Birds of Prey: The Emancipation of One Harley Quinn is a riot of frenetic energy, vibrant color palettes, a banging soundtrack, and badass leading ladies. Not only are the action sequences well shot and choreographed, but the moments of sisterhood aren’t on the nose or feel like they were done with an agenda. This film proves that if there’s one thing the DCEU has over MCU it how to succeed at an all-female led superhero film.
Warning for those who haven’t seen the movie, significant spoilers ahead.
Blowing Up Ace Chemicals
Birds of Prey quite literally starts with a bang: Harley and Joker’s explosive breakup.
Harley is, predictably, heartbroken after being unceremoniously dumped by the Clown Prince of Crime. Like most girls, she goes through the post-breakup stages of partying at the clubs, to crying and binging on junk food. In order to snap herself out of her funk, and to publicly update her relationship status for all of Gotham, Harley makes the drunken decision to blow up Ace Chemicals.
By blowing up the place their toxic relationship started, Harley’s not only sending a message to Joker that she’s over him, but she’s also given herself a grand moment of rebirth. This visually stunning scene, paired with Halsey’s “Experiment on Me” playing in the background, truly sets the bar high for badass moments.
The Fun Gun
The film follows a somewhat disjointed structure. After some plot-heavy focus on the other characters, Dinah Lance (Black Canary) and Det Renee Montoya, we’re thrown back into the action with Harley blasting her way into the police station. We’re not offered any context or explanation (at least, not until Harley’s done shooting down the entire police force with non-lethal bullets); we’re just demanded to give our attention back to Harley in the most adrenaline-pumping way.
And a bonus, instead of blood and brain matter being splattered everywhere, we’re wowed by the display of blue and pink smoke and dazzling glitter bombs.
Canary Saves Harley
When Dinah is leaving The Black Mask Club, she passes Harley Quinn with some thug. The problem: Harley is so inebriated, she can’t respond to this creep taking advantage of her. At first, Dinah keeps walking, but when she sees the thug hauling Harley into the back of a van she steps in to save Harley.
Dinah beats the crap out of a group of full-grown men. Not only does she save Harley from being sexually assaulted, but her fighting ability is also enough to impress Black Mask.
Jail Break
While trying to break into the jail cell so she can free Cass, Harley messes with (and overloads) the jail computer system. In doing so, she causes the sprinkler system to malfunction. This is all obviously done in order to set up perhaps one of the most visually appealing fight scenes out of all the DCEU.
All the cell doors open, and Harley is forced to fight her way through the fray. The sprinklers are going off like a rainstorm, the action is framed center screen, and there are tempo shifts between slow-motion and x2 speed. This is definitely a fight to rewatch in 4K.
Baseball Bat
Harley’s iconic weapon in the comics was always an ACME style mallet. Suicide Squad made a lot of changes to the character. To go along with Harley’s new style, her weapon was upgraded to a graffitied baseball bat. Birds of Prey pays a nice homage to the mallet, bringing it back for the big fight scene towards the end of the film. The Goodnight bat does make an appearance in Birds of Prey but is wielded by Black Canary instead in a blink and you’ll miss it moment. That’s not to say Harley has moved on from using baseball bats.
While breaking Cass out of jail, Harley spies a shelf of confiscated weapons - among them, a metal bat. The following action sequence is fine enough, but the best part is easily when Harley throws her metal bat to the concrete, it ricochets upward and smacks the goon’s face, and then rebounds back into her hand.
“You Killed My Sandwich!”
Harley just wants an egg sandwich to cure her hangover. Clearly the girl holds on to a grudge, because the next time she runs into Montoya, Harley straight up kicks her out a glass window at the top of an abandoned funhouse.
On paper, that may not sound as impressive as all the stylized and choreographed fight scenes in this film. But in the heat of the moment, it’s a real wow moment.
Huntress
Mary Elizabeth Winstead may have been underutilized in Birds of Prey (we can hope that she will have more prominence in any future sequels or spin-offs), but the times she was on-screen were memorable. We could make mention of her personal vendetta against the people who masaccred her family, or her kill going down the funhouse slide as her top moments. But its the moment she shares with Cassandra that perhaps takes the cake.
Recognizing Cassandra is just a child and not someone who should be witnessing such violence, Helena pulls her aside to safety and gives her the toy car her brother gave her to hold when the Bertinelli family was killed.
Canary Cry
We’re told that Dinah Lance is turning her back on her powers - and by extension her mother’s legacy as a hero - because these are the same things that led to her mother’s death. Throughout the film, Dinah relies on hand-to-hand or weapon-based combat.
It’s not until Black Mask gets his hands on Cassandra and the Birds of Prey are cornered by his goons, that Black Canary finally embraces her powers. It’s a moment well worth the wait.
Skitching
Or “skate-hitching” if you’re unfamiliar with the term, is when skateboarders grab hold of car bumpers. The film makes a nod to Harley’s brief roller derby stint in the comics as Killer Kwinn, and turns what could otherwise be a fun Easter Egg for comic fans into clever plot device.
When Black Mask drives off with Cassandra, Harley hitches a ride on Huntress’s motorbike - riding the hood of the bike while wearing a pair of rollerblades.
“I Took Your Ring.”
If you’re worried about spoilers, now is the time to go online and buy your tickets.
By the end of the film, it’s up to Harley to rescue Cassandra from Black Mask. When she misses her shot, with her last bullet, Harley takes the defeat and apologizes for all the ways she’s let Cassandra down. Cassandra also apologizes - or so it seems. Really, she has stalled for enough time to pull the pin on the hand grenade in Black Mask’s pocket.
It goes to show, you don’t need an over-the-top final battle in order to deliver a badass death scene for your villain.
