Two generally overlooked DCEU movies are finding new life on Netflix this week – and it’s not hard to work out why. Both 2016’s Suicide Squad and 2020’s Birds of Prey are currently ranked within the top 20 most watched movies on the streaming platform the world over as of this Wednesday. The former comes in at #20, with the latter in 18th place. But why are they proving so popular on the site this week? Subscribers must be looking to catch up with Harley Quinn’s previous exploits before The Suicide Squad gets here.
Suicide Squad was notoriously on the receiving end of a lot of hate at the time of its arrival, but over the years opinions have softened somewhat – though folks still desperately want Warner Bros. to release the director’s cut. What makes it worth watching, though, is Margot Robbie’s debut performance as Dr. Harleen Quinzel. Robbie instantly nailed the character and ensured her status as one of the franchise’s biggest stars.
Sure enough, she got her own vehicle in 2020’s Birds of Prey (and the Fantabulous Emancipation of One Harley Quinn). This time, instead of being forced into Task Force X, Harley brought together her own team of anti-heroines – including Black Canary (Jurnee Smolett-Bell) and Huntress (Mary Elizabeth Winstead) – to battle Black Mask (Ewan McGregor). Though it received stronger reviews than Suicide Squad, BoP only made a fraction of the cash at the box office, which put any plans for a sequel on indefinite hold.
But we are about to see Harley again in The Suicide Squad, which will be completely standalone from David Ayer’s film, despite the presence of Robbie and a few other SS stars, like Joel Kinnaman, Jai Courtney and Viola Davis. Guardians of the Galaxy‘s James Gunn is taking the reins this time – and it’s earning critical acclaim so far. Catch it in theaters or on HBO Max from August 6th.
Suicide Squad and Birds of Prey can be found on Netflix in many international territories but are available on HBO Max in the US.
Published: Jul 28, 2021 01:57 pm