Harley Quinn: Birds of Prey (2020)

Elevator Pitch: Harley Quinn, having been dumped by the Joker, must find a way of surviving in Gotham, overcoming the villains who now have her in their sights, while protecting a young Asian pick-pocket who has stolen a diamond from Black Mask, the alter-ego of the gang lord Roman Sionis. Meanwhile three other women with special skills  are on the track of Sionis for their own reasons. In the end the four must band together to survivie.

Content: No sex or nudity, but a lot of drinking. Harley comments constantly in voice-over on her own history and activities and those of the other women who are to become the Birds of Prey. There is almost constant violence involving firearms, knives, blunt instruments and hand to hand combat, with visits to Sionis’s nightclub. On one occassion Harley attacks a police station in a manner reminiscent of The Terminator. The pickpocket has swallowed the diamond so there are defication jokes.

A View: This was one of the few possible new releases available on a slow week. I was also encouraged to go to see it due to Mark Kermode’s positive review. Well! I don’t know where to start. The first two acts of the film appeared to be exposition with the very irritating Harley Quinn giving us a constant commentary, not only about her own back story but also those of Black Canary, Huntress and Renee Montoya. They only get together at the end, and actually, for a variety of reasons, the script does not seem to be serious about the whole superhero thing. I would have liked my two hours back.

Additional Info: It appears that much of the film reflects scenes of actual DC comics. Although I am a bit of a Batman fan I have never opened a DC comic so maybe I am not even qualified to comment on this outing.