Birds of Prey (2020 film)

Birds of Prey (and the Fantabulous Emancipation of One Harley Quinn) (also known as Harley Quinn: Birds of Prey, or simply Birds of Prey) is a 2020 American superhero film based on the DC Comics team the Birds of Prey. Directed by Cathy Yan and written by Christina Hodson, it is the eighth installment in the DC Extended Universe (DCEU) and serves as a spin-off and sequel to Suicide Squad (2016). The film stars Margot Robbie as Harley Quinn alongside Mary Elizabeth Winstead, Jurnee Smollett-Bell, Rosie Perez, Chris Messina, Ella Jay Basco, Ali Wong, and Ewan McGregor. It follows Harley Quinn, who, after breaking up with the Joker, is threatened by Gotham City crime lord Roman Sionis and joins forces with Helena Bertinelli, Dinah Lance, and Renee Montoya (who form the Birds of Prey) to save Cassandra Cain.

Robbie, who also served as producer, pitched the idea for Birds of Prey to Warner Bros. in 2015. The film was announced in May 2016, with Hodson being hired to write the script that November, followed by Yan signing on to direct in April 2018. The majority of the cast and crew were confirmed by December 2018. Principal photography lasted from January to April 2019 in Downtown Los Angeles, parts of the Los Angeles Arts District, and soundstages at Warner Bros. Studios in Burbank, California. Additional filming took place in September 2019.

Birds of Prey had its world premiere in Mexico City on January 25, 2020, and was released in the United States in IMAX, Dolby Cinema, ScreenX and 4DX on February 7. The film received generally positive reviews from critics, but was a box-office disappointment, grossing $205.5 million worldwide, falling short of its reported break-even point of $250–300 million.

Plot

Four years after the defeat of the Enchantress, the Joker breaks up with Harley Quinn, throwing her out on the Gotham City streets. She is taken in by Doc, the owner of a Taiwanese restaurant, and recovers from her relationship by cutting her hair, adopting a spotted hyena, and taking up roller derby.

Harley gets drunk at a nightclub owned by ruthless crime lord Roman Sionis, and cripples his driver after he insults her. She meets burlesque singer Dinah Lance, who later rescues an intoxicated Harley from an attempted abduction. Impressed by Dinah's fighting skills, Roman appoints her as his new driver. The next night, Harley gets drunk again, and, overhearing some of her drinking buddies debating over whether she has actually broken up with the Joker, blows up the Ace Chemicals plant to publicly announce their breakup. When everyone finds out she is not under the Joker's protection anymore, Harley starts getting attacked by every criminal that holds a grudge against her.

Meanwhile, GCPD Detective Renee Montoya investigates a series of mob killings carried out by a crossbow-wielding vigilante. She tries to recruit Dinah as an informant, but she rejects the offer, as the GCPD wasn't there to prevent her mother's death. Roman sends Dinah and his sadistic right-hand-man Victor Zsasz to retrieve a diamond embedded with the account numbers to the fortune of the Bertinelli crime family, who were massacred years ago. Young pickpocket Cassandra "Cass" Cain steals the diamond from Zsasz and swallows it after she is arrested.

Harley, after ordering an egg sandwich from an Armenian deli, begins getting chased by Montoya and several others. Although she successfully gets away, she ends up captured by Roman's men instead. Roman sends Harley to recover the diamond for him, under the threat of death, and also places a bounty on Cass. Breaking into the GCPD with a grenade launcher filled with paint and sparkle rounds, Harley frees Cass and the pair escape. While hiding out at Harley's apartment, they bond. Doc is approached for information by the "crossbow killer", who is revealed to be Helena Bertinelli. Having survived her family's massacre and becoming trained as an assassin, Helena has been targeting each of the gangsters responsible for her family's murders, preferring the moniker "Huntress". Harley's place is later bombed by criminals looking for Cass, and Doc admits that he sold Harley out. Harley calls Roman and offers to turn her over in exchange for his protection, agreeing to meet at an abandoned amusement park. Dinah notifies Montoya of the rendezvous, but her betrayal is noticed by Zsasz, who informs Roman. A devastated Roman dons his ritualistic mask from which he gets his nickname, "Black Mask".

At the park, Montoya confronts Harley, but is kicked out of a window. Zsasz arrives and tranquilizes Harley before holding Dinah at gunpoint, but he is killed by Helena, who reveals he was the last of her family's killers. Montoya returns and reveals that Roman was the true mastermind behind the Bertinellis’ massacre. He had them killed trying to get the diamond. A stand-off ensues until they realize Roman has arrived with a small army of masked criminals. Using Harley's old gear, the makeshift team of five women withstand and repel the attack. During the battle, Cass is captured by Roman, while Dinah reveals her metahuman ability of supersonic-level screaming, defeating several of the mobsters. Harley gives chase on roller skates, and with assistance from Helena, the pair pursue Roman. At a nearby pier, Roman prepares to kill Cass, who pulls the ring from a grenade that she took from Harley's weapons chest. Harley throws him off the pier just before the grenade detonates, tearing him apart and killing him.

In the aftermath of destroying Roman's criminal empire, Montoya quits the GCPD. Using the money from the accounts hidden inside the diamond, Helena joins Dinah and Montoya in establishing a team of vigilantes called the Birds of Prey. Harley and Cass escape, selling the diamond itself to a pawn shop and starting their own business.

Cast

• Margot Robbie as Dr. Harleen Quinzel / Harley Quinn: A former certified psychiatrist, who became a crazed criminal and the Joker's accomplice/girlfriend, and later a part of the Suicide Squad. She has since cut ties with the Joker after the pair broke up. Screenwriter Christina Hodson sought to reinvent Harley, wanting to expand on the character following her departure from the Joker's circle of friends. Hodson called Harley the character she enjoyed developing most due to her unpredictable personality.
• Mary Elizabeth Winstead as Helena Bertinelli / The Huntress: A vigilante who is the orphaned daughter of gangster Franco Bertinelli. Ella Mika portrays a young Helena during flashback scenes.
• Jurnee Smollett-Bell as Dinah Lance / Black Canary: A vigilante with the metahuman ability of hypersonic screams, which she inherited genetically from her mother. She is a singer in a club that Sionis owns. Smollett-Bell described Dinah as "disenfranchised and disconnected from the world" and someone who "doesn't really want to have anything to do with crime fighting or being a good-doer, which is so against her nature because we know Dinah to be all heart." The actress added she became a fan of Black Canary by playing with the character in the video game Injustice 2, which also influenced how she physically portrayed the hypersonic screams.
• Rosie Perez as Renee Montoya: An alcoholic, cynical detective in the Gotham City Police Department (GCPD), who is building a case against Sionis.
• Chris Messina as Victor Zsasz: A deranged mob killer and dedicated henchman of Sionis who carves a tally mark on his skin for each victim he claims.
• Ella Jay Basco as Cassandra Cain: A young pickpocket who has a bounty placed upon her head by Sionis after she steals a valuable diamond from him.
• Ali Wong as Ellen Yee: Montoya's ex-girlfriend and Gotham City district attorney.
• Ewan McGregor as Roman Sionis / Black Mask: A brutal, self-obsessed crime lord and head of the Sionis Crime Family who threatens Cassandra and Harley. McGregor described the character as "an absolute narcissist".

Additionally, Steven Williams portrays Captain Patrick Erickson, Montoya's superior at the GCPD; Dana Lee portrays Doc, Quinn's friend who owns a Taiwanese restaurant; François Chau portrays Mr. Keo, a rival crime boss of Sionis; Derek Wilson portrays Tim Munroe, a GCPD detective; Matt Willig portrays Happy, previously a henchman who worked for the Joker and Stefano Galante and whose face was tattooed by Quinn and the Joker; and Bojana Novakovic portrays Erika, a night club patron who is the victim of sexual violence by Sionis. Charlene Amoia and Paul Lasa respectively portray Maria and Franco Bertinelli, the mother and father of Helena; Robert Catrini portrays Stefano Galante, the mob boss who killed the Bertinelli family; Daniel Bernhardt portrays Sionis' chauffeur.

The Joker appears in the film through animated special effects during a flashback sequence, and the combined use of an archived back shot of Jared Leto from Suicide Squad and rock musician Johnny Goth doubling for Leto in a brief flashback sequence. These techniques were used because Leto was not available during filming. A still photograph of Jai Courtney as George "Digger" Harkness / Captain Boomerang also appears on a wall in the Gotham City Police Department.