Directing: B-
Acting: B
Writing: C
Cinematography: C+
Editing: C+

I should have known better. I did know better. I knew I was scraping the bottom of the barrel—or at least, I suppose, halfway to the bottom—by taking myself to see this Birds of Prey movie when I have long been over superhero movies as a rule, only going to see the rare one that came along which by all accounts truly stood apart. Quite definitively, Birds of Prey does not stand apart. It was just the option I had, though: February is always a sad month for movie releases, and this week there was literally nothing better in theaters for me to go see.

Virtually every single element of this movie’s production is a retreat of an idea already used in other movies, in many cases more than once. Once again I find myself longing for the days when we got one superhero / comic book movie every few years, as opposed to several such movies every year. It’s always just the same shit, on a different release date. The one thing that sets Birds of Prey apart in any way is that it has an ensemble cast that is nearly all women—which was also the one thing that triggered my “affirmative action” approach to movie-going: I want to support movies with this kind of casting, to be a part of the proof that movies by and about women really do have an audience.

Maybe I would have liked Birds of Prey better if it also had a female villain. That would have changed the impact of the story significantly. Instead, we get Ewan McGregor—one of my all-time favorite actors, as it happens—horribly miscast as Roman Sionis, a psycho night club owner whose calling card is cutting people’s faces off. McGregor just doesn’t work as a straight-up unrepentant villain, and he feels completely out of place in something like the DC universe. Also, every time he adopts an American accent for a part, his speech feels a just a little off. He’s a great actor but he’s not great at accents.

Also, Roman Sionis’s very existence poses a problem in this world set in Gotham City. Birds of Prey acknowledges the existence of “The Batman” (who is mentioned, by Harley Quinn, one time) and, of course, the Joker—with whom Harley Queen has recently broken up. Both that hero and that villain are larger-than-life names who exist in this universe, and yet we never see either one of them, and that makes little sense from a storytelling point of view. Harley Quin, the aggrieved ex, throws knives at the Joker’s face mounted on her apartment wall—except, it’s just a cartoon drawing of his face. In what universe would such a woman not use an actual photo of the guy? In this dumb universe, apparently.

And even though Birds of Prey acknowledges The Joker as the formidable villain of Gotham City, we’re expected to accept Roman Sionis as the primary villain of this story? Roman Soionis is the supervillain version of sloppy seconds. Why should any of us care? And why does everyone else in this story almost never even mention The Joker? This movie treats The Joker as untouchable, a villain that not even the police department feels is worth spending time and resources on. They regard Harley Quinn as a villain, and only when word gets out that her broken relationship with The Joker has dissipated her “immunity” do they even try going after her.

I have one particularly good thing to say about Birds of Prey, and that is Margot Robbie, as Harley Quinn. She is clearly having a blast as this giddily psychotic character. This film is also both directed by (Cathy Yan) and written by (Christina Hodson) women, which should lend it a perspective noticeably different from most movies we can see in theaters. I find myself wondering how many “studio notes” they were bombarded with in the making of this movie. But then, they were damned from the beginning as far as I’m concerned, being saddled with telling the story of characters who are by definition secondary, and remain so even in a movie that is supposed to be all their own.

I’ll say this much. If you just like superhero movies a general rule, then you will likely indeed enjoy Birds of Prey. It won’t be anyone’s favorite, but it will succeed at tiding you over until the next DC or Marvel movie comes along. I did laugh out loud a few times, and it has some fairly fun action sequences, although the climactic battle amidst a carnival fun house struck me as pretty tired. The so-called “Birds of Prey” of the title comprise several other women, played by Rosie Perez, Mary Elizabeth Winstead, Jurnee Smollett-Bell, and Ella Jay Basco. All of these characters, and even Chris Messina as Roman’s primary henchman, are all well cast, and their performances make Birds of Prey more fun than it would be otherwise.

I just wish a different actor had been playing a different character as the villain—but then, in a world where The Joker exists, any other character would be doomed to come up short. That, in the end, is really Birds of Prey’s fatal flaw.

*Margot Robbie et al do their best in the fruitless effort at elevating the material.*

Overall: C+