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

Harley Quinn has always been a scene-stealer, and in 2020 she finally got a movie to prove it. Birds of Prey (and the Fantabulous Emancipation of One Harley Quinn) picks up after her breakup with the Joker, finding the chaotic ex-psychiatrist trying to carve out an identity that doesn't revolve around a man. When a young pickpocket named Cassandra Cain swallows a diamond belonging to ruthless crime lord Roman Sionis, Harley becomes an unlikely protector. She soon crosses paths with three other women who have their own reasons for wanting Sionis dead: police detective Renee Montoya, nightclub singer Dinah Lance, and the crossbow-wielding assassin Helena Bertinelli.

Directed by Cathy Yan from a script by Christina Hodson, the film stars Margot Robbie (who also produced), Rosie Perez, Jurnee Smollett-Bell, Mary Elizabeth Winstead, Ewan McGregor, and Ella Jay Basco. Warner Bros. and DC Films backed it with a $75 million budget, and it went on to gross $205.5 million worldwide. Tonally, it's a hyper-stylized blend of action and dark comedy, with a fractured narrative structure that mirrors Harley's scattered mind. It exists in the same continuity as Suicide Squad, though it stands alone as a raucous, R-rated caper.

Critics and audiences gave it a respectable 6.9 out of 10 on IMDb, and while it wasn't a runaway blockbuster, it found a devoted following for its irreverent energy and its girl-gang chemistry. The film also made history as the first DCEU entry directed by an Asian-American woman and featuring a female writer, director, and producer-star, a point that resonated well beyond the box office. [edit]

Harley Quinn (Margot Robbie) opens the film with an animated prologue that zips through her origin: Dr. Harleen Quinzel, Arkham Asylum psychiatrist, fell for the Joker and reinvented herself as his partner in crime. The sequence sets up the movie's central gimmick. Harley is an unreliable narrator who hops around her own timeline, breaks the fourth wall, and insists on telling the story her way.

The story proper kicks off after Harley and the Joker have split for good. She celebrates by getting drunk and blowing up the chemical plant where they once declared their love, a very public announcement that she's no longer under the Joker's protection. That protection was the only thing keeping Gotham's criminals from coming after her. Now every lowlife she's ever crossed wants a piece of her.

Enter Roman Sionis (Ewan McGregor), a sadistic crime lord known as Black Mask who runs a nightclub and a sprawling criminal enterprise with his unhinged enforcer Victor Zsasz (Chris Messina) at his side. Roman is hunting a rare diamond, the Bertinelli diamond, engraved with codes to a vast hidden account. A young pickpocket named Cassandra Cain (Ella Jay Basco) lifts the diamond from one of Roman's associates and, in a panic, swallows it. Now the diamond is inside her, and Roman will stop at nothing to cut it out.

Harley, initially hired to retrieve the diamond and the girl, finds herself in the unlikely position of Cassandra's protector. As they go on the run, the film weaves in three other women whose lives have collided with Roman's empire. Renee Montoya (Rosie Perez) is a hard-drinking Gotham City Police detective who has been investigating Roman for years and has just been sidelined by a younger, male colleague who took credit for her work. Dinah Lance (Jurnee Smollett-Bell) is a nightclub singer with a fierce right hook and a secret: she is a metahuman whose sonic Canary Cry she has spent her life suppressing. And Helena Bertinelli (Mary Elizabeth Winstead), the Huntress, is a crossbow-wielding assassin who has returned to Gotham to kill the men who murdered her family, a list that includes Roman Sionis.

The central conflict is a collision course. Roman wants the diamond and the girl, and he is willing to tear Gotham apart to get them. Harley wants to survive, to prove she doesn't need the Joker, and, as the story forces her into contact with Montoya, Dinah, and Helena, to figure out what she actually wants. The women's agendas don't align at first. They clash, mistrust one another, and get in each other's way. But as Roman's pursuit escalates and the bodies pile up, the film builds toward the moment when these four very different women, plus the girl they're all circling, must decide whether to fight for themselves or for each other.[edit]