5 / 10
Birds of Prey, formally titled Birds of Prey (and the Fantabulous Emancipation of One Harley Quinn), is the Harley Quinn solo film between Suicide Squad (2016) and The Suicide Squad (2021). Cathy Yan directed in her major studio debut. Christina Hodson wrote. Margot Robbie returns as Harley Quinn. Ewan McGregor plays Roman Sionis. Jurnee Smollett plays Black Canary. Mary Elizabeth Winstead plays the Huntress. Rosie Perez plays Detective Renee Montoya. Ella Jay Basco plays Cassandra Cain, a young pickpocket. The plot involves Harley’s post-Joker independence, a stolen diamond, and the loose coalition of women who come together to defeat Sionis.
The film made approximately two hundred and one million dollars worldwide on a one hundred million dollar budget. The studio considered the commercial performance disappointing. The post-release re-titling to Harley Quinn: Birds of Prey was an admission that the original title had failed in the market. The film has fans and serious craft criticism. It is on the Woke Disasters list because its framing and several specific creative choices made it the clearest 2020 case of a DC film built around feminist branding rather than around the property’s traditional audience.
What Made It a Woke Disaster
The “Emancipation” in the title is the film’s thesis. Harley has left the Joker. The film’s argument is that her time with the Joker was an abusive relationship and the rest of the film is her recovery and self-actualization. The framing treats Joker fans as people who have romanticized abuse. The audience that loved the Harley-Joker comic book dynamic was being told the dynamic was the problem and the film was the corrective.
The film’s male characters reinforce the framing. Roman Sionis (Ewan McGregor) is the antagonist, and the script codes him as queer-coded effeminate menace. His relationship with Zsasz (Chris Messina) is staged with romantic undertones the film treats as villain-coded. The script’s male characters are otherwise henchmen or victims. The single male law enforcement officer Montoya works with is dismissive. There is no male character in the film the script treats as morally serious or capable. The male presence in Gotham is uniformly bad. The female characters have to band together because the male world has nothing to offer them.
The Cassandra Cain race-swap is the comic-fan controversy. In DC comics, Cassandra Cain is one of the most prominent Asian-American characters and a fan-favorite Batgirl in her own right. The film cast Ella Jay Basco, who is half-Filipino, but rewrote the character as a Latina pickpocket with no martial arts background. The film stripped the comic character of her defining traits (Asian identity, world-class fighting skill, complex assassin backstory) and replaced them with a generic street kid role. The change was framed as making the character “accessible.” Comic readers read it as the property discarding its most distinctive Asian-American superhero in favor of a forgettable supporting child.
For Writers
A film that markets itself as diverse representation while erasing one of its source material’s most prominent diverse characters has structured a contradiction. Birds of Prey’s Cassandra Cain handling positioned the film as progressive while throwing away the comics’ actual progressive character. The lesson is that diversity claims have to survive contact with the source material. If your “diverse” adaptation removes the diversity that already existed, the audience reads the inconsistency. The marketing fights the work.
The Title Tax
The original title (Birds of Prey and the Fantabulous Emancipation of One Harley Quinn) is the film’s most-discussed pre-release miscalculation. The title tried to communicate that this was both a Harley Quinn solo film and a Birds of Prey team-up. The result was a title audiences could not remember accurately and could not search for easily. The post-release retitling to Harley Quinn: Birds of Prey was the studio admitting the original title had not worked.
The title problem is diagnostic of the larger script problem. The film cannot decide whether it is a Harley Quinn solo movie or a Birds of Prey team-up movie. The team members (Black Canary, Huntress, Montoya, Cassandra Cain) are introduced individually and converge in the third act. Each could carry her own film. The script treats them as supporting characters in Harley’s story while also trying to give them individual development. The two functions compete for runtime. Neither wins.
For Writers
A title that has to explain what kind of film it is signals a film unclear about what kind of film it is. Birds of Prey’s marketing struggled because the production struggled. The lesson is that titles report the work’s confidence. Confident work has titles that work. Confused work has titles that hedge. If you cannot title your film without a parenthetical, the parenthetical is information about the film you have not yet finished making.
Ewan McGregor
The film’s strongest individual element is Ewan McGregor’s Roman Sionis. McGregor plays the character as a wealthy mob boss whose specific theatrical insecurity is the engine of his violence. The performance is committed in ways the script does not always reciprocate. The breakfast-sandwich scene, in which Sionis menaces Harley over an egg sandwich, is the production’s most singular individual passage. The funhouse third-act fight, choreographed by Chad Stahelski’s 87Eleven team, is the film’s other clear high.
McGregor’s commitment also exposes the script’s queer-coded villainy. The script wants Sionis to be threatening and the script wants him to be queer-coded. The combination produces a character whose villainy and effeminacy are presented as the same thing. McGregor is doing strong work inside material that uses his character’s coded queerness as a marker of his evil. The film is otherwise positioning itself as a progressive feminist work. The contradiction is visible. The film’s defenders have written about it for six years.
For Writers
A film that codes its villain through traits the film at the same time claims to celebrate has structured an internal contradiction. Birds of Prey codes Roman Sionis as queer to mark his villainy while positioning itself as progressive on queer issues. The lesson is that coded characterization should be consistent with the work’s stated values. Audiences read coding. If your villain’s bad qualities are also the qualities your work claims to embrace, the work is making an argument it does not realize it is making.
Craft Note
The funhouse third-act fight choreographed by 87Eleven Action Design is the film’s craft peak and one of the strongest individual fight sequences in 2020s superhero cinema. The choreography uses sustained takes that let the audience follow the spatial geography of the fight. Margot Robbie does substantial physical work. The funhouse mirrors and shifting platforms are used as actual choreographic elements rather than as visual decoration. The sequence demonstrates that Chad Stahelski’s team had given the production its strongest material. The fight’s craft level exceeds the surrounding script’s by a significant margin. The funhouse sequence is what Birds of Prey could have been if the film around its action had matched the action’s commitment.
The Verdict
5/10. A creatively interesting but commercially disappointing Harley Quinn project whose marketing framing and contradictory character coding made it the clearest 2020 case of DC feminist branding without disciplined storytelling. McGregor and the funhouse fight are the film’s clear strengths. The Cassandra Cain handling is the film’s clearest miss. Watch the funhouse sequence. The rest is uneven.
FAQ
Is Margot Robbie good as Harley?
Yes. Her Harley across Suicide Squad, this film, and The Suicide Squad is one of the more committed comic-book performances of the period.
How is Ewan McGregor?
Excellent. His Roman Sionis is the film’s strongest individual element.
What is the Cassandra Cain race-swap?
The comic character is Asian-American and a martial arts prodigy. The film recast and rewrote the character as a generic Latina street kid. Comic readers consider this one of the property’s worst adaptation choices.
Why was the title changed?
The original title was unworkable in marketing and search. The retitling to Harley Quinn: Birds of Prey was a post-release commercial repair.
How does it relate to Suicide Squad?
Direct continuation. Harley has broken up with the Joker between films.
Is the funhouse fight really that good?
Yes. The 87Eleven choreography is exceptional.
Should I watch this?
For the funhouse fight and McGregor’s performance, yes. As a complete film, lower priority.