Episode 720 - Birds Of Prey (2020)

Hi everyone!

Welcome back for another Takeover Tuesday. You know, when I saw today’s movie was coming up, I knew I had to call in the big guns for this review. And when they weren’t available, I called up Dave and Chris at the Comics in Motion Podcast, because they are gluttons for punishment, but also have a lot of insightful things to say about comics books on the big and small screens. Today’s review will be covering the DCEU’s latest installment, HARLEY QUINN: BIRDS OF PREY, but don’t miss their previous reviews for ALIEN VS. PREDATOR (Episode #605) and for 30 DAYS OF NIGHT (Episode #626), both of which were for Reign of Terror 2019. Their promo will run before the review.

Speaking of Takeover Tuesday, do you think you have what it takes to guest on One Movie Punch? Head over to onemoviepunch.com/takeover-tuesday and learn more about how you can guest here at One Movie Punch. We still have three (3) slots available this quarter for aspiring and established film critics to take the reins for an episode. We’ll run your promo before the review and will place it in regular rotation for the quarter. If it sounds like something interesting to you, reach out to us over social media.

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Here we go!

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<< COMICS IN MOTION PROMO >>

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Hello and welcome! I’m Chris Phelps, and I’m Dave Horrocks. And we are Comics In Motion. What we like to do is to review exclusively movies and TV shows that are based on comic books. We of course review the well-known and recognizable properties with plenty of spandex, but also some of the less well known that have made that transition from the page to the big and small screens.

Today’s movie is the recently renamed HARLEY QUINN: BIRDS OF PREY. This is the eighth installment of the DC Movie Universe and is directed by Cathy Yan and written by Christina Hodson. Though Harley herself was created by Paul Dini and Bruce Timm and made her debut in the 90’s Batman Animated Series before appearing in comics. And the first Birds of Prey team also made their debut in the 1990’s and was created by Chuck Dixon and Jordan B. Gorfinkel.

We pick up the story sometime after the events of the 2016 SUICIDE SQUAD and after a less than mutual break-up for Gotham city’s most toxic couple, Harley Quinn finds herself a target for a long list of people with various grievances against her over the years. At the front of the queue is nefarious villain Roman Sionis and his right-hand muscle, Victor Zsasz. Harley has an uneasy alliance with the gangster and agrees to search for the young Cassandra Cain and on her journey, has an unlikely super-hero team up.

This review will be spoiler free.

Warner Brothers more recent focus has been on producing good quality stand-alone movies for their DC properties, like AQUAMAN (Episode #366), SHAZAM! (Episode #455), and the recent Oscar winner, JOKER (Episode #630). And expectations were high they could continue this recent streak of good form.

The movie flaunts its R-rating with some grisly early scenes and there are a number of impressive action sequences, often accompanied with an explosion of color bursting out of the screen to really give that comic book feel.

The change from the original title BIRDS OF PREY (AND THE FANTABULOUS EMANCIPATION OF ONE HARLEY QUINN) to simply HARLEY QUINN: BIRDS OF PREY reflects the movie’s star and the captivating performance of Margot Robbie who commands your attention whenever she’s on screen and is the undoubted star of this show.

Robbie’s charismatic performance can be a double-edged sword as it leaves some of her co-stars without enough character growth or even screen time for a movie which runs for almost 110 minutes.

Ewan MacGregor does an adequate job as the main villain and there are some tense scenes which are really quite uncomfortable to watch. But to really invest in our heroes, we need an A-class antagonist and unfortunately, he falls just short.

The tone of the movie can range from hyper-violence, to solidify its R-rating, to more PG fight scenes which wouldn’t look out of place in the 1997 Joel Schumacher directed BATMAN & ROBIN.

Margot Robbie has made this character her own on the big screen and her star quality is unquestionable.

The R-rating does limit the audience, possibly unnecessarily, as a team of kick ass, strong women would appeal to many younger fans.

HARLEY QUINN: BIRDS OF PREY is a colorful comic book spectacle with Margot Robbie’s Harley Quinn, definitely front and center. The dynamic action scenes and cinematography are best consumed on the big screen and so we recommend you make sure you go catch this one in theatres while you can!

Rotten Tomatoes: 79% (CERTIFIED FRESH)

Metacritic: 60 (METACRITIC MUST SEE)

One Movie Punch: 7.0/10

HARLEY QUINN: BIRDS OF PREY (2020) is rated R and is available in theaters now.