Wednesday, June 3, 2020

In Retrospect: Birds Of Prey

I might have even liked it more this time around.


Yeah I gave the titling some major good grief but I was expecting more of a origin story for the Birds Of Prey and that's what I got. Granted I think me along with everyone else wasn't entirely sure what to expect from this movie but I very much appreciated it's style, color, and revelry in the absurd. It's a comic book movie, it fricking knows it's a comic book movie, and has a ball with it. Yes it's silly to the point of insanity, yes it's not telling a grand story, yes it is not a great movie and I am 150% okay with that. This is the odd duck of the modern superhero movie craze, had it's own ideas and ran to the bank with them, didn't explode the box office opening week but still made over 185 million dollars in contrast to it's 85 million dollar budget, and came out at a weird time when people were slowly headed toward the major lockdown season of this year. It doesn't make it a box office failure or a bad movie, it just hit at an awkward period. If I didn't say this in my original review I'll say it here, this has massive potential to be a rental cult hit now. I did enjoy aspects of it more, I accepted it's absurd action scenes the first time around and still loved them just as much, the comedy still got me, the colors, choreography, and all aspects of the production are still great! I'm probably one of the few comic book fans where I don't care if they change stuff, I've seen too many interpretations of one character to be bothered if they do it a bit different. I've seen Batman be campy, or fun and very 90s, or dark and serious, or downright epic, so what do I care if Cassandra Cain isn't Batgirl? I'm happy to see Cassandra Cain in a new way. Why the f*** do you people think I love Gotham so much? They took creative liberties to unparalleled heights and pulled it off in spades, I'm happy and willing to see new ideas with classic characters. I didn't hate Mary Elizabeth Winstead as Huntress at all, but she really grew on me the second go around and I can't wait to see more of her! I hope to see Renee maybe become The Question now that she's an ex-cop/crimefighter. I dig what they did with Black Canary and am game to see her kick even more ludicrous amounts of ass. It's different, but not at all bad. I can see some people getting hung up on the tone, action scenes, and character changes which is fine, I know this movie isn't for everyone (R rating obviously duh) but I still want people to watch it and see if they come around to it. I can dig what they did with Suicide Squad, it ain't perfect, it ain't great, but it is good and I do like it and same goes for this. Birds Of Prey tried something different and fun and payed off incredibly well in my opinion, and here's to Gotham City Sirens. I'll be there opening day guaranteed. And if for nothing else give Margot Robbie some credit, she helped fund this movie and had a lot of love and faith in it, so you get a round of applause from me.

Uh, Blumhouse...do not make me regret this. Fantasy Island tomorrow.

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