“Birds of Prey” Movie Review

    Harley Quinn was without a doubt the breakout character of “Suicide Squad” so it seemed like a no brainer for Warner Bros. to bring her back for another adventure.  As it turns out, Warner Bros. had several Harley Quinn projects in development with “Birds of Prey” just being the one to be made first.  With a more female driven film overall, would the film be able to find success with a different audience?

    The film takes place after the events of “Suicide Squad” and tells the story of Harley Quinn after the Joker breaks up with her.  A lot of people want to see Harley dead and without the Joker’s protection, a good chunk of Gotham aims to take her out, top of that list is Roman Sionis aka the Black Mask.  Black Mask has made some enemies of his own however in the form of Gotham City Detective Renee Montoya and trained assassin The Huntress.  After a young girl named Cassandra Cain steals a diamond from Roman and he places a price on her head, Roman’s driver Dinah Lance aka Black Canary warns Detective Montoya and ends up angering Black Mask as well.  With no choice but to join forces, Harley Quinn, The Huntress, Black Canary, Renee Montoya, and Cassandra Cain must face down Black Mask and his gang once and for all.

    The first thing you should know is that “Birds of Prey” is more of a Harley Quinn movie as opposed to an adaptation of the Birds of Prey comic books.  Yes, the Huntress and Black Canary are present in the film (though we will get to that in a bit) but the key member of the Oracle is replaced with Harley Quinn.  I enjoy Harley Quinn but wish she wasn’t the main focus of a Birds of Prey movie.

    So, on the subject of Harley Quinn, Margot Robbie was once again fantastic in the role.  Robbie seems to have had more fun in the role this time around, no doubt due to the fact that she is more comfortable and confident in the role.  Robbie is so perfectly cast as ‘Mr. J’s Pudding’ that it would be hard to see anyone else in the role.  Unfortunately, even though Robbie leads a ‘female driven cast’, Robbie is the only actress whose character is given any development thus making her the only memorable character of the group.

    The supporting cast (and members of the Birds of Prey) is made up primarily of Mary Elisabeth Winstead, Jurnee Smollett-Bell, Rosie Perez, and Ella Jay Basco.  Winstead is completely wasted as the Huntress.  Winstead is a great actress and the character of the Huntress is interesting in the comics but this film fails to capitalize on the actress or character.  Smollett-Bell does a good job as Black Canary but, like Winstead, isn’t given much to do to shine.  Rosie Perez has a few moments of levity but fails to steal any scenes.  The real breakout of the supporting cast is the young actress Ella Jay Basco as Cassandra Cain.  Basco is funny and holds her own against her more seasoned co-stars.

    Although the cast is primarily female, the main villain of the film is played by a male.  Ewan McGregor once again delivers an excellent performance as Black Mask.  I left the film wishing his character had been given more screen time and development.  While I personally didn’t have a problem with it, I do wonder if making all the males in the movie evil and all the females ‘good’ might send the wrong message to the film’s primary demographic.

    The film had some surprisingly good action sequences.  Many of the action scenes are on par with the “John Wick” franchise (which isn’t a surprise since John Wick’s director Chad Stahelski helped choreograph and film parts of this film’s action shots).  Aside from the excellent fight scenes, the film was also legitimately funny at times and I found myself laughing out loud more than a few times.  Director Cathy Yan managed to craft a very unique, if sometimes uneven, film with a little something for everyone.

    “Birds of Prey” or “Birds of Prey (and the Fabtabulous Emancipation of One Harley Quinn)” as it’s officially titled isn’t a perfect movie but it is enjoyable and a must see for any Harley Quinn or Margot Robbie fans.  I appreciate the fact that this film takes some risks and is a different overall tone than “Suicide Squad” was.  While this isn’t the best film of the DCEU so far, it’s a fun side adventure until we see Harley Quinn return next year in James Gunn’s “The Suicide Squad”.

Grade: B-

“Gemini Man” Movie Review

    Going to the theater is a weekly event for my girlfriend and I.  I end up picking the movie more than she does (so if I end up picking a stinker, it’s on me).  Still, whenever Will Smith is in a movie, we can usually both agree it’s worth checking out.  “Gemini Man” looks promising so we decided to check it out.

    The film focuses on a government sanctioned assassin named Henry Brogan.  The film starts with Henry taking out a target but hitting his neck instead of his head like he was aiming for.  Feeling like he is losing his edge and growing disillusioned with his profession, Henry retires and sets off to live in peace.  When an old friend informs Henry that his last assignment may have been an innocent man with information the government wanted to keep secret, Henry becomes the target of the most dangerous assassin on Earth besides himself, his younger self.

    How could someone not be intrigued with the premise of “I Am Legend” Will Smith versus “The Fresh Prince of Bel-Air” Will Smith?  I know I sure was and I had heard a lot of great things from people who had seen it before.  The I started to read some bad things from the critics and I grew concerned.  Was I going to like this film at all?  Well, I guess I kind of saw both standpoints in regards to this film.

    The film is definitely a fun watch.  Will Smith is charismatic as usual and really seems to have a blast with this film at certain points which is always great for audience members.  It is a bit of a shame that the young version of Henry Brogan suffers from the same uncanny valley affect almost all computer animated faces have.  While hidden in the proper lighting, it looks very impressive but when fully lite, it’s very obvious the face was computer animated.

    As for the supporting cast, Clive Owen and Mary Elizabeth Winstead were rather bland and added little to the movie.  The only real standout besides Will Smith was Benedict Wong.  Wong and Smith have great chemistry and make for much of the film’s levity.

    This film was in development hell since 1997 which strangely makes sense since this feels like a late 90s action film (I could imagine Michael Bay tackling this film at one point).  Before Will Smith took the part, actors ranging from Harrison Ford to even Sean Connery were linked to the film at some point.  That being said, it is sort of refreshing getting an almost throwback action movie in 2019.

    The film was directed by Ang Lee and I have to say I think some of his choices are the biggest complaints I have against the film.  I love Ang Lee typically and I think he can be an amazing storyteller and he has an amazing visual flair typically.  In this film however, much of the action scenes were filmed very close to the camera (no doubt to help hide some of the cgi) and it was hard to focus and get into what was happening then.  Added to the fact that the action scenes were completely over the top and unrealistic to the point it was hard to feel like any character was really in danger, it just made for some bland action set pieces in what should have been an action masterpiece.

    With the good and bad being weighed together, I would still recommend seeing this, even if you wait to see it after it hits theaters.  It’s a decent enough action movie helped considerably by the charm of Will Smith.

Grade: C+

“10 Cloverfield Lane” Movie Review

    Once upon a time, there was a movie being developed entitled “The Cellar”.  The movie started life as a popular spec script before being developed at Paramount Pictures.  Somewhere along in the production of the film, the decision was made to link the film to their popular “Cloverfield” franchise since both movies shared some similarities.  Thus “10 Cloverfield Lane” was born.
    So “10 Cloverfield Lane” became somewhat of a curiosity to me.  Very few movies label themselves as “spiritual sequels”.  The film was directed by Dan Trachtenberg who opted to abandon Matt Reeves’ jarring found footage style and shot his film a more traditional way.  The film is not directly tied to “Cloverfield” so you don’t have to watch the first film to understand what is going on in this film.
    Besides the way the movie was shot, another interesting choice was to shift the focus to another genre.  While it’s predecessor was a horror movie, this film is more of a suspense thriller.  I think it served the film overall well.
    The film tells a simple story, after Michelle (Mary Elizabeth Winstead) gets into a car accident, she wakes up in an underground bunker with two men who inform her that the Earth is now uninhabitable.  Naturally, she has her doubts.  Mary Elizabeth Winstead does an incredible job dealing with her impossible situation in the film.  The two men she shares a bunker with are Emmett and Howard.  Emmett is played by John Gallagher Jr who had a nice vibe with Winstead.  Lastly, in the most impressive performance in the film, John Goodman plays the ambiguous Howard.  We as an audience don’t know if we can trust him or not and the whole movie hinges on Goodman selling this ambiguity.  John Goodman more than delivers and should have received more recognition for his work.
    The film then comes to an alarming end as we find out if Howard was telling the truth or not.  I won’t ruin the ending for anyone, but it is a divisive way to end a thriller.  I personally enjoyed it but a lot of people were left disappointed with the twist.  So while “10 Cloverfield Lane” may not be as original as “Cloverfield”, it’s also a nice change of pace as well.

Grade: B