On Egg Sandwiches, Adaptations, and the Liberal Application of a Baseball Bat as a solution.

Honestly, in this day and age of superhero flicks, it’s hard to find a movie that stands out. Whilst I’ve sort of been okay with most superhero movies from the Nolan Batman movies to the MCU stuff, I haven’t really enjoyed many superhero movies. (Shazam and Winter Soldier are on that short list!) But holy shit, Birds of Prey is undeniably enjoyable.

Directed by relative newcomer Cathy Yan, (Dead Pigs, According to my Mother) Birds of Prey brings back 2016 Suicide Squad‘s Harley Quinn (Margot Robbie), and introduces Dinah Lance / Black Canary (Jurnee Smollett-Bell), Renee Montoya (Rosie Perez), Helena Bertinelli / Huntress (Mary Elizabeth Winstead), Cassandra Cain (Ella Jay Basco), and big bad Roman Sionis, The Black Mask (Ewan McGregor).

Birds of Prey (and the Fantabulous Emancipation of One Harley Quinn) is an absolute BLAST to watch, and while it admittedly has some genuine weird moments even for me, it’s just… fun. While I ended up having to leave my comics fanboy expectations for some of the characters at the door, Robbie’s Harley straight up channels Sorkin at some points, and boy, does she kill it as Harley. And speaking of killing, holy shit, the violence in this movie justifies the R-16 for me- best use of a baseball bat in a fight scene since the Raid 2.

Look, for me, it’s always been mallet > baseball bat and this was a design problem I’ve always had with Suicide Squad‘s Quinn, but this was GREAT. (I’ve since been told the same people responsible were on board with this and all I can say is YESSSS) The action is probably some of the most creative and fun stuff I’ve seen in a long, long time and that’s definitely just the tip of the iceberg when it comes to the movie.

If you’re expecting an adaptation of the comic of the same name, leave those expectations outside because Birds of Prey is just straight up fun and nuts, and with this being a movie with “Harley Quinn” in the name, this is a good thing. While having a slightly different approach to most of these characters (a good one though, with some GREAT nods), this story is still straight outta Gotham, and no other movie has left me wanting to go for an egg sandwich so badly before.