Birds of Prey Birds of Prey General Discussion and Speculation

From what I am reading the trailers absolutely did the film justice and represented it to a "T". What seems to be at issue is that a lot of people didnt want this movie as is (Harley Quinn featuring the BOP) so they shut themselves out to the film and wanted to wait to see if others liked it before they let themselves warm to it. Happens all of the time, nothing wrong with being skeptical ESPECIALLY if it is something you hold in high regard like many BOP fans do.

I think another issue is that many fans are still kind expecting the massive marketing campaigns WB was throwing out for movies not that long ago. Under the old regime this film would have been plastered everywhere, with multiple trailers being shown and overly produced. The budget would have been $40-50 million more alone on the backs of said marketing. With the new plan at WB of having smaller budgets for ancillary stories they also tone down the marketing which probably costs them some box office but also makes it easier to green light sequels cause the threshhold is much lower. I mean if this film makes $200 million it makes a profit if the current budget is to be believed. WB seems to be less in the "LETS MAKE A BILLION ON EVERYTHING!!!" mode and more on the "lets just see what connects and THEN blow the doors off this thing" mode.

I know it isnt the BOP of the comics, and I know that ticks people off but Margot could have just made her Harley film and been done with it. She championed this and is about to give those characters more exposure than they ever could have gotten on their own. This is a good thing for the CBMs and the industry as a whole.

Well said, however as someone who was rooting for the movie, i dont think the teasers and trailers did the movie justice. The trailers seemed...awkwardly paced and timed. A lot of the jokes and punchlines flatlined and the movie just seemed...a little too offbeat. It didnt have that gangbusters WHAM! effect that the Suicide Squad trailers had and by all accounts from these reviews, this movie is crazier and even more action packed than SS.

granted maybe the trailers were purposely holding back, but i dont think they were the best selling material for the movie to convert the uninitiated.
 
I think (and I will know better in about 5 hours) the trailers were structured the way they were for a reason. Perhaps in part because Suicide Squad had maybe the best trailers ever but had all sorts of issues telling a story that matched the narrative in those trailers. I think the jokes didnt land on purpose, I think the trailers are supposed to be the movie through the eyes of Harley...and that is haphazard and rather looney tunes. The way I always interpreted it is...the trailers are what Harley wants us to know about the film with of course the problem being she cant keep a coherent thought in her brain so we all kind of have to try and read her tea leaves. It is not unlike trying to figure out what is going on in Joker based on the limited stuff they showed in its trailers...you cant do it because you dont know what is happening and what isnt.

Plus, the tweets by people like Gail Simone seem to hint that there is a lot WB wanted under wraps for various reasons.
 
Yes, BoP in general has fans, but obviously there are people out there who weren’t giving it a chance like he said. And some of those even consider themselves BoP fans who were just mad about Harley’s involvement or the lack of Barbara or whatever (and a few from another camp were just obviously dismissive of it being a “girl group“ movie). I saw plenty of people convinced (for whatever reason) it would be utter trash before a single frame was shot. So I don’t see what’s wrong with anyone pointing that out.
Late reply was busy:

Nothing is "wrong" with pointing it out. But why say it? You can go into any movie and say "People wanted it to fail" because there are always people like that out there. And there are always people who want to see a movie succeed. You might as well say the sky is blue. I don't think anything is brought to a convo by stating something so obvious. Some people like things, some people don't.

The main thing to me was: the tone of that sentence I replied to read to me like the anti critic/stan/there was an agenda type posts of "People were just waiting to bash to movie" which is always just corny to me to bring up.

From what I've seen a majority of people were in BoP's corner. There were naysayers for sure, but there are with every movie. From a majority of the media and a majority of what I saw from the GA (mostly due to Harley's involvement) they were on board with this.

And again, I'm not saying there is anything "wrong" with posting that. It's just "why"
 
Late reply was busy:

Nothing is "wrong" with pointing it out. But why say it? You can go into any movie and say "People wanted it to fail" because there are always people like that out there. And there are always people who want to see a movie succeed. You might as well say the sky is blue. I don't think anything is brought to a convo by stating something so obvious. Some people like things, some people don't.

The main thing to me was: the tone of that sentence I replied to read to me like the anti critic/stan/there was an agenda type posts of "People were just waiting to bash to movie" which is always just corny to me to bring up.

From what I've seen a majority of people were in BoP's corner. There were naysayers for sure, but there are with every movie. From a majority of the media and a majority of what I saw from the GA (mostly due to Harley's involvement) they were on board with this.

And again, I'm not saying there is anything "wrong" with posting that. It's just "why"
Probably because it's been more prevalent than usual with this one.
 
I was on the right side of history with this one.

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Here are my general thoughts:

This is basically like DC's Deadpool, and that's not a bad thing. As a Harley Quinn story it works great. As a Birds of Prey movie, it's undercooked. The Birds of Prey elements and characters are where it lacks because it's only like 100 minutes without credits and it's almost all told from Harley's perspective.

Mary Elizabeth Winstead looks cool. Has some cool fight scenes but her backstory is basically a gag and afterthought. She's a bit two-dimensional. Like she has this threadbare characterization where she's trying to look and sound really cool and badass but gets interrupted or fails. I don't think she's exactly wasted, but she's a tertiary character.

Jurnee Smollett-Bell came off better as Dinah Lance. She has a bit more to do here and is worked into the plot more, interacts a bit more with Harley, but I still wanted more "Black Canary."

Cassandra Cain is wasted here. They did not need to turn her character into Harley's juvenile delinquent sidekick.

Generally, I think this is a great Harley Quinn movie, but a disappointing "Birds of Prey" film. I would've switched it around to put in Poison Ivy if you wanted Harley to have a partner in crime. Leave Birds of Prey for their own movie to really set them up.

The R-rating works here since it's from Harley's perspective. It's gory and bloody but it's basically done in a slapstick, 3 Stooges, Looney Tunes type of way.
 
Yeah half the violence is like a Looney Tunes cartoon...which worked for this film to a T.

And I gotta disagree with you...no way the BOP would have been able to carry this film alone. Harley as the star and bringing them in gives them the intro they needed. I would have changed the name of the film, but Harley is the only bankable character of this story so best to use her to get the general audience into the concept. Lest we forget BOP is not the Justice League...they arent ubiquitous. Now they will likely get a spinoff film because of this.
 
Yeah half the violence is like a Looney Tunes cartoon...which worked for this film to a T.

And I gotta disagree with you...no way the BOP would have been able to carry this film alone. Harley as the star and bringing them in gives them the intro they needed. I would have changed the name of the film, but Harley is the only bankable character of this story so best to use her to get the general audience into the concept. Lest we forget BOP is not the Justice League...they arent ubiquitous. Now they will likely get a spinoff film because of this.

This film, no, but in a different story where they are actually developed and fleshed out more and we get Barbara Gordon/Oracle, it would've worked.

I think Harley bringing them together sort of overpowers the rest of the team and they just feel undercooked. But whatever, the Birds of Prey aspects might work better for some other viewers.
 
Yeah half the violence is like a Looney Tunes cartoon...which worked for this film to a T.

And I gotta disagree with you...no way the BOP would have been able to carry this film alone. Harley as the star and bringing them in gives them the intro they needed. I would have changed the name of the film, but Harley is the only bankable character of this story so best to use her to get the general audience into the concept. Lest we forget BOP is not the Justice League...they arent ubiquitous. Now they will likely get a spinoff film because of this.

How many people said that about Aquaman? The guy whose entire career was being made fun for talking to fish? Or Iron Man who wasnt even that well known to the general public? BoP doesnt need Harley to get a jump start, they just wanted to have their cake and eat it to....now lets see if BoP actually gets their own proper film.
 
Matt Reeves has created a separate Bat-verse and he doesn't want DCEU to use some of the Bat-characters, which means No chance of getting Catwoman and Batgirl in future spin-off movies from BoP.

This is the mess WB has created for themselves.
 
The other problem is, where are DCEU's Batman, Joker, Superman, Comm. Gordon, Perry White ? They have suddenly disappered.
 
The other problem is, where are DCEU's Batman, Joker, Superman, Comm. Gordon, Perry White ? They have suddenly disappered.

This film takes place in the DCEU. It directly references Suicide Squad at least three times..and not just nods literally one scene is directly from the film.
 
How many people said that about Aquaman? The guy whose entire career was being made fun for talking to fish? Or Iron Man who wasnt even that well known to the general public? BoP doesnt need Harley to get a jump start, they just wanted to have their cake and eat it to....now lets see if BoP actually gets their own proper film.

Aquaman got his introduction in 2 films though. If they had just done Aquaman out of nowhere I doubt it works as well. Plsu they also cast a guy that could play a tree and people would love him for it.

I am not dissing the BOP...but this was the proper way to introduce them. I think WB would have been better off calling it "Harley Quinn" and then had them be the B story leading into BOP but they had their reasons I am sure. When they get their film (with added cast I am sure) it will be a different animal but set up from a position to really take off. They got quite the boost especially at the end.
 
The other problem is, where are DCEU's Batman, Joker, Superman, Comm. Gordon, Perry White ? They have suddenly disappered.

While I’m really looking forward to this movie and love the attempts at variety that WB DC films are aiming for, the idea of the shared universe as you pointed out is now totally muddled, confusing and broken. Unless it all gets changed by the Flash movie which is supposedly a very different take on the Flashpoint storyline. I think for the most part, Bats and Supes just disappear which is so weird. I do not think Flash, WW, and Aquaman will be seen in a film together any time soon
 
Matt Reeves has created a separate Bat-verse and he doesn't want DCEU to use some of the Bat-characters, which means No chance of getting Catwoman and Batgirl in future spin-off movies from BoP.

This is the mess WB has created for themselves.

Without spoiling, it isnt the mess you think it is. (you can see why in the other post I made with tagged spoilers) In fact it backs up what a lot of us have been saying for a long time. (that a lot of people dont like to hear)
 
Without spoiling, it isnt the mess you think it is. (you can see why in the other post I made with tagged spoilers) In fact it backs up what a lot of us have been saying for a long time. (that a lot of people dont like to hear)

Did they mention Batman at any time?
 
I think the idea of a "shared universe" in the Marvel sense is all but dead.

I really think WB is playing to their strengths, which is one film at a time and doing daring, director-driven films.

So in some ways they may connect, in others they may not. A bit like comics, really.
 
Oh and BTW, there was no post credits scene...there is a post credits narration though. The reddit rumors of post credit scenes are bunk.

I wasnt sure whether to spoiler tag that...I hope I didnt offend anyone.
 

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