Birds of Prey (and the Fantabulous Emancipation of One Harley Quinn) Review (No Spoilers)

With yet another critically-lauded film, it’s safe to say that DC is on the right track. Out of their last 6 movies, 5 of them (Wonder Woman, Aquaman, Shazam, Oscar-nominated Joker, and Birds of Prey) have been varying degrees of good to great. With Wonder Woman 1984 coming this summer, and The Batman and The Suicide Squad well under- production, the future looks strong for DC.

Birds of Prey takes place after the events of Suicide Squad. Jared Leto’s Joker and Harley break up (happens in-between movies), which takes away Harley’s “immunity” which she enjoyed as the Joker’s girlfriend. Now that they’re not together anymore, everyone that she ever hurt wants revenge, including the crime boss Roman Sionis (Black Mask). However, he offers his “protection” if she were to retrieve a precious diamond stolen from him. As the story starts to unfold, Harley ends up protecting a young girl (Cassandra Cane) from the diabolic Sionis, with the help of other female characters (Black Canary, Renee Montoya, and the Huntress).

Positives

BoP excels when its main characters are interacting with each other, which unfortunately only happens in the final act of the film. However, the cast has solid chemistry and plays well off each other. Margot Robbie is once again gleefully delightful as the maniacal-yet-lovable Harley Quinn. She’s crazy yet endearing, vulnerable yet strong, which gives Robbie a chance to display a wide range of emotions for her character. It’s almost as if she was born to play this character. Other characters like The Huntress and Black Canary don’t have much of an arc and often feel like sidelined but to be fair, both Mary Elizabeth Winstead (Huntress) and Jurnee Smollett-Bell (Canary) are fine with the material given to them. However, one of the biggest positives is easily Ewan McGregor’s Black Mask. McGregor’s having the time of his life and absolutely relishes playing this over-the-top, maniacal villain. Even though the character itself ends up being wasted and doesn’t really do much in the film, McGregor’s performance differentiates him from some of the other DCEU villains and is a welcome, refreshing addition to the DCEU.

One of the film’s biggest strengths is in its action and gotta say, it is extremely well-choreographed. Similar to the action in John Wick, it was always clear as to what was happening on-screen, which can partially be explained by the fact that the filmmakers behind John Wick were hired to improve the action. Also, BoP is easily the most vibrant and colorful DCEU film thus far, although that looks to be topped by Wonder Woman 1984.

Courtesy of Warner Bros & DC Films

Thanks to a female director (Cathy Yan) at the helm, the ‘male gaze’ is also gone and instead, Yan gives us strong, badass female characters without necessarily overtly-sexualizing them.

Negatives

As mentioned before, this movie really isn’t a Birds of Prey movie, as the majority of the focus is on Harley herself. Characters like Huntress, Canary, Montoya are relegated to side-roles and don’t really have much justification for being in the movie. Speaking of, this film ‘borrows’ a ton of elements (4th wall-break, non-linear storytelling) from Deadpool but simply isn’t as funny or as creative as the Merc with the Mouth’s first adventure.

The story is pretty lackluster, but my biggest gripe is easily the decision to keep these characters apart for the majority of the film. As a result, certain unions often end up feeling contrived and lacked an emotional punch. In addition, the fight scenes (albeit great) had very low stakes because none of the villains/henchmen pose any form of a threat for our superheroines, which takes away any tension whatsoever.

Lastly, there was no reason for making this film R-rated. The sporadic f-bombs or occasional spurts of blood don’t take me out of the movie but looking back, the film could have easily circumvented that. Unlike superhero films like Deadpool, Logan, or Joker that necessitated the R-rating for the themes they were tackling or for staying truthful to the character, this iteration of BoP is an example of one that would arguably have benefitted from the PG-13 rating and appealing to young girls. Aside from a really out-of-the-blue sexual assault scene (that’s horrifying, of course), it’s not like BoP tackles any adult/mature issues. Had the movie delved deeper into Joker and Harley’s toxic relationship and Harley ‘breaking’ free from her “puddin’s” manipulation and control, this movie would arguably have been more powerful and empowering.

Conclusion – Mild Recommendation

Even though Birds of Prey continues DC’s hot streak, it’s a bit of a mixed bag overall. The lackluster story, coupled with the ‘heroes’ being apart for the lion’s share of the runtime, ultimately left me feeling empty. It’s definitely not as re-watchable or as enjoyable as Aquaman or Shazam but, if you’re looking for a decent time at the movies, Birds of Prey does deliver a semi-enjoyable experience.

Joker Review (No Spoilers)

After all the handwringing and controversy surrounding Joker and its potential to incite mass-shootings, we finally have the chance to ACTUALLY see the movie and judge the film’s alleged pernicious take on the character.

When WB announced they were making a stand-alone Joker film (not connected to the DC movies) with Todd Phillips at the director’s chair, I was a little apprehensive. But my apprehensions slowly got alleviated when WB announced that Joaquin Phoenix was going to play the eponymous character. Pheonix, known for playing extremely nuanced and troubled characters, is one of the best actors of our generation and his involvement immediately got a lot of nay-sayers (like myself) on board.

Now before I go in-depth of my review, I just want to mention something. There has been a lot of talk about such a movie glorifying violence and romanticizing its titular character. I can assure you, however, this movie does NOT glorify violence. Yes, there are moments where you absolutely relate to the character and sympathize with him but you’re never (hopefully not, at least) rooting for him. Besides, what did people expect from a Joker movie? The iconic super-villain has always been someone viewers understood because he points out society’s hypocrisies, but his inkling for violence puts him on a pedestal that is beyond redemption.

Lastly, regarding the recent reports of the FBI and intelligence agencies finding credible threats of potential mass shootings at the Joker screenings, I just want to say one thing – this film isn’t going to cause people with mental illnesses to suddenly go on a shooting spree and kill innocent people. If they are going to (and I sincerely hope not), they’ll do it because they wanted to anyways and not because of a movie telling them to (which it doesn’t, by the way).

Positives

No hyperbole, Joker is easily one of the best, if not the best film, I’ve seen in a very long time. Joaquin Phoenix is an absolute shoo-in for ‘Best Actor’ at the Oscars and any other acting accolades, and I frankly just can’t imagine any thespian delivering a better performance this year. His performance genuinely feels authentic and Phoenix completely submerges himself in the role, especially regards to his gaunt physicality. He’s frightening, at times, but displays all the wide range of emotions required for the Clown Prince of Crime. One of Phoenix’s Joker’s characteristic traits is that his uncontrollable laughter is proclaimed as a ‘neurological condition’ which he can’t control. Throughout the film, his laughter is often shown as painful and it’s a condition that makes others be ‘weirded’ out by him, which plays into his transition from Arthur Fleck to the Joker.

Joker (the movie) explores mental illness and how we treat people that are different in our society. There are so many parallels to our world today, especially with the surge in the number of mass shootings in the US. These killers, often having mental health issues, aren’t created in a vacuum but are the products of years of societal abuse and/or negligence. Rather than completely ignoring such people, the movie is illustrating that may be offering better psychological and government-provided health services can prevent further alienating someone who is already in the fringe. In addition, the movie also deals with the growing divide between the rich and the poor and the incel culture. This movie does portray Arthur Fleck a little more sympathetically but never shies away from truly showing the heinous side of the character.

Technically speaking, this film is flawless. The score completely engages you in the film and is chilling to listen to. The cinematography is great, the script is exceptionally well-written, and the supporting actors all deliver solid performances too. It’s just that Phoenix is on a whole other level that the other performances feel ignored.

Despite being completely isolated from the DCEU, there are definitely some connections to the larger Batman mythos. For starters, Thomas Wayne is one of the secondary characters who’s (kinda) portrayed as a Donald Trump-esque figure. A young Bruce Wayne is also in the film and as we see in the trailers, Arthur confronts him in Wayne Manor at one point in the film.

Courtesy of Warner Bros & DC Films

Negatives

Albeit not necessarily a major issue, the film doesn’t really take sides in regards to the inequality war. Is the film condemning the affluent as a bunch of tyrants that take advantage of the poor? Is the poor and/or lower-class just a bunch of anarchists and rioters who will jump at the opportunity to bash the rich?

Look, this isn’t like any comic-book movie ever released and is completely a character-driven film. If you’re looking for a big, action-spectacle, you’ll be massively disappointed as there is very little ‘action’ in the film. Some might feel bored and/or the slow-burn, but I personally didn’t feel that at all. I was completely riveted from start to finish…

Rating – Must-Watch

I’ll simply echo what I said earlier – Joker is a f*cking masterpiece and is easily one of the best films I’ve seen in a long time. The relevant themes to our modern society, the performances, the score, are absolutely top-notch and make this one of the most disturbing films I’ve ever seen. In other words, put on a happy face and go watch this movie!!

Shazam Review (No Spoilers)

Shazam! Shazam!! Shazaaaam!!! Dammit, I’m still — just me. One easy way to describe Shazam to your friends is ‘Big meets Superman with magic.’ If you guys haven’t seen or even heard of Big, it’s a wish-fulfillment movie starring Tom Hanks playing a character who wishes to be ‘big’ and magically wakes up the next day in the body of an adult with the mind of a child. And, if you haven’t seen or heard of Superman, you’re probably a — Skrull…

Fun fact – Shazam was actually called ‘Captain Marvel’ for a long time in the comics before DC changed their Captain Marvel’s name to Shazam. It’s so cool how we ‘technically’ got 2 Captain Marvel movies within the span of a month.

Positives – Zachary Levi!! Maybe it is a little too early but I firmly believe that we should add his casting to the Mt. Rushmore of superhero castings (RDJ as Iron Man, Hugh Jackman as Wolverine, Ryan Reynolds as Deadpool.) He is absolutely born to play Shazam!! His energy is completely infectious and brings such a delight to a superhero. In one of the featurettes, Levi said “Shazam is one of those heroes that just enjoys being a superhero” and he is so right. Unlike most superheroes that want to save the world because they have to (“with great power comes great responsibility), Shazam just wants to save the world because it’s fun! His alter ego, Billy Batson, played wonderfully by Asher Angel, has the emotional heavy-lifting in the movie and that’s where most of the heart of the movie comes from. Speaking of, one thing that especially differentiates this film from other DCEU and superhero movies, in general, is with the heart. This movie has a ton of heart and is just such an enjoyable movie from start to finish. Jack Dylan Grazer, who played Eddie in IT, steals every scene he’s in. He is the foster brother to Billy and is a huge fanboy of the Justice League characters and naturally ends up as the “guy in the chair” to Billy. My favorite sequence of the movie is immediately after Billy gets his powers and shows this new super-powered persona to Freddie. We get a convenience store robbery scene and a montage of Billy discovering his powers and boy, was I laughing hard! This movie shows you just the joy of being a superhero. If a teenager suddenly had the ability to become an adult, he/she would naturally try to, for example, make money showing off their powers or buying beer and this joy is simply missing from superhero movies these days! If you’re just looking for a movie with good characters, emotions, and laughs, this is totally that movie. This movie also explores the themes of family and choosing your own family, which absolutely worked. Billy and his mom were separated at a carnival when he was very young and he later learns why. These scenes are powerful and I responded to that. Lastly, Billy’s foster parents are just such nice adults and it’s refreshing seeing foster parents in movies not being dirtbags.

Negatives – After the amazing f(l)ight sequences in Man of Steel, the f(l)ight scenes in Shazam were subpar and could have been crafted differently to differentiate from Superman’s. The CGI is also quite poor and noticeable, especially the physical looks of the 7 different sins. Speaking of the 7 sins (pride, greed, lust, envy, gluttony, wrath and sloth), which played a big role in the movie Seven, ended up being quite underwhelming. I wish they had unique abilities that the hero has to overcome from a way different than just using his superpowers on. If your movie involves sins like greed or sloth, have Billy/Shazam defeat and conquer each and every one of the sins differently. Like the last couple of DCEU movies, the villain is given a good amount of screen time but his motivations are quite generic and ultimately are just ‘meh.’ Maybe I am just spoiled by how excellent Marvel’s last couple of villains have been, especially Thanos…

Rating – Shazam is everything people have been waiting for from DC. It’s funny, has terrific performances, heart, and is not afraid of showing us a superhero that just loves being a superhero. 3.8/5

My rankings of the DCEU (from best to worst) – Man of Steel, Wonder Woman, Shazam, Aquaman, Batman v Superman, Justice League and Suicide Squad.

Ranking the Comic-book Movies of 2018 (SPOILERS)

Since forever ago, many folks have been predicting the demise of the superhero genre. Well, they were proven wrong yet again. Being the dominant genre in Hollywood, the combined worldwide gross of all the 8 comic-book movies (Black Panther, Avengers: Infinity War, Deadpool 2, Ant man and the wasp, Teen Titans: Go to the movies, Venom, Spiderman: into the spider-verse and Aquaman) is well over 6 billion dollars, with Spiderman and Aquaman just having released in theatres. Now that I have seen them all, I can now rank the 8 comic-book movies from least favorite to my favorite. Spoiler warning.

#8. Venom – a Tom Hardy-led Venom movie with the director of Zombieland at the helm and a solid cast (including Michelle Williams, Riz Ahmed), what could go wrong? Well, it seems like pretty much everything went wrong with this anti-hero flick. Venom has a terrible script, weak performances (sans Hardy), cringe dialogue, poor villains (both Drake and Riot) etc. The only reason I didn’t hate this movie is because of Hardy, who goes “all out” and delivers an entertaining-to-watch performance. Eddie and Venom’s relationship and back-and-forth is one of the film’s strengths and it was very enjoyable when the movie just focused on the two. While I personally didn’t like this movie, the general audiences kinda did and the movie had great legs and well over $850 million at the box office. This is by far the weakest comic-book movie of the year but here’s hoping that they make a better Venom sequel.

#7. Teen Titans – this was a movie I had absolutely zero interest in. Never seen a Teen Titans episode and the trailers were pretty bad and looked extremely childish. Gotta say, I was pleasantly surprised. This is an extremely self-referential movie and has a pretty well-developed lead in the Robin. While this is definitely not a movie for everyone because of the juvenile nature of the movie, it has some great moments for the DC fan in me to ultimately have a good experience.

#6. Ant man and the Wasp – Like its predecessor, A&W is a good palette cleanser after the big Avengers movies. I love how our heroes use shrinking/growing and the visuals are really good! This is also a really funny movie with some good performances from Paul Rudd, Evangeline Lilly etc. Where this movie suffers is with the villains, especially the storyline with Sonny Burch. Also, Black Panther just opened our eyes to the incredible world of Wakanda and Infinity War was a large-scale epic movie, but A&W, unfortunately, is a pretty formulaic MCU movie .

#5. Deadpool 2 – Like most people, I loved the first Deadpool movie and was very excited for the sequel. After watching the movie, my initial reaction was “it’s good but no where as good as the first one” and this reaction mostly stands. I enjoyed this movie but this movie doesn’t have as good of a balance of humor and character work as the first one did. The pacing is off and some characters like Firefist are obnoxious. However, the emotional moments between Wade and Vanessa are powerful and this movie is arguably funnier than the first film, especially the X-force deaths sequence which had me cracking up. Not to forget, Cable and Domino are really interesting characters and I can’t wait to see them in X-force.

#4. Aquaman – Coming off of a string of divisive films (sans Wonder Woman), DC absolutely needed a win in Aquaman and they achieved it! Aquaman is the definition of a fun, popcorn movie. It has a ton of action, one-liners, comedy and decently fleshed-out characters. The effects on the underwater world are visually stunning and this movie does not hesitate to embrace its comicbook-iness. Not to mention, Aquaman has a good lead in Momoa! Where this movie suffers is in its script, emotional moments and weak villains (notice the trend?). However, a win’s a win and DC is on the right path again!

#3. Black Panther – Before I say anything, I just want to preface this by saying Black Panther is a really good movie. It has some of the best performances and an uber-talented ensemble cast in the MCU, strong female characters (Okoye, Shuri, Nakia) and is a very relevant movie in our society today. Having a predominantly black cast with a black director is remarkable and what Ryan Coogler did with Black Panther is incredible! This is also one of those movies where the beliefs/actions of the villain actually changes our protagonist and by the end of the movie, T’Challa opening up Wakanda to the rest of the world works. However, I don’t love this movie, like most people do, and really don’t believe that this movie deserves to get a Best Picture nomination at the Academy Awards. It is an important movie but that doesn’t make it an Oscar-calibre movie, in my humble opinion. This movie also has questionable CGI at times, messy fight scenes and a sudden villain turn. Killmonger makes some very good points about Wakanda not using its resources to help black people around the world, but he becomes a moustache-twirling villain by the end. Again, I really like this movie and do believe that it deserves technical awards nominations like “Best Costume,” “Best Sound Editing,” and “Best Sound Mixing” but just not more.

#2. Spiderman: into the spider-verse – This animated flick had a very difficult job – convincing us that a Spider-man movie with so many characters and villains can work. After all, neither Sony nor we have forgotten what happened with Spiderman 3 and Amazing Spiderman 2. I am very happy to say that this movie is amazing (no pun intended)! It had a lot of great character moments and the relationships between Miles and his dad, Miles and his uncle and Miles and Peter are heartwarming. There is a scene that takes place between Miles’ dad and Miles in a college dorm, which gives me chills just thinking about. The introduction of the secondary Spidey characters is super fun and infuses a lot of humor to the movie, especially from Spider-Noir (voiced by Nicholas Cage). This movie, at times, feels like a comic-book come to life with comic-book style panels and text on screen. If this movie does end up getting a ‘Best Picture’ nomination at the Oscars, which it very well may, I have no qualms about it as it is definitely deserving of any accolades.

#1. Avengers: Infinity War – Infinity War is the culmination of 10 years of storytelling and to celebrate this momentous occasion, Marvel essentially had “throw everything but the kitchen sink” mentality for this movie. It has basically every main character (sans Hawkeye and Ant Man) in the MCU facing off against the big baddie, Thanos and man, the Russos exceeded my already-high expectations. This is easily one of my favorite movies of the year and one particular reason for that is Thanos, who is now my favorite villain in cinematic history. He is such a complex, 3-dimensional character and even though you (hopefully) don’t agree with him, you totally understand where he is coming from. The action is incredible, the humor totally works and because of its scale, this really felt like the most epic movie of our generation. And of course, who can forget the ending? Our heroes turning to dust and Spiderman’s line “Mr. Stark, I don’t feel so good.” Man, that is heartbreaking. Infinity War is easily my favorite superhero film of the year and I am (just a little) excited for Avengers: Endgame!

Now, what say you? Leave your rankings down below!

Aquaman Review (No Spoilers)

Aquaman, the latest entry in the DCEU, is a quasi-origin story of Arthur Curry, the son of Queen Atlanna of Atlantis and Tom Curry, a “surface dweller” or a non-Atlantean. Before Orm, the half-brother of Arthur, declares war on the surface world for its increasing pollution of Earth’s oceans, Arthur has to team-up with Princess Mera to find the Trident that could supposedly unite the 7 kingdoms of Atlantis, in the hopes of preventing Orm’s war. Yeah, a lot happens in the movie. The DCEU has been a mixed-bag for me. I loved Man of Steel (way more than most people) and Wonder Woman, and liked Batman V Superman: Dawn of Justice’s ultimate edition. On the other hand, Justice League and BvS (theatrical) were meh and Suicide Squad was a dumpster fire…

Positives – Aquaman embraces the silly aspects of the character and the mythos, and is extremely fun to watch! Jason Momoa plays Jason Momoa but is as charismatic as ever. He’s totally someone you do not want mess with but at the same time, he is also someone you want to drink a beer with. Amber Head has great chemistry with Momoa and does a good job playing Mera, a total bad-ass by the way! Other supporting actors (Patrick Wilson as Orm, William Dafoe as Vulko, Dolph Lundgren as Nereus) all do a fine job, but Nicole Kidman’s Atlanna steals the movie. She does much of the movie’s emotional heavy-lifting and she proves, yet again, why she is one of the best thespians in the business. Performances aside, the movie’s strengths are its incredible visual effects. This movie is so gorgeous to look at and is definitely worth the IMAX ticket price. There is also a fish-out-of-the-water element with Atlanna and Mera when they are on the surface world, which is kinda cute. The fight sequences are pretty well-done, especially the Italy sequence. “That was awesome!” as Aquaman exclaims in the movie! The third act epic final battle reminded me a lot of the Lord of the Rings battles, which once again requires one to watch this movie in the biggest possible screen to truly have a cinematic experience.

Negatives – Read my synopsis again. On top of all that, there is another storyline with Black Manta trying to exact revenge on Aquaman, which makes the movie feel bloated. A lot is happening on-screen which might overwhelm people. The script is kind of a mess and some of the CGI is pretty poor. Unlike Wakanda, we don’t get to see much of Atlantis or experience what it is like living in this world, which is one area I was especially excited to witness.

Questions –

Can only certain Atlanteans breathe on the surface? Those cool-looking Atlantean soldiers needed water to survive on land, but Mera and Atlanna clearly didn’t.
Mera alludes to Orm orchestrating the submarine attack on the Atlanteans but that’s never answered.

Despite its noticeable shortcomings, Aquaman has a lot more hits and is a step in the right direction for DC. While the dark, serious tones was not one of the issues that plagued the DCEU in my opinion, the fact of the matter is that it did bother many people. Thus, Wan’s Aquaman infuses a “new life” and energy to the DCEU, which may just get the naysayers on board. Aquaman is a really good time at the theatre!

Rating – 3.2/5