Wonder Woman 1984 (2020)

After her scene-stealing theatrical debut in Batman v Superman, Wonder Woman got the limelight all to herself with her own movie in 2017. The movie was a big fat hit with both audiences and critics, grossing over 800 million dollars at the worldwide box office and earning a 93% (as of this writing) on Rotten Tomatoes. Its success was such that it vaulted the then relatively unknown Gal Gadot into the Hollywood A-list as well. After all of that critical and financial success, we were bound to get a sequel eventually. (Not counting her appearance in Justice League, that is.) And three years later, here we are with Wonder Woman 1984.

And while it's been a movie I've been hotly anticipating all year, I also have to admit that it was one of the biggest cinematic disappointments I've seen in a while. There were some things I liked about WW84, as it's called in the movie's promotional material, but it certainly wasn't the spectacle I spent all year hoping for either.

As the title implies, the movie takes us to the year 1984. Calling herself Diana Prince (Gal Gadot) so she can blend in with the world outside Themyscira, she continues to fight crime as "Wonder Woman" while working as an anthropologist at the Smithsonian Institute. She keeps her coworkers at arm's length for the sake of her privacy, but eventually befriends Barbara Minerva (Kristen Wiig), a meek, insecure woman who is constantly overlooked by everyone.

After Wonder Woman breaks up a robbery at a jewelry store, the FBI brings a set of black market antiquities recovered from the robbery to the Smithsonian to be identified. Among these pieces is the Dreamstone, a mysterious gem that is believed to grant the wishes of whomever holds it. This ends up proving true, as both Diana and Barbara inadvertently make wishes that are mystically granted. Barbara becomes as strong, beautiful, and confident as Diana, while Diana's long-dead lover Steve Trevor (Chris Pine) is brought back to life in the body of another man.

The Dreamstone itself was bought on the black market by Maxwell Lord (Pedro Pascal), a failing businessman hoping to use the stone's power to prove that he's not the loser his company's investors believe him to be. He sweet-talks Barbara into letting him into her office, where he acquires the Dreamstone and wishes to become the stone itself.

But the powers of the Dreamstone have one catch: for every wish granted, there is a terrible price to pay. Diana sees her powers becoming diminished, while Barbara's loses all sense of compassion and empathy as her jealousy for Diana consumes her. And as for Maxwell, he travels around the world granting wishes to the rich and powerful so that he can accumulate more power for himself. But his machinations cause so much sociopolitical disruption that it pushes the world to the brink of World War III. Diana and Steve are forced into action, desperate to stop Maxwell before he causes the Cold War to become a nuclear war.

Santa Claus left a big pile of mediocrity and disappointment in my stocking this Christmas, and it came wrapped in a big box labeled "Wonder Woman 1984." As much as the first movie got right, the sequel gets just as much wrong. It's unnecessarily long, much of the special effects are questionable, and the worst part of all is that it's just kinda dull. I honestly hate to say it, but with the exception of the cast, Wonder Woman 1984 is a wholly unremarkable movie.

There's no one specific thing about Wonder Woman 1984 that drags it down, but rather several things that combine into a big cocktail of letdown. Let's start, as I usually do, with the direction. Behind the camera once again is Patty Jenkins, who I'd hoped would be able to replicate the magic of the first movie. But alas, the sequel suffers from an inconsistent pacing that leads to long stretches where nothing happens and action scenes that are nowhere near as thrilling or awe-inspiring as the ones we saw in 2017.

The movie is 151 minutes long, and there is absolutely no reason for it to be that long. Watching it at home on a streaming device or a tablet is one thing, since you can at least fast forward during the dull parts. But you shouldn't have to do that. After a prologue that sees a young Diana competing in a race on Themyscira (an 11-minute sequence that should've been no more than five if it had to be in the movie at all), we have a scene where Diana stops a robbery at a mall before the movie slows to a crawl for the rest of the first hour. Things perk up a little around the 45-minute mark when Chris Pine enters the movie, but so little happens for such a long period that it's easy to tune out for much of the first half of the movie.

The movie also suffers from some of the worst special effects I've seen in a long time. There's the obvious usage of green screens, shots of Diana running that look like someone is learning how to use a marionette, and a few moments where the Lasso of Truth looks like a glowing golden cartoon. And let's not forget a scene where Diana saves some kids from being ran over during a car chase, and the kids are as fake as fake can get. It looks like Diana is swinging in and rescuing that marionette I was talking about a few sentences ago.

As I was sorting through the notes I'd written as my prep for this review, I saw discussions on social media and Reddit debating that the bad effects may be intentional, that they're supposed to make the movie be something of a throwback to Christopher Reeve's Superman movies from the '80s. I'm not sure if I believe that because the movie being set in 1984 becomes completely irrelevant about halfway into the movie. Yeah, the President looks kinda sorta like Ronald Reagan, Maxwell Lord looks kinda sorta like Donald Trump circa 1984, there's the fashion and a reference to the "Star Wars" missile defense system. But they never really lean into the '80s aesthetic. Stranger Things and the 2007 version of It do a way better job of capturing that vibe.

I also have to question the strength of the movie's screenplay. Credited to Jenkins, Dave Callaham, and renowned comic book writer Geoff Johns, the script is best described as "weak." The story isn't nearly strong enough to support the long running time, and the characters aren't done any justice either. Everything feels paint-by-numbers, with no real passion behind anything.

And I had more issues with the script beyond that. For starters, I wish they'd done something crazy with the whole wishes thing. Am I to believe that nobody wished for something really stupid or bizarre? Couldn't we get at least one throwaway gag where somebody wished for a pet dinosaur? Or wish that their dog could talk? We did have one brief moment where we see someone wished to be a farmer and got a herd of cattle in the park across from his apartment building, but things could've been a lot more off the wall. Sure, it might've ended up like that one episode of Supernatural from 2008 where a little girl wished for her teddy bear to be alive. But I'd have laughed my butt off if they'd done something ridiculous with it.

I also felt conflicted about Barbara Minerva, whom comic book fans know as "Cheetah." Not only is the character written like a half-assed version of Michelle Pfeiffer's Catwoman in Batman Returns, but I couldn't find any real redeeming qualities for the character. There's no catharsis factor when Diana eventually defeats her in their climactic battle, because there's literally nothing to Cheetah other than "she's a loser that turned into a jealous mega-bitch." There's nothing deep or complex about her. Maxwell Lord at least has a young son that he adores, but is blinded by his greed. Cheetah has nothing beyond her own selfishness and envy. That's why I said there's no catharsis, because we never get to see any chinks in her armor, never get to see anything that could redeem her.

That said, there's one scene near the beginning of the movie where she gives a dinner plate to a homeless man she's friendly with. The man turns up later when she beats up an attempted rapist, but none of this adds anything to Cheetah's arc since it's never referenced beyond these two brief moments. The Dreamstone stealing all of Cheetah's empathy and compassion feels hollow when when we only get to see it for about ten seconds. And to be honest, you probably could've cut her out of the movie entirely and outside of one scene where she helps Maxwell avoid being captured by Wonder Woman, it wouldn't have hindered the movie in the slightest. It just seems like they wanted someone for Wonder Woman to physically fight, and that was it.

Another thing that I thought was weird was that throughout the movie, Wonder Woman saves numerous people and asks them not to tell anyone about her. She played a role in World War I, with pictures of her to prove it. Am I to believe that nobody has ever told anyone else about the gorgeous woman with superpowers in the sixty-six years between the first movie's events and WW84? At one point we see a picture of Diana with an elderly lady I'm assuming is Etta Candy from the first movie, and I'm supposed to believe that nobody asked why Etta's friend hasn't aged a day since 1918?

If she pulled a "Connor MacLeod in Highlander" and kept a low profile while changing identities every so often so nobody noticed her, that'd be one thing. But when you're running around fighting crime with a glowing golden lasso while wearing a red and blue Xena: Warrior Princess costume, that's not exactly keeping a low profile. Maybe she pulled some strings and got her participation in the war buried and didn't break out the Wonder Woman stuff again until just before the events of WW84, I don't know. The whole thing just seems a little odd to me, y'know?

And then there's the climax itself. There's a moment where Diana delivers a soliloquy about how beautiful and important the truth is. It's framed in such a way that it looks like she's speaking directly to the audience, and combined with the hamfisted dialogue, it's all quite awkward. It feels like they were trying to sneak in an indictment of the whole "fake news" thing that's popped up over the last few years. And even if it isn't, it feels very forced, and it damn near took me out of the movie altogether. And honestly, the whole "Gal Gadot talking to the camera about how lying is bad" thing is a really stupid way to end your superhero movie.

But at least the cast is strong despite the less-than-stellar writing. Kristen Wiig's casting still feels odd to me, considering she's primarily known for her work in comedy. It'd be like hiring Kate McKinnon to play a villain in a horror movie. But Wiig isn't bad at all, being especially good during Cheetah's awkward, nerdy phase. And while it's odd seeing her play a selfish bitch that's consumed with envy, Wiig pulls it off well.

Chris Pine, meanwhile, returns to the role of Steve Trevor and once again does a great job. He and Gal Gadot have an electric chemistry together, and his awe at seeing the evolution of aeronautics and discovering that space travel had been invented is adorable.

I also really liked Pedro Pascal as Maxwell Lord. He plays the character like a drug addict that's hooked on power, so much so that it's literally killing him. But he needs that next fix, that next rush, that next bit of anything that will make him feel whole. Pascal is awesome in the role; the fact that villains quite like Maxwell Lord aren't that common in superhero movies helps him give a unique performance that I was really impressed by.

And last but most certainly not least is Gal Gadot. A few dodgy line readings aside, Gadot once again shows why she was the perfect actress to play Wonder Woman. She is utterly fabulous as the all-loving, kindhearted idealist and ferocious warrior. Gadot is wasted playing the role in such a mediocre movie, something that makes me wish WW84 had been better and hoping that a third movie that improves on this one's mistakes can be made in the near future. Gadot and the character deserve so much better.

Truth be told, the audience deserves better as well. You want people to sign up for HBO Max or go to a theater on Christmas Day (and during a global pandemic, no less) to see your movie, and this is the best you can give them? I know DC doesn't have the best cinematic track record over the last decade or so, but the first Wonder Woman movie was so fantastic that one would be justified in getting their hopes up for a sequel. And it sucks seeing that sequel squander all of its potential by being such a colossal disappointment. Of all the ways to close out the terrible year that was 2020, I'd have liked to have ended it with a good movie. But we didn't get it with Wonder Woman 1984. Here's hoping that 2021 will be better, and that Warner Bros. and DC can come up with something to redeem Wonder Woman in the future

Final Rating: **

Borat Subsequent Moviefilm (2020)

Saying that 2020 has been a very weird year would be a wee bit of an understatement. Even if you look solely at American pop culture, this year has been wild. The COVID-19 pandemic pretty much killed the summer blockbuster season and is continuing to wreak havoc on Hollywood's scheduling. We've also seen a third Bill & Ted movie three decades after the second one, and The New Mutants finally got a theatrical release after it was originally supposed to have been released in 2018. But perhaps most surprisingly, 2020 has seen the unexpected return of Borat.

Yes, Borat, the wacky Middle Eastern journalist that pretty much everyone was imitating or quoting for a lot of 2006 and 2007. He was pretty much to the early '00s what Austin Powers was to the latter half of the '90s. But never did I expect to see a sequel to that movie. In the aftermath of the movie's runaway success back in 2006, the character was essentially retired due to his popularity making it harder to pull off his usual antics. Besides, you can only catch lightning in a bottle once, right?

But here we are in 2020, and I just watched Borat Subsequent Moviefilm on Amazon Prime Video. And after all this time, Borat hasn't lost a step.

Fourteen years ago, the government of Kazakhstan sent journalist Borat Sagdiyev (Sasha Baron Cohen) to the United States to film a documentary about life in America. What it got was something that went completely off the rails. The finished product ended up as a highly successful comedy in America, but turned Kazakhstan into a global laughingstock that landed Borat doing hard labor in a gulag for the rest of his life as punishment.

Nearly a decade and a half later, Kazakh Premier Nursultan Nazarbayev (Dani Popescu) pulls Borat out of the gulag and tasks him with taking "Johnny the Monkey" — a chimpanzee that is both the country's Minister of Culture and its most renowned porn star — to the United States as a gift for Vice President Mike Pence in an attempt to redeem himself and earn the country some respect.

But thanks to a rather unsettling mix-up, Borat arrives in America not with Johnny the Monkey, but his estranged 15-year-old daughter Tutar (Maria Bakalova). And without Johnny the Monkey, Borat is facing execution once he returns to Kazakhstan. But a TV news report about Donald Trump's connection to Jeffrey Epstein leads to Borat reasoning that Tutar would be a much more suitable gift. Tutar herself loves the idea, wishing to become a beautiful princess like she believes Melania Trump to be. So she and her father hit the road, traveling across the country, getting to know one another better and discovering just how much the United States has changed since his last visit.

Much like the first movie, Borat Subsequent Moviefilm is most certainly not for everyone. It is extremely scatological at times, and plays up questionable cultural and racial stereotypes at other times. And it never misses an opportunity to be as crude and lowbrow as possible. But the absurd behavior of its two primary characters only serves to make the awkward situations they find themselves in even more bizarre, and thus much funnier than they would've been normally.

I'll confess that I didn't know if there was a place for Borat in the year 2020. It's not that there's nothing for Sacha Baron Cohen to work with. Considering how much has been going on in America since George W. Bush was in office and the early days of the War on Terror, there's a lot more for Baron Cohen to have a jab at than he did back in 2006. But not everything is quite the same as it was back then, either. Times change, after all. Not only are quite a few of the people Borat and Tutar interact with far more subdued and understanding than the gaggle of loudmouths and weirdos seen in the first movie, but political satire is so much more common now than it was fourteen years ago. The Daily Show, John Oliver's Last Week Tonight on HBO, Alec Baldwin's appearances as Donald Trump on Saturday Night Live, and the monologues of pretty much every late night talk show, have pretty much cornered the market on it, especially since Trump's administration is such an easy target. It's low-hanging fruit, y'know?

But maybe that's not so bad after all. Instead of jingoistic doofuses and sex-crazed frat boys, we've got jackasses on Facebook and Twitter claiming the Holocaust never happened and spewing conspiracy theories and false truths about the pandemic. Those idiots rightfully should be mocked, and that's why I'm glad to see Borat's resurrection.

Watching the movie, it feels like Baron Cohen hasn't been away from his most famous character for as long as he has. He easily slips back into the role, once again playing Borat as utterly wrong and misinformed about pretty much everything, but still likable and amusing. Unless you're predisposed to disliking this style of comedy, it's not hard to enjoy Baron Cohen's performance as Borat.

And I also can't say enough good things about his costar, Maria Bakalova. As far as I know, this is the first American role for the Bulgarian actress, and I'm excited to see more of her work in the future. She and Baron Cohen have a believable, enjoyable comedic chemistry together, and Bakalova herself is quite charming in the role. Even at Tutar's most crude, naive, and backwards, Bakalova makes the character adorable in her own way. I was also impressed with how well she handled herself, stepping in for Baron Cohen in situations where people may have recognized him and ruined the bit. She handles these moments like an absolute pro, and if it leads to more roles for Bakalova, she's earned them.

I honestly thought we'd seen the end of the Borat character in 2006. I figured maybe Baron Cohen could break him out for the occasional one-off joke somewhere, like when he showed up as Ali G at the Oscars in 2016. But I think now is the perfect time for the character to have made his return. Between the ridiculous stories we've heard about the Trump administration over the last four years and the American reaction to the pandemic, we kinda needed this lovable idiot to point and laugh at the insanity of it all. And I'm right there with him on it.

Final Rating: ***½

Host (2020)

The whole COVID-19 pandemic has thrown everything out of whack, hasn't it? Businesses are either closed or have severely limited what services they can provide, pretty much every sort of gathering and event for the rest of the year has been cancelled or indefinitely postponed, and "social distancing" has entered the public lexicon.

And since this is a movie review blog, I'd be remiss if I talked about the pandemic without mentioning how much of an effect it's had on Hollywood. Pretty much all of this summer's big releases have either been pushed back to 2021, or skipped a theatrical release altogether and been released on-demand.

While most movies that were in production have shut down until the pandemic blows over, it's also caused some filmmakers to get more creative. Such is the case with the new movie Host, which debuted today on the horror streaming service Shudder. Shot exclusively by its actors using their cell phones and laptops, it basically combines the setup for Unfriended with the no-budget, DIY aesthetic of The Blair Witch Project. And it's a pretty fun little flick to boot.

While quarantined at home due to the pandemic, a group of friends come together on a weekly basis through Zoom conference calls so they can still keep in touch. The call we're privy to is a bit different than their usual calls, however, as group member Haley (Haley Bishop) has brought in a medium (Seylan Baxter) into the call to conduct a seance.

But despite Haley's best efforts, she's the only one really taking it seriously. Emma (Emma Louise Webb) and Caroline (Caroline Ward) would rather drink wine and goof around with the Zoom app's features, Radina (Radina Drandova) is too busy arguing with her boyfriend, and Teddy (Edward Linard) just leaves altogether after only a few minutes to go hang out with his girlfriend instead.

And then there's Jemma (Jemma Moore), who decides to alleviate her boredom by concocting a fake story about being contacted by a spirit. But she'll soon wish she'd listened when the medium told them not to disrespect the spirit realm. Her prank draws the ire of a malevolent entity from the spirit realm, and this entity is going to take its anger out on everyone.

Clocking in at a slim, trim 56 minutes long, Host doesn't waste any time trying to accomplish its goals. It's a fun movie that never has the opportunity to wear out its welcome, instead choosing to lure you in with its simple premise before trying to spook the pants off you. It's a lot like a really good haunted house theme park attraction; you might not think too much of it at first, but Host can surprise you if you let it. There's some genuine scares and suspense to be found here. It's not perfect, but it's enjoyable, and sometimes that's all I'll ask for.

Host was the brainchild of director Rob Savage, who was approached by Shudder with the idea of turning a two-minute video he'd tweeted back in April into a full-length movie. And despite the logistical nightmare that I'm sure making a movie in the United Kingdom while the country was locked down had to be, the whole thing was written, shot, edited, and presented to Shudder in a span of only twelve weeks. I mentioned the movie feeling very DIY, and I wasn't kidding. I was genuinely impressed with how well everything came together, considering that there was practically no crew and Savage was never actually in the same room as any of the actors. The cast set up their own makeup, stunts, and practical effects, filming everything on cell phones and webcams while Savage coached them remotely.

Taking that into consideration, I was blown away by just how much Host was able to accomplish in its brisk running time. The movie spends much of its first half setting up its characters and their dynamics with one another, and lets us feel like we're a part of their group. It all builds up to a second half where things really start getting wild. The movie ramps up the creepiness fast; there's no wasted time here. It goes from spooky to tense to frightening all in the span of half an hour, leading up to a completely balls-to-the-wall climax.

It's during this climax that Savage makes the most of his "haunted Zoom call" concept. For example, goofy camera filters are a lot less goofy when they're attached to an invisible malevolent entity. One character having a jokey backdrop of themselves walking into the room behind the real person starts off funny, but becomes frightening and a bit melancholy once we realize that the supernatural creature is picking everyone off one by one.

I honestly don't feel like I can say a whole lot about Host without risking spoiling it. That said, it's a fun, scary good time that I'll definitely recommend to anyone interested in watching it. I don't know how well it'll age once the whole COVID thing stops being topical. But as it stands now, Host is well worth the watch, especially if you watch it on a computer monitor instead of a big-screen TV. So go sign up for Shudder and check it out. And if I may quote the movie, "Happy spookies!"

Final Rating: ***½

Birds of Prey (and the Fantabulous Emancipation of One Harley Quinn) (2020)

I've recently learned that the old saying "don't judge a book by its cover" might actually be pretty good advice. Te explain, I was in no way, shape, or form looking forward to seeing Birds of Prey (and the Fantabulous Emancipation of One Harley Quinn). I've loved the Harley Quinn character since she made her debut on Batman: The Animated Series in 1992, but I got absolutely sick of seeing her all over the place after Suicide Squad put her on the mainstream map. And then there's Birds of Prey's advertising campaign making the movie look almost unbearably obnoxious, like it was going to double down all the things I hated about Suicide Squad. It all blended together to make a movie I was convinced that I was not going to enjoy.

But I did go see Birds of Prey anyway, because I'll go see every comic book movie no matter how bad I think it'll turn out. And you know what? It proved me wrong. The movie's flaws are right there for everyone to see, but I'd be lying if I said the movie wasn't also a whole lot of fun. It's an absolute blast, and I'm glad the movie was able to make me change my tune.

Since we last saw her, Harley Quinn (Margot Robbie) has been unceremoniously dumped by the Joker. Dating that psychotic clown provided by her with a lot of protection, since nobody would dare cross him. But once word gets out that she's newly single, everyone Harley has ever wronged is out to get her.

Among her new enemies is Roman Sionis (Ewan McGregor), a narcissistic mob boss looking to take over all of Gotham City's criminal underworld. Part of his plan to accomplish this involves a diamond worth millions of dollars. The downside of that is that he sent his chief lieutenant, Victor Zsasz (Chris Messina), to procure the diamond, only for it to be stolen from him by teenage pickpocket Cassandra Cain (Ella Jay Basco). Harley offers to retrieve the diamond for Roman in exchange for her life, and he accepts... only to put a bounty on Cassandra as she leaves, just to spice things up.

Meanwhile, Dinah Lance (Jurnee Smollett-Bell) is using her status as both a singer in Roman's nightclub and his personal chauffeur to discreetly leak information to police detective Renee Montoya (Rosie Perez). And Detective Montoya herself is up to her neck in an investigation into a crossbow-wielding killer calling herself "the Huntress" (Mary Elizabeth Winstead), who's been cutting a bloody swath through all of Gotham's organized crime families with Roman being the next name on her list. All of these plot threads are slammed together, and Harley, Dinah, Montoya, and the Huntress are forced to team up to protect Cassandra and fight Roman and every other angry mobster in Gotham City.

The last time we saw Harley Quinn on a movie screen, I called the movie DC's answer to Marvel's Guardians of the Galaxy. And now, four years later, she's appearing in what I would call DC's answer to Deadpool. But this time around, it's not a negative comparison at all. Harley ditching the dead weight of the Suicide Squad and Jared Leto's Joker would have been a decent enough change by itself, but add in an over-the-top sense of humor, a frenetic, almost chaotic energy, and a wafer-thin fourth wall, and you have all the makings of a cinematic carnival ride. Birds of Prey is a wild, colorful, and downright entertaining movie that I really enjoyed.

Harley says at the beginning of the movie that she's looking for a fresh start, and the "riot grrrl" aesthetic that director Cathy Yan brings to the movie goes a long way in establishing it. If it weren't for Margot Robbie, you'd almost never guess that this Harley and the one from Suicide Squad are the same character thanks largely to how Yan crafts the world around her. This is only Yan's second feature-length movie, but there's no signs of inexperience to be seen here. She has a unique eye for storytelling, comedy, and action, showing off all three as our adventure progresses. Yan constructs the movie in a way that makes it feel different from the other movies in the DC Extended Universe. It may not be as visually stunning as Aquaman or as awe-inspiring as Wonder Woman, but Yan gives the movie a vibe that makes it more entertaining than you'd expect it to be.

Unfortunately, I wish I could say the same for the script. Written by Christina Hodson, the script is all over the place in terms of quality. It's like a wild seesaw ride between great and crap, a shift that I found made the rest of the movie have to work harder to overcome. I can't say that I didn't particularly car for how lame Roman Sionis and Victor Szasz were, but I especially hate how Hodson wrote Cassandra Cain. The Cassandra from the comics was trained from birth to be a silent assassin, eventually finding her way to Gotham City and becoming Batgirl. The Cassandra of Birds of Prey is a foulmouthed teenage pickpocket who's never even heard of the Joker and lacks all of the complexities of the character from the comics. It's like Hodson just picked a name at random from the comics and ran with it.

But Hodson does do right by Harley, I can say that. Not only does Yan make her look like a total badass (it helps that John Wick director Chad Stahleski helped choreograph some of the fight scenes), but Hodson also turns her into a fourth-wall breaking loon. I compared her to Deadpool earlier, and I still feel that's an apt comparison. (Since she's part of a team here, maybe it's closer to Deadpool 2?) But I could also say that Harley comes off like an insane Bugs Bunny. Harley bouncing back and forth between an off-the-wall clown and a bit more serious, outright mocking Roman's plans and diagnosing his inadequacies (she's got a Ph.D. in psychology, after all) while winking to the audience, makes for some genuine laugh-out-loud moments.

The cast, meanwhile, is a mixed bag. Chris Messina is forgettable as Victor Zsasz and Ewan McGregor is almost too cartoony for my taste. I frankly had a hard time taking McGregor seriously as our villain, if I'm going to be truthful. And Ella Jay Basco is, from my perspective, the worst part of the movie. I was already frustrated with how much they'd changed the character of Cassandra around so much, but I also found Basco to be pretty lousy. The more I saw her, the more I wanted the movie to hurry up and get to someone else. If the goal was to have Basco play an annoying brat that you'd want Harley and everyone else to ditch after the first twenty minutes, then mission accomplished.

The rest of the cast isn't so bad, though. Rosie Perez and Jurnee Smollett-Bell hand in fine performances, while Mary Elizabeth Winstead is really funny as the Huntress. But despite the movie's title, the Birds of Prey are secondary characters at best. The movie belongs almost exclusively to Harley Quinn and, by extension, Margot Robbie. Robbie was undoubtedly my favorite part of Suicide Squad, and she ups her game now that the spotlight is primarily on her. Free from having to play Harley as just Joker's girlfriend and nothing more, Robbie turns Harley into a comedic force of nature, a technicolor tornado you can't take your eyes off of. She completely carries the movie on her back, doing so in such a way that part of me had hoped they would've just made her the sole protagonist and not worried about the Birds of Prey. Robbie is nothing short of amazing in the role; I couldn't imagine anyone else playing a better live-action Harley.

Birds of Prey is nowhere near perfect. Some of the acting is pretty bad and the script isn't exactly what one would call strong. But I can't overstate just how truly entertaining it is. The movie exceeded my (admittedly low) expectations and then some. It's an enjoyable, energetic, exciting spectacle that revels in being both entertaining and absurd. Birds of Prey is a fine entry into the burgeoning "girl power" niche within the superhero genre, and I'm looking forward to seeing just where Harley and her new friends go from here.

Final Rating: ***