Old School. Biblically Independent.
By Brian Richards | Film | February 11, 2025
Writer/director/DC Studios co-CEO James Gunn's Superman opens in theaters this summer, marking the (live-action) beginning of the new DCU, followed by Supergirl: Woman of Tomorrow, which began filming last month; the HBO series Lanterns; a live-action Teen Titans film (which is also being penned by Supergirl: Woman of Tomorrow writer Ana Nogueira), and the numerous other projects on Gunn and DC Studios co-CEO Peter Safran's slate of upcoming DCU content if Superman is the critical darling and box office hit that Warner Bros. (and its greedy dumbass of a CEO, David Zaslav) are hoping it will be.
But until this new version of DC's cinematic universe is launched, let's take a look back at one of the most talked-about films from the previous version of their cinematic universe known as the DCEU, which began with Man of Steel in June of 2013, and ended with Aquaman and the Lost Kingdom in December of 2023. That film is Birds of Prey (and the Fantabulous Emancipation of One Harley Quinn), which opened in theaters five years ago on February 7, 2020.
Despite their reunion at the end of Suicide Squad (excuse me, the Academy Award-winning film Suicide Squad), in which the Joker broke Harley Quinn out of Belle Reve Penitentiary, and they embraced one another with hugs and kisses, the two of them end their relationship and go their separate ways, with Harley wiping away her tears to find a new apartment, adopt a pet hyena with an appetite for f-ckboys who refuse to take "no" for an answer, and join a roller derby league that allows her to elbow people in the face for fun. Harley decides to let all of Gotham City know that her breakup with Joker is a permanent one, and when she crashes an entire gasoline truck into Ace Chemical, which causes the entire plant to explode, the message is loud and clear to everyone on both sides of the law.
Unfortunately for Harley, this means that without the Joker as her boyfriend, she is without immunity and protection, as she is now hunted by cops looking to arrest her, and criminals looking to kill her. She ends up crossing paths with ruthless crimelord Roman Sionis, a.k.a. Black Mask (Ewan McGregor), and his psychotic right-hand man, Victor Zsasz (Chris Messina), who force her to locate a large diamond that contains account information for the Bertinelli crime family's immense fortune; Dinah Laurel Lance, a.k.a. Black Canary (Jurnee Smollett), a singer at Roman's nightclub whose martial arts skills grab his attention and result in Roman promoting her to being his driver; Helena Bertinelli, a.k.a. the Crossbow Killer Huntress (Mary Elizabeth Winstead), a highly trained assassin declaring war on mobsters in Gotham to avenge the murders of her family; Cassandra Cain (Ella Jay Basco), a 12-year-old pickpocket who makes the mistake of stealing the diamond that Roman wants and Harley is looking for; and Renee Montoya (Rosie Perez), a cop who is dealing with her misogynistic colleagues on the Gotham City Police Department while struggling to take down Roman, and investigate all of the killings being done by Helena. It doesn't take long for Harley, Dinah, Helena, Renee, and Cassandra to butt heads before they realize that Roman wants them all dead for various reasons, and that the only way for them to survive his warpath is to work together and fight back against him.
Birds of Prey is the second DC film to be released in theaters with an R rating, with Joker being the first back when it was released in 2019, and it earns that rating in so many ways. Harley gleefully breaking a man's kneecaps in response to his misogynistic insults. ("Call me dumb. I have a PhD, motherf-cker!") Huntress mounting an opponent and stabbing him repeatedly as they both go down a funhouse slide. Harley getting 'white girl wasted' and puking in another woman's purse. Cassandra pointing a loaded handgun at everyone around her, and cursing them out while doing so. An entire family having their faces removed by Roman and Zsasz with a knife while tied up, gagged, and hanging upside down.
The most disturbing moment in all of Birds of Prey is one where not a single drop of blood is shed: Roman is led by Zsasz to believe that a female customer at his club is laughing at him (even though she clearly isn't), so he punishes the woman by forcing her to get up from her table and stand on top of it. He then orders her spouse to remove all of her clothes, leaving her in only her bra and underwear in front of the entire crowd, and tells her to dance, even though she's crying and trembling from head to toe. No one comes to her defense, not even her spouse, and Black Canary can only wipe a single tear away as she is outnumbered and outgunned by Roman and his crew, who make her watch and prevent her from leaving.
None of the violence and bloodshed would matter or carry any weight if Birds of Prey wasn't a film worth watching, and it most definitely is, thanks to Cathy Yan's skillful direction, and Christina Hodson's clever and funny screenplay. An adrenaline-fueled Looney Tunes cartoon that doesn't take itself too seriously (as evidenced by the moment where Harley somehow replaces her shoes with roller skates in the middle of a fight without missing a beat, prompting Black Canary to ask, "When the f-ck did she have time for a shoe change?"), and knows how much fun can be had from the chaotic and destructive antics that characters inflict on each other, of which there is no shortage here. Huntress' Roaring Rampage of Revenge. Harley using an M79 grenade launcher to attack the Gotham City Police in their own station house (and as a firm believer in ACAB, this scene fills my cold, black, misanthropic heart with so much joy), followed by her using an aluminum baseball bat against a gun-toting biker gang while she's high on cocaine. Black Canary kicking the absolute sh-t out of an attempted rapist and his friends as they attempt to kidnap Harley. Harley, Black Canary, Huntress, and Montoya fighting together against Roman's goons to protect Cassandra. Black Canary finally unleashing the Canary Cry as a last resort. (The Canary Cry scene is a moment that, much like Ripley saying "Get away from her, you bitch!" to the Alien Queen, makes me want to cheer and applaud no matter how many times I watch it.)
But one of the best, and sexiest, moments that happens in Birds of Prey, or any other film? Harley watching the making of her bacon, egg, and cheese sandwich, while describing everything that makes it so delicious.
Most New Yorkers are unwilling and incapable of starting their day without a BECSPK (bacon, egg, and cheese with salt, pepper, ketchup), and we know exactly how Harley feels during that scene (as well as the tears of heartbreak she later sheds when Montoya tackles her, and causes her breakfast sandwich to fall on the pavement). Including myself, as I took a bacon-egg-hashbrowns-and-cheese sandwich from my neighborhood corner store with me when I saw Birds of Prey in theaters a second time during its opening weekend.
Now let's talk about this talented cast and their performances: Rosie Perez is great as always playing Renee Montoya, and she makes it easy for viewers to like her and cheer her on, especially female viewers who are all too familiar with the feeling of being fed the f-ck up with men and their bullsh-t when you're trying to do your job. Mary Elizabeth Winstead as Huntress deserves many a chef's kiss for displaying the character's killer instinct, along with the angry and very socially awkward behavior accompanying that killer instinct. (The "Do you know who I am?" mirror scene that wraps up her origin story flashback, including Harley's commentary on her choice of sobriquet? Hilarious.) Ella Jay Basco is good at channeling Cassandra's loneliness and anger at being trapped with two uncaring foster parents, and doing anything she can to ensure her survival. For those of you who enjoy when movies give you villains that you love to hate, Ewan McGregor and Chris Messina as Black Mask and Mr. Zsasz go above and beyond in conveying how despicable their characters are, enough that seeing them get their comeuppance will make you smile like the Joker. Jurnee Smollett as Black Canary can express so many emotions with just one look, particularly her need to do the right thing even when it would be so much easier to do nothing, and she does it all wonderfully while using her martial arts skills on anyone foolish enough to end up on her bad side.
And last but never least: Margot Robbie as Harley Quinn. So much has been said on and off the Internet about the overall quality of Suicide Squad, but one of the very best things which came from that movie was Robbie being cast in the role of Harley. Her ability to flawlessly portray Harley as funny, brilliant, heartbroken, ditzy, and ferocious has me convinced that anyone who isn't Lady Gaga that follows in her footsteps to take over as Harley Quinn in the DCU has some gigantic shoes to fill, and I hope the odds are ever in their favor when it comes to making that happen.
As a bonus, we get some brief appearances by Ali Wong as Gotham City Assistant D.A. (and Montoya's ex-girlfriend) Ellen Yee, who doesn't appreciate having her job put in jeopardy because of Montoya's willingness to bend the rules in her pursuit of Roman; and longtime character actor Steven Williams as Capt. Erickson, who is willing to make Montoya's job even more difficult while also stealing all of the credit for everything she does.
Birds of Prey had its share of complaints and controversies upon its release, with many of them coming from the usual f-ckboys and Pick-Mes who rear their heads whenever the topic of discussion is female-led genre projects: Black Canary being played by a Black woman, and not a blonde-haired, comics-accurate white woman like their number-one fancasting choice Katheryn Winnick. Cassandra Cain also not being comics-accurate, and not being portrayed as the mute, teenage martial arts expert that she originally is. (According to legendary writer Gail Simone, who wrote for the Birds of Prey comic book, Warner Bros. refused to let Yan and Hodson use a more comics-accurate version of Cassandra in the film.) Ewan McGregor speaking proudly about Birds of Prey in interviews, and how he was glad to be the Big Bad in a "female-led, female-driven superhero movie...that covers some of the misogynist nonsense that...ladies have to deal with on a daily basis," which of course, pissed off a bunch of people who are fond of perpetrating the same misogynist nonsense McGregor was talking about.
The fact that Birds of Prey opened in theaters the same weekend as Sonic the Hedgehog (another film adaptation that dealt with its own controversy among its fandom, and which resulted in its release being postponed), and fans of each film butting heads on the Internet in their desire for box-office supremacy. (Even Pajiba alumnus Mae Abdulbaki was targeted by some angry Sonic fans in response to this article she wrote about the box office projections for both films.) Its overall box office performance ($205 million worldwide against a budget between $82-$100 million) was seen as a disappointment, and even considered by some to be more embarrassing proof of the DCEU's inferiority as a cinematic universe. (There were some articles and tweets that pointed out how the media was much harder on Birds of Prey regarding box office compared to how they treated Ford v. Ferrari, which had a slightly higher budget and a similar box office performance during its release.) The lack of better publicity and marketing (even though two of the best marketing decisions for the film was this teaser attached to screenings of It: Chapter Two, and this Hot Ones interview with Margot Robbie during the Birds of Prey press tour), and some people even felt that it needed a better title to let audiences know that Harley Quinn was the film's main character, like Harley Quinn and the Birds of Prey.
(The best part about the aforementioned Hot Ones interview is when Robbie is joined at the table by Jurnee Smollett, Mary Elizabeth Winstead, and Ella Jay Basco towards the end of the interview, and Robbie is in utter disbelief when Smollett eats the wings without any complaint whatsoever, completely unbothered by the wings' spice level that has had Robbie sweating bullets.)
Film critic/YouTuber/James Gunn and Jessica Chastain's sworn archnemesis Grace Randolph also accused Cathy Yan of changing the film's original storyline to one that was less sexually explicit. Randolph stated that the film was originally about the Bertinelli diamond containing images of Roman's dick, hence his desire to get his hands on the diamond in the first place. When Yan saw what Randolph was tweeting about her, and her implications of the film being pedophilic because of Cassandra swallowing a diamond that contained images of a man's genitalia, she called bullsh-t.
Even director Ava DuVernay hopped into the ring, so she could join in on talking sh-t about Grace Randolph.
Yan was also accused of having the film taken away from her by Warner Bros., due to their usual behind-the-scenes interference when it comes to the DCEU. Chad Stahelski (co-director of John Wick, and director of its three sequels) was brought into the project to oversee second unit photography, as well as helping out with the film's action sequences. Though Yan spoke positively in interviews about Stahelski's involvement, it reminded some DC fans of when Joss Whedon was hired by Warner Bros. to complete the production of Justice League, due to Zack Snyder stepping down because of his daughter's death by suicide, and how the studio claimed that Snyder was completely supportive of their decision, even though it was untrue.
Despite all of this, Birds of Prey earned a fiercely devoted following from many of those who saw and enjoyed it in theaters right before the worldwide catastrof-ck that is the COVID-19 pandemic caused them to shut down for months, and on Blu-ray, cable, and streaming. It also didn't hurt that besides composer Daniel Pemberton's outstanding score, the film's soundtrack album was a damn good one, featuring tracks by Megan Thee Stallion and Normani, Halsey, Charlotte Lawrence, Saweetie, Cyn, Doja Cat, and Jurnee Smollett's cover of James Brown's "It's A Man's Man's Man's World."
Before Birds of Prey was released or even filmed, there were reports as to Suicide Squad writer-director David Ayer helming the film Gotham City Sirens, which would be focused on Harley Quinn, Poison Ivy, and Catwoman. The following year after Birds of Prey was released, it was announced that there would be a solo film for Jurnee Smollett as Black Canary, which would have been written by Underground co-creator and Lovecraft Country showrunner/executive producer Misha Green. Even though anticipation was fairly high for both projects (especially with Gotham City Sirens as a Birds of Prey sequel that could finally give audiences the live-action coupling of Harley Quinn and Poison Ivy they've been waiting for), neither of them were ever produced. With Gunn and Safran announcing their plans for the DCU, and scrapping nearly all traces of the DCEU as a result, fans will now be waiting a little while longer to see which comics-accurate actress will possibly replace Smollett as Black Canary, and to see any actual live-action team-ups and hookups among the ladies of Gotham City.
It's obviously too early to tell as to whether this newest version of the DC cinematic universe will be an overall success with both critics and audiences, and whether they'll be satisfied with the projects that arrive on screens both big and small. But until we find out, here's hoping that a few of those upcoming projects are as delightfully bonkers and family-unfriendly as Birds of Prey. Because we need more female-led comic book movies, particularly those with (anti)heroines who give each other hair ties so they can fight without their own hair getting all up in their faces, tease each other about not having rage issues even though they're clearly evident, and celebrate killing the bad guys by eating tacos and getting drunk on margaritas.
Birds of Prey (and the Fantabulous Emancipation of One Harley Quinn) is streaming on HBO Max and Hulu.
