j* movie reviews 2020

Birds of Prey &... Harley Quinn. (2020)

A nearly non-stop action melee of kick-arse, sassy women.

Suicide Squad (2016) was a tragic mess of a film and I was so disappointed by Harley Quinn's character. But Birds of Prey makes up for it. It gives us a pretty standard, overblown action-comedy film, with a cast of kick-arse chicks. It starts as an excellently off-kilter break-up film with drunk Harley getting drunker, getting messy and getting explosive revenge on the ex. Then it snowballs and she gathers more excellent gal-pals along the way, and a whole army of hitmen trying to take her down.

The fights are so perfect. Leg breaks... crunch. Glitter bombs...Ka-boom. Smackdowns in the fire-sprinkler rain...Wet. Fight madness in a sideshow funhouse...Cray-balls. And throughout, the glorious, all seeing, all revelling, all exploratory use of slow-mo. Slo-mo will always be so hot. This action is hot. There are female fighting moments here we haven't seen before, and we really want to see them. And we can. Clearly.

There is this genius-simple moment where a hair-tie is offered mid-fight and the other gal takes it and ties back her hair. And the long-haired audience cheers "Finally!" and "about freaking time!" Why have we waited until 2020 to have this moment of realism hit our screens? A 50c prop and we finally have a filmic fantasy fulfilled. It is wild that we are all talking about this as such a memorable moment of film. And it is wilder that it had taken so long for us to get it.

There are so many men getting smashed in the groinal regions and here too we are all "finally!" Because nothing is more whack than watching a man-fighting-man-movie and even though they're supposed to be fighting to the death, no-one will go "below the belt" because they're movie-men and they have some kind of whack fight code. I mean it's not even a rule in Fight Club. A couple of boobs also get whacked nastily.

The plot is pretty small, but the Hyena is very large. The baddies are not that great, but the goodies are all women. The beaver is taxidermied, but it wears a tutu. The chick with the cool name is endlessly exasperated no-one remembers her name, but her name is awesome. The chick who's a cop is endlessly exasperated with the dicks at her work, but she has aviators and a hilarious shirt from lost & found. The singing chick is quite good. The stealing girl steally. And Harley is wild.

Harley is not, and I cannot stress this enough, Tank Girl wild. But it's 2020 and I feel I should just give up on that dream. It's 2020 and Harley is probably the closest we'll ever get to a female character as full on as Tank Girl. Sadface and Ripper love and a tank always in my thoughts. But Harley makes silly jokes. She does asides to camera. She narrates without fear. She enjoys breakfasts. She revels in the fact that at least half of her successes are pure flukes. She generally does whatever the hell she wants and that is as good as it's gonna get.

And it's pretty good. It is legit comic book hilarity.

They say you can't teach an old dude new tricks, and potentially this will be true for some men attempting this film. As a woman who likes action film I've trained for a lifetime to be able to watch and sympathise with male action characters. Men kicking arse: women are used to it. Women kicking arse: might still come as a shock to some men. I say this only as I have heard a few early reports from dudes who found this a snoozefest despite the pure perfection of the action.

And I say this also as a challenge - if you're a man who enjoyed Birds of Prey, tell the world how much. Don't keep Harley Quinn in your pockets whilst waving your John Wick about.

Sisters are doing it for themselves. This film was also directed, written, and produced by women and it shows. With thanks to the executive producing dudes who bankrolled it.

Also, heads up, in case you weren't aware, 2020 is a big year for female comic heroes, with Wonder Woman 1984 and Black Widow. So start it right with Harley & Hyena & Co.

J* gives it 5 stars.

PS. I know, I know. I will probably regret this later in the year when the films are flopping everywhere and then I'm stuck with this looking like movie of the year. But what can I do? I enjoyed it. I was into the wild ride. I loved all the slow-mo and whack sensibilities. 5 stars. I'm dealing with it, so you can too.

PPS. No, it's not revolutionary. It's not mind-blowing. But if 15 year old me had the choice between having this and not having this, then having this is everything. Thankfully real 15 year old me had Tank Girl. Always in my heart.

PPS. Hot pants heads up - this time around you'll have to zoom in on her arse yourselves, chaps, because the camera aint doing it.