Spoilers Birds of Prey and the Spoilertabulous Grading and Discussion

Huh, what movie did that?

 

I was saying?

 

Would a DC movie like this, not being a front line thing like Batman or Superman, hope to make more of it's money after home release?

 

I am an evil piece of shit, and I'll be going to see the movie tomorrow.

 

No movie with a budget this size (moderate) hopes to make its money later.

 

If not for my wife, I probably wouldn't be going to see it tomorrow. But I'm an outlier, without her, I would likely make it to around one movie a year in theaters. In most instances, I'd rather stay home and watch on my big-screen TV.

 

I really hope this picks up some more money somewhere, I want more Harley and the Birds, and as is expected for a movie like this, the end opens up tons of possibilities for sequels.

 

That's a shame. I was hoping it was going to make Wonder Woman to Captain Marvel level money.

 

I honestly had no idea this was coming out so soon until i got a google news notification on my phone the day it came out in Australia. I thought this was still months away. I guess when you do zero marketing for a movie you're probably going to end up with a shit opening weekend.

Although apparently it's quite good. This youtube reviewer liked it and he usually hates everything especially superhero films. The last movie i remember him reviewing positively was 'Phantom Thread' starring Daniel Day Lewis:

 

Well, I got two things from the preview: that the movie had a loud, in-your-face aesthetic, and no discernible story. The aesthetic (and downright cringey full title) didn't appeal to me, and I'm not often tempted by the lack of an evident plot. Meanwhile, are we supposed to be charmed or intrigued when the first thing the preview shows is Harley potentially murdering a cop sitting at a desk, doing his job? I guess intrigued, because that's when the voiceover cuts in, but then immediately switches the subject to Harley's emotional state, and doesn't return. Are we supposed to conclude being bummed about her breakup inspires her to attack cops? Or are we supposed to blindly hand over our money because the next thing we see is the DC logo, and trust it'll all make sense in context later?

While Suicide Squad also looked terrible, David Ayer had made some solid films in End of Watch and Fury, there was Will Smith, the potential for a Batman sighting when Batfleck enthusiasm was still in effect, and the promise of a compellingly twisted relationship in Harley/Joker, with the latter character having been MIA since The Dark Knight eight years before. Given that Joker was a big hit last year, I doubt Harley boasting about being over Joker (albeit a widely disliked, former incarnation) in the trailer generated much goodwill.

So, yeah, not surprised this is doing merely decent business, especially given the poor reception and cultural imprint Suicide Squad got. As for The Suicide Squad, it's more than halfway filmed; too late to back out of that now even if WB wanted to.

 

I saw this film Friday and I thought it was decent. It was better than I thought it was going to be, based on the marketing which didn't do much for me at all. I also was skeptical of the high Rotten Tomatoes score right before the film debuted, because I had seen a You Tube non-spoiler review about the film, and figured Birds of Prey was getting such high praise more for its social themes than the actual film itself. And I still feel that's the case after seeing the film.

For the most part, the film was okay. I thought the cast was good, I thought the Birds of Prey team had good chemistry, and if there is a sequel, I would be interested in seeing it. I thought this film told a better origin story than Suicide Squad (though I liked Suicide Squad better) and was more interesting to watch than the bleak Man of Steel, but I don't get why this film is scoring so highly with reviewers or audiences on Rotten Tomatoes.

What didn't work for me was that the film didn't take more advantage of the R-rating. It should've been faster, hit harder, been funnier and more colorful. It should've been more zany and manic, and intense, an adrenaline rush. I think that's what the filmmakers/cast thought they were doing, but I think they didn't really get there for the most part, and the few times they did, it wasn't consistent. I didn't care for much of the production design and the costuming in general, especially for Huntress, was terrible. That being said, I was pleased with Black Mask's mask and many of the fashion choices for that character. It felt fitting.

Also wasn't a fan of the end credit voice over. I thought that was too snarky and a bit disrespectful of the audience.

 

The marketing might have sucked where you are, but I saw tons of commercials and stuff for it here.

. I can understand where it's aesthetic might not be for every one, but I loved it from the first shot of the first trailer. The trailer didn't lay out the whole plot, but the trailers for these kinds of movie never do, so I don't see a reason to hold that against it.

I loved the aesthetic, and it's one of my favorite movie titles in a long time,

The movie had plenty of plot, just as much as pretty much every other Mavel and DC has.

I thought it was perfectly clear even in the trailer that she wasn't murdering the cop. Everything she does in that whole scene is no lethal, it's all smoke bombs, bean bag and glitter guns.

No.

I can see where it's not a movie for everyone, but it sounds like a lot of the issues you had were from either misunderstanding, or not paying close enough attention to what was going on the in the trailer

I really doubt that had anything at all to do with it since this had nothing whatsoever to do with the Joker movie.

 

I look forward to seeing this movie for myself.

 

Saw it yesterday, had a blast.

Definitely a Harley movie first, but also neat showings for the rest of the cast as well, absolutely loved Jurnee as Dinah. Her and Montoya got the most screentime and their own little arcs. It's kinda a bummer that Huntress didn't have as much time but every scene with her was funny and I really liked her being an awkwardly adorkable assassin. Cass has nothing to do with comics Cass, but the kid was fun nonetheless so i don't mind that one bit.

It's a silly film that doesn't take itself seriously but doesn't go entirely over the top either, it's smart, funny, it's got multiple kick-ass women, instead of a CGI fest it's a glitter bomb fest and the fight choreography is amazing throughout. Very enjoyable, definite recommend.

 

First off, I don't know or care what any SJWs, MRAs, incels, cucks, alphas or betas think of this movie. I will say there are a couple of moments of objectification that are meant to be icky and work well. I don't think there are any pandering messages, it just lets the action speak for itself.

I went to see this in our old historic theater downtown that has been there for 90 years, just seemed like the right vibe for this kind of movie. I unfortunately missed the opportunity to see Joker there which would have been even more appropriate.

The story gets off to a bit of a rough start but I think it's hard to make something work for an anti-hero plus it has to carry the baggage of the SS presentation. I was actually reluctant to see this as I wasn't sure the SS Harley would work for an entire movie. Once it settles in though it starts to work and the music and visuals start to sell you back on the whole punk/junk aesthetic.

Dodge ninja'd a couple of my thoughts, namely that Mary Elizabeth Winstead's unexpectedly socially awkward Huntress was a fun standout and the action scenes are fantastic. They brought in some pros and it shows and it was refreshing to not see that cut-cut-cut-cut action style where you never see anything actually connect and you can actually see what's happening. Very visceral and cool. I don't think Jurnee Smollett-Bell has action in her background but she also acquits herself very nicely as Black Canary. I don't know the DC comics well enough to have problems with the characters but I suspect that could be a sticking point, like I'm pretty sure Cassandra Cain is only like the comic character in name only.

I think some might find things like the non-lethal police assault to be wussing out but I think it's probably for the best and you can just enjoy it without second guessing our (anti-)heroine too much.

 

It was okay. Not perfect, but enjoyable enough. Going in, because of the trailers I knew despite being called Birds of Prey it was going to be more of a Harley Quinn movie, and that's fine. Margot Robbie certainly delivered and is easily the best thing about the movie. That said, it would have been nice if the titular Birds of Prey had some meaningful involvement in the movie instead of feeling like supporting characters in a movie named after them, but whatever. Could it have been a better movie? Probably. But it's satisfactory enough, and it certainly could have also been a much worse movie. I walked out of the theatre when it was over with no regrets, and in the end, that's what really matters.

 

The key word there was "evident," and I was talking about the trailer. In two and a half minutes, the trailer failed to present a plot, much less a compelling one.

 

https://twitter.com/gailsimone/status/1226677798829297664?s=21

 

Trailers very rarely ever present a plot for these kinds of movies. It sounds to me like you have more of a problem with the overall way movies are marketed these days, rather than this movie specifically.

 

I think Suicide Squad made more money because it was made back when enthusiasm for the new shared DC movie universe was still pretty high. It came out before people had really started to process their mixed feelings about Batman v. Superman and before the low grosses for Justice League basically tore the DCEU to shreds. We're still getting more DC movies but they're going to end up being far less tied together than the MCU.

Suicide Squad also had Will Smith and a great trailer backing it up. Birds of Prey was so under the radar that I almost didn't realize that it was coming out this past week. I also think that the R-rating was a mistake. If they had pulled back on it just a little to get a PG-13, I think that teenagers would be a very key demographic for this film.

I don't think that Suicide Squad II is in danger. It's already well into production. Sure, Warner Bros. might panic and try to hack up the movie in post but I think James Gunn probably has enough clout from his Guardians of the Galaxy movies to prevent that.

I'm guessing that this will put the kibosh on any further movies with Harley Quinn as the headliner. The Harley & Joker movie was never going to happen anyway. By most accounts, Margot Robbie hates Jared Leto and most fans seemed pretty down on Leto's Joker. (I like Leto's Joker but I'm well aware that I'm an outlier on that front.)

Hopefully, the movie will still make a slight profit and DC will pivot to Gotham City Sirens, which is the movie that they should have made in the first place. The problem with making Birds of Prey is that general audiences aren't familiar with any of the characters except for Harley Quinn. I know I hadn't heard of them except for that crappy TV show on the WB back in 2002. But if you pair Harley Quinn with Catwoman & Poison Ivy, I think that's enough star power to get a bigger box office.

I know it's supposed to be "non-lethal." But I would think that taking a bean bag point blank in the face could still kill you.

Overall, I gave the movie a C-. It's mostly fine but nothing that stood out to me very much. I'd certainly rank it at the bottom of all of the DCEU movies.

The overall style of the movie fits into the aesthetic of Suicide Squad better than I anticipated. In some cases, I wish the movie had went for it and been weirder. Like when it starts to go into a "Diamonds Are a Girl's Best Friend" dream sequence. If you're going to do that, just GO FOR IT and give us a big show stopping musical number. Don't just tease us with it for a few seconds, then drop it completely.

I liked Ewan McGregor's performance. He's certainly having the time of his life. The one part I didn't like was when he forced that woman to take her clothes off in the middle of his nightclub because Zsasz told him that she was laughing at him. That seemed unnecessary. It's uncomfortable to watch and serves no purpose other than to establish that Black Mask is a really bad guy, which had already been clearly established.

I've also realized that I'm so totally in love with Mary Elizabeth Winstead that I can literally watch her in a movie doing nothing.... because she is literally doing NOTHING for most of this movie! It's a shame, really, because she's got one of the more interesting backstories and she's got one of those faces that's able to convey tons of emotion to the camera even when she doesn't actually seem to be doing that much. She's kinda like Humphrey Bogart that way.

On the surface, the movie doesn't seem to be that political. But there are a couple times where Harley seems to assume that a man doesn't like her just because she's a woman. My reaction: "Ummmmm... you rob, murder, & assault people for fun! Hell, you don't even remember half the people you've wronged. If someone's coming after you, I'm pretty sure they've got a specific reason."