Let's Talk About... Harley Quinn: Birds of Prey - A Suicide Squad Redemption Story
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Movie Description:
Birds of Prey (and the Fantabulous Emancipation of One Harley Quinn) (alternatively marketed as Harley Quinn: Birds of Prey, or simply Birds of Prey) is a 2020 American superhero film based on the DC Comics team Birds of Prey. It is the eighth film in the DC Extended Universe, and both a follow-up to and spin-off of Suicide Squad (2016). It was directed by Cathy Yan and written by Christina Hodson, and stars Margot Robbie, Mary Elizabeth Winstead, Jurnee Smollett-Bell, Rosie Perez, Chris Messina, Ella Jay Basco, Ali Wong, and Ewan McGregor. The film follows Harley Quinn as she joins forces with Helena Bertinelli, Dinah Lance, and Renee Montoya to save Cassandra Cain from Gotham City crime lord Black Mask.
Robbie, who also serves 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, while Yan signed 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 Arts District, Los Angeles, and soundstages at Warner Bros. Studios in Burbank, California. Additional filming took place in September 2019.
Birds of Prey is the first DCEU film and the second DC Films production to be rated R by the Motion Picture Association of America. The film had its world premiere in Mexico City on January 25, 2020, and was theatrically released in the United States in IMAX, Dolby Cinema and 4DX on February 7, 2020 and has grossed $83 million worldwide. The film received praise from critics for its visual style, Yan's direction, and the performances of Robbie and McGregor, but criticism for the screenplay.
Harley Quinn narrates the events of her life leading up to when, some time after the Enchantress' defeat, the Joker breaks up with Harley, throwing her out on the streets of Gotham City. She is taken in by Doc, the elderly owner of a Chinese restaurant. Recovering from her abusive relationship, Harley cuts her hair, adopts a spotted hyena (whom she names after Bruce Wayne), takes up roller derby, and blows up the Ace Chemicals plant where she pledged herself to the Joker.
At a nightclub owned by gangster Roman Sionis, Harley cripples Roman's driver and meets burlesque singer Dinah Lance. Dinah later rescues an intoxicated Harley from an attempted abduction. Impressed by Dinah's skills, Roman appoints her as his new driver. GCPD Detective Renee Montoya investigates a series of mob killings carried out by a crossbow-wielding vigilante. Finding Harley's necklace at the scene of the Ace Chemicals explosion, Montoya notes that Harley is in danger without the Joker's protection. She approaches Dinah about being an informant on Roman for them, but Dinah rejects the offer.
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 Cain steals the diamond from Zsasz but is arrested and swallows the diamond. Harley, fleeing from Montoya and several other people she has wronged, is captured by Roman's men. Zsasz informs Roman that Cassandra has the diamond, and Dinah warns Montoya about Cass. As Roman prepares to have Harley killed, she offers to recover the diamond for him. Roman agrees but also places a bounty on Cass.