{"id":19946,"date":"2020-02-06T15:41:22","date_gmt":"2020-02-06T23:41:22","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.cinemastance.com\/?p=19946"},"modified":"2020-02-06T15:41:22","modified_gmt":"2020-02-06T23:41:22","slug":"there-isnt-quite-enough-meat-on-the-bones-for-the-birds-of-prey","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/cinemastance.com\/?p=19946","title":{"rendered":"There Isn\u2019t Quite Enough Meat on the Bones for the BIRDS OF PREY"},"content":{"rendered":"\n
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While Marvel have seamlessly brought their comic-book superheroes\nto cinematic life over the past decade, DC have had a much rockier road with\ntheir adaptations. Most of them have been hits, but even their supporters would\nadmit that many of the films haven\u2019t had the same kind of impact. The latest\nattempt to reverse the trend is Birds of Prey<\/em>. It\u2019s a spin-off featuring\none of the more successful characters from the 2016 feature, Suicide Squad<\/em>.\nSadly, the resulting film is a bit of a mess.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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The film opens with a brief history of Harley Quinn (Margot\nRobbie) and her recent break-up with supervillain The Joker. She immediately discovers\nthat a great many thugs harbor grudges against her for violent incidents in the\npast and are seeking vengeance, because she no longer has the protection of her\nold beau. One such figure is psychotic mobster Roman Sionis (Ewan McGregor),\nwho is also desperate to retrieve a valuable diamond stolen by pick-pocket Cassandra\nCain (Ella Jay Basco). In order to save her own skin, Quinn makes a deal to\nfind the thief and return the goods. Her task is complicated by the arrival of\nan assassin named Huntress (Mary Elizabeth Winstead), a singer known as the\nBlack Canary (Jurnee Smollett-Bell),\nand a determined Gotham City detective (Rosie Perez).<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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While this seems like a fairly straight-forward plot, the\nmovie delivers the details in a convoluted and bizarrely edited fashion.  In fact, the first half of the feature feels\nmore like a montage than a narrative. It\u2019s hard to say whether there was too\nmuch material to introduce, or perhaps early sections simply weren\u2019t working,\nbut the presentation of the story is a jumble. Viewers will see a lot of\nmontages and voice-over narration explaining the plot between lines of\ndialogue. It\u2019s strange to see a movie require a verbal accompaniment in order\nfor events onscreen to make sense, and the overall effect is jarring. The film attempts\nsome meta-humor as well, but it misses the mark more often than it lands (and\nin some cases, only draws unwanted attention to the film\u2019s own clich\u00e9s). <\/p>\n\n\n\n

The Harley Quinn character also isn\u2019t assisted much by the\nheavies. Action films are often only as good as their antagonist. With the\ntitle heroine already being a big and brash personality, her main foe is also forced\ninto exaggeration. However, in a few scenes it does come across as too over-the-top.\nAnd besides being big and brawny, the various goons and nutjobs aren\u2019t bright,\nwhich makes them feel like no threat whatsoever to the protagonists. A\ndiabolical and clever maniac would have provided the film with some tension.\nUnfortunately, the choppy editing and ridiculous behavior on display kills any\nchance for real thrills. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

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Thankfully, the movie settles down towards the end of the second act and during its climax. At this point, Quinn is forced into teaming up with others in order to square off against the mobsters. When she and her compatriots are finally allowed to stand around, trade barbs and define their personalities through dialogue, they become relatable and the film improves. There\u2019s also some impressively choreographed action during a climactic face off in and around an abandoned amusement park attraction. It\u2019s frustrating that early sections of the feature are so frantic and bizarrely fused together, as spending more time with these characters sans montages and voice-overs could have improved the movie dramatically. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Alas, the good elements that do appear arrive too little and too late to ultimately salvage the film. And for those curious about post-credits clips, the movie only provides a single verbal gag delivered using (you guessed it!) a voice-over. It\u2019s not worth staying for unless you do happen to have really enjoyed the previous 100 minutes. In the end, there isn\u2019t enough meat on the bones here to provide the Birds of Prey<\/em> with a satisfying meal <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

While Marvel have seamlessly brought their comic-book superheroes to cinematic life over the past decade, DC have had a much rockier road with their adaptations. Most of them have been hits, but even their supporters would admit that many of the films haven\u2019t had the same kind of impact. The latest attempt to reverse the […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":6,"featured_media":19950,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[5],"tags":[198,2803,2804,4669,5376,6842,7172,8898,11376,13194,13351,17383,19278],"class_list":["post-19946","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-movie-reviews","tag-198","tag-birds-of-prey","tag-birds-of-prey-and-the-fabulous-emancipation-of-one-harley-quinn","tag-comic-book-adaptation","tag-dc","tag-ella-jay-bosco","tag-ewan-mcgregor","tag-harley-quinn","tag-jurnee-smollett-bell","tag-margot-robbie","tag-mary-elizabeth-winstead","tag-rosie-perez","tag-suicide-squad"],"blocksy_meta":{"styles_descriptor":{"styles":{"desktop":"","tablet":"","mobile":""},"google_fonts":[],"version":8}},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/cinemastance.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/19946","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/cinemastance.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/cinemastance.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/cinemastance.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/6"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/cinemastance.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=19946"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/cinemastance.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/19946\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/cinemastance.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=19946"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/cinemastance.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=19946"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/cinemastance.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=19946"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}