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END
WA R N I N G!
I L E R S! S P O I L E R S! S P O I L E R S! S P O I L E
Ben Travis:Like the DCEU
itself,Birds Of Preyis all about
leaving Jared Leto’s Joker firmly
in the rear view. And if Harley
Quinn takes her break-up with
Mr J hard, it’s a more thanwelcome rebirth. WhileBirds Of
Preynods toSuicide Squad’s
Joker-enthralled Quinn (that
‘Daddy’s Lil Monster’ tee
appears briefly), Harley 2.0 is a
freer, funnier, more fashionableupgrade. The blowing-up of the
Ace Chemicals lab that played
host to Quinn’s back story
inSuicide Squadfeels truly
cathartic. The old Harley Quinn
is dead. Long live Harley Quinn.Christina Newland:In the fightsequence
toward the film’s conclusion, Harley Quinn bands
together with GCPD officer Renee Montoya
(Rosie Perez), mysterious assassin Huntress
(Mary Elizabeth Winstead) and songstress-with-
superpowers Black Canary (Jurnee Smollett-Bell)
to protect a young girl from an evil Gotham
baddie (Ewan McGregor). As the women fight off
an army of thugs, Black Canary finds that her
long locks are flicking into her face. Any of us
with long hair can identify; it can get in your way,
and there’s nothing more annoying than not
having a hair tie. In a moment of solidarity, Harley
stops mid-punch to pass one to her friend.
It sounds silly, perhaps, but women have rejoiced
at it because it’s so clearly something that would
only go acknowledged by a female director.Ben Travis:If any image best defines the spirit
of Birds Of Prey, it’s Harley Quinn blasting a cop
with a confetti-fi lled round from a shotgun-meets-
blunderbuss — colourful, cartoonish and irreverently
violent. In fact, the entire bust-up in the Gotham
City PD might be the film’s most entertaining
sequence — from Harley’s entrance dressed up
as a G ng pellets
and p cocaine-
powe room.Cathy Yan:When you set an action sequence
in an evidence room, it’s really fun and you can
come up with so much stuff. We had so many
different ideas. At one point [screenwriter]
Christina Hodson wanted a giant double-ended
dildo that [Harley] had to fend off. I wanted her
to have a big fluffy bear stuffed with drugs that
she used as a pillow to fight with. We had
to show some sort of restraint. It’s a cheeky
movie — unapologetically so.Christina Newland:There is a startling
difference to the camerawork inBirds Of Preyin
comparison to most male-directed comic book
movies. InSuicide Squad, particularly, the camera
lingers on Harley Quinn, slowly climbing her
bare legs, keen to show her short shorts from
numerous angles. In theAvengersmovies,
women tend to wear extremely tight bodysuits,
geared toward the voyeur’s gaze. But inBirds
Of Prey, none of the women stay still long
enough for casual lechery, concerned as they
are with wreaking havoc and breaking the
femurs of the men who have wronged them.
Harley’s multi-colour make-up and crazy,
magpie style help disguise some of Robbie’s
fulsome beauty, but mainly it’s just that she’s
too busy beating the shit out of male predators
and bullies for us to notice it.Cathy Yan:I think it’s a movie about Harley saving
her soul — or at least a bit of her soul. That’s why
she has these moments with Cass, after she sells
[her] out, where she goes, “You make me want to
be a slightly better person.” It was important for all
of us to have an emotional connection between
Harley and Cass at the end of the movie.Ben Travis:Birds Of Preygives us several origin
threads – the first team-up of the titular trio, and
the rebirth of Harley Quinn. But did it also give
us the DCEU’s Batgirl? That alter-ego is most
often associated with Barbara Gordon, but the
moniker has also been held by Cassandra Cain
— who at the end ofBirds Of Preyheads off into
a fashion-forward future with her new guardian
and business partner, Harley Quinn. It’s a
completely different Cassandra Cain origin story
to the comics, but considering Quinn’s weird
fascination with Batman, it would be fun to see
the emancipated Quinn train up her own mentee
— one who, lest we forget, has already exploded
one of Gotham’s most notable gangsters with
a grenade. Christina Hodson is currently working
away at aBatgirlmovie — and while it’s rumoured
to be about Barbara Gordon, can’t we stick
Ella Jay Basco in the costume instead?4 CAPTAIN BOOMERANG
Ben Travis: Jai Courtney’s grizzled Aussie
mercenary from Suicide Squad appears in
a blink-and-you’ll-miss-it nod on a wantedposter in Gotham City PD (Harley even stops
to note, “Hey, I know that guy!”). True to
his name, he is coming back for
James Gunn’s The Suicide Squad.3 THE POLICE STATION SMACKDOWN
BREAKING
UP WITH
JOKER
2
SMASHING THE
MALE GAZE
5
THE HAIR-TIE
MOMENT
6
y
Golden Age starlet, to her blastin
aint bombs at the cops, to the c
red smackdown in the evidenceHARLEY &
CASSANDRA CAIN
7
Boom! Laying waste to the
Ace Chemicals factory.Here: Storming the Gotham
City PD. Right: Harley and
Cassandra Cain (Ella Jay Basco),
plus sarnies, hit the road.UPLOADED BY "What's News" vk.com/wsnws TELEGRAM: t.me/whatsnws