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The Fantabulous Emancipation of Female Centric Films Everywhere

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Ever gone through a real bad breakup and dreamt about raising all hell? Well, for a certain sardonic, nutty, PhD-degreed Harley Quinn (played gleefully by the two-time Oscar nominee Margot Robbie), that isn’t just a fantasy. Birds of Prey: And the Fantabulous Emancipation of One Harley Quinn offers just that through a campy, technicolor joyride.

DC characters the Joker and Harley Quinn are best known as the villains of the Batman series, however this film poses Harley more as an anti-hero. This live-action film is set after the events of Suicide Squad (2016) where we last see the Joker breaking Harley out of prison.

The film starts after a messy break up with the Joker where Harley finds herself drinking her miseries away at whatever club will allow her in – and at the time, that technically was everywhere. Joker (played by Jared Leto in Suicide Squad) and Harley’s relationship was known to be on and off, so while she was not actually with him, she still had the residual protection that came from being the most feared crime boss’s girl. Sick of being labeled as someone’s property, Harley sends a public “fuck you” to her ex in a massive blaze of glory – quite literally, as she blows up the chemical plant where their love was proclaimed. With this message, all of Gotham now knows the Partners in Madness are kaput, and with that so is the Joker’s protection. Little did Harley know how extensively gifted she is at pissing people off...well okay, maybe she did know, but it wasn’t until she had guns pointed at her from every direction while she was trying to enjoy her breakfast sandwich that she really took the distaste to heart.

Enter rest of the cast: young pick-pocket Cassandra (Ella Jay Basco), along with washed up detective Renee Montaya (Rosie Perez), just-trying-to-get-by Dinah Lance (Jurnee Smollett-Bell), and vengeful Helena Bertinelli (Mary Elizabeth Winstead). Talk about girl-power! Every member of the team gets to showcase their unique set of abilities and different personalities during all the action, while leaving plenty of material to explore these characters further in future projects. Too long have badass women been written with no dimension.

Along with the delightful energy that accompanies every blow and gunshot throughout Birds of Prey, a radio soundtrack highlights every turn; however it disappointingly ends up leaving Daniel Pemberton’s score in the dust. The fights and action of the film are reminiscent of Marvel’s Deadpool franchise, being violent, graphic and taking little seriousness in itself. More superhero films should delve into the gory, colorful, silly subgenre that Deadpool and Birds of Prey (and Suicide Squad tried to) exist in – especially if the superhero trend is here to stay. While the style Cathy Yan uses is “claimed” by Deadpool, the story written by Christina Hodson follows a wildly different, and fresh, plot. It is much closer to a contemporary chick-flick by depicting developing friendships, finding value in oneself and growing past old habits which can be more accurately compared to the 2019 Netflix drama, Someone Great... with much more blood of course. Now, is this a bad thing? Not at all. Please give me more female stories that are funny, erratic and violent! Not every strong female story needs to end with the lead “choosing love” as their way to depict femininity. *cough* Looking at you, Wonder Woman (2017) *cough*.

Inventive writing, nuanced humor, violent visuals, a stimulating soundtrack, and a dream of a cast has produced a unique female empowerment film that paves the way for future exploration. At the very least, it teaches you to never mess with a woman’s breakfast sandwich.

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