First off, DC Comics is desperately trying to forge a path of its own with films that stray from the comic book norm. There was Joker, a film that garnered two Oscar wins and multiple nominations, including Best Picture which was followed closely by the Joker’s wacky girlfriend’s standalone film debut, Birds of Prey and the Fantabulous Emancipation of One Harley Quinn. Yeah, the name is a bit long and it, like this movie, was a problem because it never tried to just be simple.

Harley Quinn, of course, is extra and because of that, her movie is destined to be a bit eccentric, and eccentric it was. There were some fun details like whenever Harley Quinn identified for the viewer a person she’s made really angry. The movie would pause, draw something funny around the guy’s (or lady’s) face, draw their name, and detail the reason why they were Quinn’s enemies. That was hilarious because it kept happening.

What wasn’t fun was how hard this movie was trying to be cool.

I get it. Female comic book characters don’t get a lot of standalone movies so when they do get one you want it to be awesome right? Of course, but so much attention was thrust into the idea for this film to feel like the next greatest thing for women since the Women’s March on Washington in 2017 that it wasn’t allowed time to just be a good comic book movie.

The only great thing about this movie is the bad*** broads that occupy its runtime. Continue reading ‘Birds of Prey’: Awesome Girl Power + Boring Origin Story = Mediocre Movie →