The Fantabulous Emancipation of One Harley Quinn

Kaleidoscope's newest is on DC Entertainment's & Warner Bros. presentation of "Birds of Prey (and the Fantabulous Emancipation of One Harley Quinn)".   Directed by Cathy Yan, the movie stars Margot Robbie, Ewan McGregor, Rosie Perez, Mary Elizabeth Winstead, Jurnee Smollett-Bell, Ella Jay Basco, & Chris Messina.  Rated 'R', it has a running time of 1 hr., 49 min.

The film is basically told from a 1st person POV as Harley (Robbie) recounts the events of her life leading up to her break-up with the Joker up to the present time.  After Joker discards her on the streets of Gotham City, Harley is taken in by Doc, the owner of a Chinese restaurant.  After sulking for an amount of time, Harley cuts her hair, adopts a hyena which she names after Bruce Wayne, takes up roller derby (the inherent violence of the sport provides her a perfect outlet), &, finally, blows up the Ace Chemicals plant where she solemnly promised herself to Joker.  Through a series of encounters, Harley meets singer Dinah Lance (Smollett-Bell) who rescues Harley from a kidnapping; Gotham City police detective Renee Montoya who is investigating a series of mob murders done by someone with a crossbow named Helena Bertinelli (Winstead); & a young pickpocket named Cassandra Cain (Basco).  The latter has stolen a large diamond from head criminal Roman Sionis's (McGregor) sadistic henchman Victor Zsasz (Messina)--a diamond that contains the account numbers to the Bertinelli crime empire's huge, ill-gotten wealth.  Act I ends approximately here as Harley, Renee, Helena, Dinah, & Cassandra evolve into the Birds of Prey & their picaresque adventures of mayhem, laughter, & violent encounters.

Little-known director Yan has fashioned a 'fantabulous' film that is arguably the best, yet, in the DC canon.  It has action in abundance, laughs aplenty, solid performances by the supporting cast, & a mesmerizing lead performance by the incandescent Robbie.  Yan stages her action set-pieces clearly & are well-timed.  Other than "Aquaman", this is most well-lit DC film; hopefully, this will forever put into closure the legacy of Zack Snyder's muddy, poorly-lit DC films.  Although Christina Hodson's screenplay provides a little too much exposition that can be somewhat confusing as it plays with time shifts in an attempt to mirror Harley's stream-of-consciousness memory recollections, Yan's steady hand at directing keeps the audience on track as to the proceedings.  As previously mentioned, the script presents a multitude of action & laughs that are all endemic to Harley's retrospects.  Robbie is superb as the phantasmagorical Harley Quinn (nee Harleen Quinzel).  She commands the screen every minute in which she appears.  Although covered in various make-up, Robbie's beauty and her paradoxically maniacal looks shine through.  As we have learned through the years, whether she is playing the misused Natalia in "Wolf of Wall Street", the aristocratic Jane in "Tarzan", the misguided Tonya Harding in "I, Tonya", or the noble Queen Elizabeth I in "Mary, Queen of Scots", her chameleon-like abilities are refined with each role.  She is perfectly cast here.  The supporting cast of "Birds" is sure-footed as Winstead transforms into The Huntress; Perez becomes a more sociopathic Montoya; Bell becomes Black Canary; & Basco continues to evolve as Cain.  McGregor is OK as the effete Roman; he stays a little too 'pretty' for most of the film.  Messina is acceptable as the demented Zsasz, but he pales in comparison to Anthony Carrigan's Zsasz in Fox's "Gotham" TV series.  Matthew Libatique's cinematography and Jay Cassidy's & Evan Schiff's editing cohesively combine to clearly depict & present the various action sequences so that the audience distinctly understands what is occurring.  The many stunt people involved here are to be commended, as well.  Daniel Pemberton's score is DC specific & generic; there is nothing outstanding here.

I give "Birds of Prey (and the Fantabulous Emancipation of One Harley Quinn) 8 out of 10 nuggets.  It is arguably the best of the films so far in the DC universe.  If you are a fan of DC & Gotham, fly as quickly as possible to your nearest theater that has Imax or XL screens to partake in a fun & action-packed cinema.