Birds of Prey. . src=”https://cdn.arstechnica.net/wp-content/uploads/ / / / / birds-of-prey – – (x) . png “> Enlarge / Margot Robbie, seen here sporting a shirt that will help you remember her character’s name through the course of the film. Oh, and she’s also smiling while explaining how she and her cohorts may die within the next few minutes. It’s on par for the giddy insanity that is Birds of Prey . Warner Bros. Slowly and doggedly, DC Comics’ filmmaking division has been crawling back to relevance. Since the (film that shall not be named , the results have been uneven, with (Wonder Woman) , Shazam Joker
mostly s-thumbs- up results being balanced out by the stink of Suicide Squad
, , Justice League , and (Aquaman) .
It’s been a positive enough trajectory to set the table for this week’s stellar Birds of Prey
Let’s start with the film’s easiest point of praise. DC Comics’ Bronx-accented scoundrel Harley Quinn steps out of the shadow of her usual criminal-clown boyfriend, and the results, in Robbie’s nimble hands, rank at the top of the modern comic-film acting pantheon. Unlike her performance in
Suicide Squad ), where the character wavered between “lead” and “sidekick” status, her return in BoP Enjoys a front-and-center placement, which the actor relishes.
A quick, spoiler-free plot introduction: Quinn and the Joker have ended their relationship, which we learn after a cartoon -animated recap of Quinn’s classic origin story (troubled childhood, became a psychologist, fell in love with a crazed supervillain, yadda yadda). If you’re keeping score: this all happens in a self-contained version of DC Comics’ Gotham, as opposed to one connected to the events of either
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