This is a good review that has nonetheless totally failed at its stated aim of getting me to watch a movie I originally dismissed, and because of that I feel I owe it to the writer to explain why.
First, I actually liked the action scenes in Aquaman and thought they were pretty well-directed.
But, and far more importantly, second, I and most of the people I talk to about these sorts of movies, watch them for the characters. I agree, it can be hard to achieve larger-than-life without going over-the-top, especially for characters who\'re already there, but it\'s the primary draw of the genre, for better or worse. And I will say it\'s my primary complaint about that Rogue One picture everyone else loves; that the characters are so thin and so poorly-handled that, with maybe one or two exceptions, I don\'t care as much about what they\'re doing as I should.
Now, you do valiantly rally to try to defend the characters at one point, arguing the rest of the supporting cast can make up for a weak antagonist and an annoying lead, but this unfortunately crashes into the third point: I am sick to goddamn death of Harley Quinn. I am! I am so, so tired of having my cheeks torn, and my jaw broken to cram more of her down my damn throat, and if I choke to death it\'ll be sad, but what\'s the alternative? Not supersaturating the character to death? (Also, I am painfully aware that you are apathetic at best to the Batman mythos and so either don\'t know or don\'t give a shit about most of the characters involved, but I have at least a cursory knowledge of a lot of them and so seeing them heavily underutilized so as to make room for more Harley Quinn is getting me angry in advance.)
I get wanting to wave the flag for practical effects over CGI cartoons, I really do! I\'ve waved it myself in the past. But I can already tell that it\'s just not going to work for me. And I wrote all this (review-length comments, eh?) because it\'s a good review and I appreciate the effort that went into it.
I think the anachronic order was better for the movie in the end because presenting the events in chronological order would’ve resulted in an extremely long first act. Harley wouldn’t have started her heist until an hour into the movie. It also would’ve made the prison storming a very long and arguably exhausting action scene without a break in the middle.
That\'s fair enough Spectral, glad I helped you make a decision!
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Underappreciated
Yesterday I watched Aquaman and yawned my way through CGI fight scenes that must have cost tens of millions and thousands of manhours to make. A day before yesterday, I watched Birds of Prey, a movie that cost half as much as Aquaman and managed to have some of the most creative, fun and well shot fight scenes I have seen in a superhero movie.
Birds of Prey is, on paper, a simple movie about a misogynistic gangster and various misfit women fighting to get their hands on a precious diamond. The movie unnecessarily convolutes this plot, showing scenes out of chronological sequence for no apparent reason other than to replicate the high-energy, demented narration provided by its protagonist, Harley Quinn. Quinn is the weak point of her own movie; her fourth-wall breaking, anti-hero wacky antics range from harmless viewing to obnoxious. I was worn out by Dead Pool doing the exact same shtick even before the end of his own movie, and a lot of the jokes in Birds of Prey fall flat for the same reason.
The second weak point of the movie is Ewan Mc Gregor as the villain Black Mask. The guy is going for an Al Pacino type high energy gangster, but he can't seem to stick with the accent or the persona consistently, and at no point did I ever get the sense that he was dangerous or powerful enough force for the heroes to not simply shoot him in the face and be done with him. In a movie that depends on its characters to lead the story, it needed more from Black Mask. Fortunately, the rest of the support cast make up for this, especially Huntress, the mysterious yet socially awkward assassin.
So whilst the movie lacks some important elements, it does the job of existing as a vehicle for highly imaginative and spectacular action scenes. And these more than make up for everything wrong with the film. The fairly small scale action, whether it's Quinn sauntering through a police station with a grenade launcher full of beanbags, or her chasing a speeding car whilst on roller skates, allows for lots of practical effects and fight choreography on proper film sets. It's all stuff sorely lacking within big budgeted Superhero films, which now mostly consist of putting actors in big green rooms, wanting to create the most spectacular cartoon like scenes possible.
And that's all I really want to say about Birds of Prey. It's earned a recommendation, and I regret that I, along with a lot of people, didn't pay it more attention on its initial release. I would happily trade this movie over most other superhero movies.