Birds Of Prey (And The Fantabulous Emancipation Of One Harley Quinn) (2020) - Movie Review

Birds Of Prey is one of the first comic books I remember reading when I first really started getting into them. I have the Manly Library to thank for that, as their graphic novel section introduced me to shit like Sandman, Transmetropolitan and Batman: The Long Halloween; stuff that would not only further the path that Watchmen carved out for me, but would end up influencing my own work in a number of ways. And during that time, I just happened to pick up a trade paperback of Gail Simone’s run on BOP, and man, is it a kick-ass read.

It was one of my bigger initial exposures to superhero fiction, and between the inviting characters and Simone’s uncanny sense of balancing action bombast with genuine heart, it had me hooked. I still get a little misty-eyed thinking about Black Canary’s adopted daughter tasting pancakes for the first time. Needless to say, I was hyped as fuck for a feature-length version of that, and while that may not entirely be what I got, that doesn’t make me any less entertained by it.

Suicide Squad (2016) - Movie Review

Even before I developed anything resembling taste when it comes to cinema, I’ve always had a real soft spot for superhero and comic book-related movies. Films that have gotten a bad rap since their release like Constantine, the Tim Story Fantastic Four duology, even pre-Director’s Cut Daredevil; have to admit, I find quite a bit to like about them. That said, I still carry the comic book nerd gene for outrage: I still hate Man Of Steel with every fibre of my being, last year’s Fantastic Four movie is bad to the point of bafflement, and lord knows that I’m not looking forward to the latest iteration of Spider-Man on the big screen thanks to the imbeciles that are writing the bloody thing. And even with all that in mind, I still have to stop and say “Would you people get over yourselves already?”. I’ll admit, I was sceptical about this film myself due to factors I’ll get into in the review proper, but this kind of "Oh, they hate what we like, therefore we hate them" keyboard-smashing attitude is the kind of overreaction that I thought we had gotten past for this year after the whole Ghostbusters fiasco.

But no, we still feel the need to go on the uber-defensive for films that, even with my differing opinions on them, are mostly pretty divisive to begin with. Seriously, ignore what the aggregates are saying: Batman Vs. Superman’s reception has been about as consistent as Man Of Steel’s, and I’m willing to bet that the rest of the DC cinematic universe will follow a similar path. But, given my own reaction to Gods Of Egypt, there’s still a possibility that I could be a part of this backlash myself… except I hope I can show a tad more decorum than the average Youtube commenter. Anyway, enough waffling on; time to get into the film itself and see whether or not it’s worth its salt.