Birds Of Prey (2020)

SPOILERS BELOW

So frustratingly close to being a good film - the direction, editing and cinematography are all great, giving it a bunch of energy without feeling like a two-hour music video, unlike Suicide Squad (though it's still over-reliant on needle-drops); the fight scenes are generally well-executed and fun (though the finale misses the invention and clarity that, say, Jackie Chan would have achieved with such a setting); Robbie and MacGregor have their charisma at full-steam.

Unfortunately, it's all scuppered by a dreadful script. It's needlessly convoluted both in narrative and structure, cribbing from every post-modern action-comedy going (Guardians Of The Galaxy, Kiss Kiss Bang Bang, Deadpool, Kill Bill etc) but lacking their wit and economy, with an irritating, pointless voiceover, and it doesn't bring the Birds together until the 80 minute mark (and then it's only for 5 minutes before returning to the Harley show). The Birds are painfully under-written, while Black Mask is a mess of too many concepts (is he a misogynist who wants to own and humiliate women, a mask-wearing face-peeling psycho, or a pretentious arty type?). Harley is intermittently charming but often irritating in a very Tank Girly more-is-less way (Robbie does more with a single look or a giggle than the script can manage with ten awful quips), and she has some extra colours added with her more human moments such as her messy post-break-up phase and her psychological expertise but she's also given various half-hearted attempts at character arcs that don't really go anywhere.

(Also, in a movie directed, written and led by women that makes some nods towards feminist themes, it's a shame to see so many revealing outfits, and crotch and cleavage shots.)

One of those movies where I can't help but plan a fan-edit while I'm watching. (For future reference: cut out as much of the Birds, Black Mask and the voiceover as much as possible, trim Harley's dialogue, put the narrative in chronological order, maybe do a little 'previously on' set-up and fiddle something to actually show Joker breaking up with her at the top, call it "Harley Quinn".)

Rating: Bad But So Close To Good!