The Birds of Prey and the Fantabulous Emancipation of One Harley Quinn movie has a new poster and a release date attached to it. The movie is a spin-off from the terrible Suicide Squad movie and will have the great Margot Robbie reprising her role of Harley Quinn. Robbie’s character seemed to be the fan-favorite from the previous film and the only thing worth taking from it.
The new film has been said by Margot Robbie herself to be an R-Rated “Girl Gang” feature with Harley Quinn teaming up with some “friends” Huntress and Black Canary. Not much more of the plot is not yet known but appears to focus on this “Girl Gang” teaming up to take down the villainous Black Mask. This could easily become something like the female lead Ghostbusters movie or the somewhat more enjoyable Oceans 8 film.
Robbie has gone record saying “It’s not a very serious movie” (which in turn is the reason for a ridiculous title). This means to me that fans will probably get an overly action-packed, explosion-filled, comedy that fits the tone of the current DC films. If it follows the same style as Suicide Squad the film will no doubt be dark. Not the dark blood, guts, and killing style but more in the sense of a lot of night and low-light scenes making it hard for the audience to see what is going on. While these are ok when used correctly, DC films seem to lean these types of scenes causing them to become annoying and overused.
It worries me that this will be another terrible movie in the DC lineup, and Robbie’s quote above drives that point home. While the movie can and should have some humor, why shouldn’t this be a serious take on the characters and story and work towards making the DC Universe better than it is today? With Robbie saying “It’s not a very serious movie…” shows that there may be hesitation on how well this film will be received by viewers. If that hesitation exists it might just be better to put this project on hold and make it when absolutely ready and those thoughts don’t exist.
The other big issue I have with this movie is the number of characters that are being introduced. The Huntress, Black Mask, Black Canary, Victor Szasz, and Renee Montoya are all big or big-ish characters in the DC Universe with their own backstories. One movie can not simply pack all of this information into it. Trying to do so causes problems keeping the movie on track and ensuring the central characters all have the appropriate screen time. Hasn’t DC learned anything from the Justice League film?
In the end, I will no doubt pay the money and go and see the Birds of Prey film. I am hoping that it surprises me and turns out to be a great and a turning point for DC. I could easily help to set up other films in the universe to start bringing the DC movies up to the caliber of Marvel. It would be awesome to see this film make mention of other DC characters, like Nightwing or Barbara Gordon, and create a movie on those characters and eventually get a polished crossover. Teen Titans or Young Justice maybe?
