassandra Cain going to grow up to be Batgirl?
• The music kept up the fun energy throughout each scene.

Sure this might not be the deepest or most canonized piece of the DC Universe we have seen, but it just might be the most fun. And I for one am happy sometimes to go to the theater and just enjoy watching great actors, having a great time in a world that I love.

Juice Rating:

*You can find all of my Movie Ratings here.

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