Birds of Prey (and the Fantabulous Emancipation of One Harley Quinn)

"Mind over mayhem."

2020 1h 49m EN

👍

6.9

SOLID

★6.9TMDB · 11,040

ActionCrime

Synopsis

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Harley Quinn joins forces with a singer, an assassin and a police detective to help a young girl who had a hit placed on her after she stole a rare diamond from a crime lord.

“Mind over mayhem.”

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Where to watch · US

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Cast

Margot Robbie
Harley Quinn
Rosie Perez
Renee Montoya
Mary Elizabeth Winstead
Helena Bertinelli / Huntress
Jurnee Smollett-Bell
Dinah Lance / Black Canary
Ewan McGregor
Roman Sionis
Ella Jay Basco
Cassandra Cain
Chris Messina
Victor Zsasz
Ali Wong
Ellen Yee

Credits

Behind the camera

Director: Cathy Yan
Writers: Christina Hodson, Amy Lynn Umezu
Languages: English
Countries: United States of America

Want more? Switch to Cinephile mode in the header for DP, composer, budget, box office, production companies, keywords, and release history.

Did you know?

Fun facts 🍿

1 / 8

MONEY

Did you know

Mid-budget at $75M — the now-extinct middle tier of Hollywood.

MoodPlayr · trivia#01

2 / 8

ERA

Did you know

Released 6 years ago.

MoodPlayr · trivia#02

3 / 8

CAST

Did you know

330+ people credited in cast and crew — a small city's worth of labour.

MoodPlayr · trivia#03

4 / 8

DIRECTOR

Did you know

Directed by Cathy Yan, shot by Matthew Libatique. Note their partnership — DPs and directors often return to each other across a career.

MoodPlayr · trivia#04

5 / 8

DIRECTOR

Did you know

Original score by Daniel Pemberton. Worth a dedicated listen after — most great films lose half their impact without the score.

MoodPlayr · trivia#05

6 / 8

DIRECTOR

Did you know

Editor Jay Cassidy shaped the rhythm. On an edit-heavy film, the editor does more to control your pulse than the director.

MoodPlayr · trivia#06

7 / 8

AWARDS

Did you know

Margot Robbie and Rosie Perez and Mary Elizabeth Winstead carry the top of the cast.

MoodPlayr · trivia#07

8 / 8

FACT

Did you know

Marketing tagline: "Mind over mayhem.".

MoodPlayr · trivia#08

Cinephile deep dive

The take

Cathy Yan directs. Matthew Libatique behind the camera. Daniel Pemberton scores. Jay Cassidy cuts. Profitable at the box office. Produced in United States of America. Dialogue in English.

Trivia

Things worth knowing

1Mid-budget at $75M — the now-extinct middle tier of Hollywood.
2Released 6 years ago.
3330+ people credited in cast and crew — a small city's worth of labour.
4Directed by Cathy Yan, shot by Matthew Libatique. Note their partnership — DPs and directors often return to each other across a career.
5Original score by Daniel Pemberton. Worth a dedicated listen after — most great films lose half their impact without the score.
6Editor Jay Cassidy shaped the rhythm. On an edit-heavy film, the editor does more to control your pulse than the director.
7Margot Robbie and Rosie Perez and Mary Elizabeth Winstead carry the top of the cast.
8Marketing tagline: "Mind over mayhem.".
9IMDB entry: tt7713068 — still the authoritative cross-reference for credits and trivia.
1011,040 TMDB user ratings logged — serious cultural footprint.
11Classified under 32 themes, including "police", "pickpocket", "chase", "psychopath".
12Released under 36 different titles around the world.

The technical file

Cinematography: Matthew Libatique
Original score: Daniel Pemberton
Editing: Jay Cassidy
Production design: K.K. Barrett
Makeup / hair: Cary Ayers
VFX supervisor: Mark LeDoux
Sound: Onnalee Blank
Stunt coordinator: Scott Rogers
Runtime: 109 min · 1h 49m
Aspect ratio (typical): 1.37:1 (Academy)
Status: Released
Budget: $75,000,000
Box office: $205,537,933
Return: 274% of budget
Original language: EN
Certification (US): R
IMDB: Birds of Prey (and the Fantabulous Emancipation of One Harley Quinn) (2020)

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Cathy Yan

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Community reviews

What people are saying

Manuel São Bento2020-02-07
★ 6/10
If you enjoy reading my Spoiler-Free reviews, please follow my blog @ https://www.msbreviews.com Since Wonder Woman that the DCEU has not missed a beat. Even though the latter is still my favorite of the universe, I have mostly a positive opinion about Justice League, Aquaman, and Shazam! Yes, these are not the greatest comic-book movies of all-time, but I would be lying if I denied that I was entertained. Birds of Prey follows the same path: it's fun, action-heavy, and it boasts a phenomenal cast. It has some issues regarding the actual plot and a few characters, but I'll get there. First of all, let me get the mandatory compliments to Margot Robbie's performance out of the way. If there's a DC character better than Harley Quinn for Robbie to portray, please let me know, because I think she's absolutely perfect as a lunatic, over-the-top psychiatrist-turned-psychopath. Suicide Squad might be a total mess, but I doubt anyone denies how Robbie fits seamlessly into the Harley persona. From her looks to the way she speaks and from her physical movement to her facial expressions, there's just no better casting. She embodies the whole film's chaotic vibe and even contributes to the (very) colorful set design. However, she's not the only one who delivers a spectacular performance. Jurnee Smollett-Bell offers a surprisingly captivating display as Dinah Lance / Black Canary. Even though Harley Quinn is the main character, I found myself caring a lot about Dinah. Her way of living suits the character's personality like a glove, and she's undoubtedly the best-written secondary character of the movie. Unfortunately, I can't say the same about the others, and this is one of my biggest issues. It's a film packed with cliches and attempts of making the characters aware of those cliches, which is also, well, something pretty overused. What's more generic? Having the bad guy telling the hero their masterplan or having the hero stating how the bad guy is incredibly dumb by thinking of doing that? At first, I laughed, and I thought it was funny the way Christina Hodson was avoiding to write straight-up cliche characters by making everyone else aware of the way these talk or move. But the whole "I know you're cliche, so you can get away with saying or doing cliche things" only works for a couple of scenes, not an entire movie. This is why I wasn't able to connect with Renee Montoya or care about her narrative at all. Mary Elizabeth Winstead is one of my favorite actresses, but she has the least screentime of the entire cast. I never criticize a film for not giving an actor/actress I like a more important role (unlike other people, I believe it would be unfair to do so). Still, I do complain if I think a particular character should have been given more screentime, which is the case of Huntress. I find her backstory way more exciting and emotionally investing than Rosie Perez's character, but sadly Huntress' personal story serves only as a not-that-surprising third act twist. There are several past-present transitions in the storytelling, most work, but some feel extremely abrupt. Nevertheless, Winstead is outstanding every single time she's on camera! Ewan Mcgregor offers a good performance as the villain, but he leads me to my other major issue: the central plot. Trivia time: a MacGuffin is an object, device, or event necessary to the narrative and the motivation of the characters, but insignificant, unimportant, or irrelevant in itself. The thread that connects every single character is based on one of the most overused MacGuffins ever. Now, don't get me wrong: a MacGuffin is NOT a synonym of bad writing or of a bad plot! It's merely something that leads to nothing. Having in mind that Birds of Prey is a character-driven movie, a plot centered around a MacGuffin is not unusual. As long as every character works, the primary story can simply be a passenger (Quentin Tarantino's Once Upon a Time in Hollywood applies this method). However, in Birds of Prey, not every character has an interesting story... Basically, Christina Hodson's screenplay isn't exactly bad, but it isn't great too. Just like the film, it has its ups and downs, and I saved some of the ups for last because I do want to end this review on a positive note. Finally, a DCEU movie where the action isn't overwhelmed with CGI, but with detailed choreography and long takes instead! Thank you, Cathy Yan, for bringing some of the best action sequences in this universe. Even if the third act gets a little sloppy due to the amount of characters, it's still a very satisfying ending. The score beautifully accompanies the action, and the visuals are truly gorgeous to look at. The comedy bits are on-point, I laughed quite often, but my final remark goes to a topic I rarely address... Birds of Prey is a filmmaking lesson on how to produce an incredibly diverse movie without it feeling forced or unnatural. Only AFTER leaving the theater, I acknowledged the fact that the cast and characters are from various races, cultures, and have different sexual preferences. Why? Because this film doesn't waste its runtime by having its characters mention how black, white, Latinas, Chinese, gay, or whatever they are. They simply are what they are, and we all have eyes to see them. Congrats to Yan, Hodson, and everyone else who decided to treat the characters as if they're humans like every one of us. In the end, Birds of Prey (and the ridiculously long subtitle) continues DCEU's streak of (at least) good movies since Wonder Woman came out. With a phenomenal cast led by an outstanding Margot Robbie as Harley Quinn, Cathy Yan delivers some of the best action of the entire universe in a genuinely entertaining superhero flick. A colorful, chaotic, and fun vibe is present throughout the whole runtime, as well as a pretty neat score. However, Christina Hodson's screenplay lacks creativity. The main plot revolves around the most overused MacGuffin ever, and some characters are straight-up taken from the book of cliches. It's a generic comic-book film with a formulaic narrative, but one that possesses enough fun and entertainment to overlook the typical story. Rating: B-
kmai012020-02-15
Pretty good Movie, I did not expect Harvey Quinn can kick ass like that. I can see some guy can be turn off this movie because all women hero team. I find it very entertaining and well made.
TalisBriedis2020-03-09
★ 1/10
Garbage. Nothing, and I REALLY MEAN NOTHING good to say about this.