One Scene From Birds Of Prey Has Fans Cheering In Theaters

Birds of Prey has officially hit theaters and audiences appear to be loving the Suicide Squad spinoff. Having just seen the movie myself, I can attest to it being a fun, self-referential comic book film in the vein of something like Deadpool. And Margot Robbie was born to play this character. In fact, she might have already locked up the award for all time best female comic book movie performance.

And that’s what Birds of Prey is; a girl-power celebration. The director is a woman, the writer is a woman and besides the villains, the cast is almost entirely female. And one scene in particular is being praised by fans as a perfect representation of the relationships women have with each other.

Late in the movie, the entire team is fighting Black Mask’s hired goons at an abandoned amusement park. Black Canary is punching and kicking (there’s a lot of kicking in this film. Jean-Claude Van Damme would be proud) her way through some bad guys when Harley Quinn notices that her hair is in need of some maintenance mid-fight. Quinn rolls over (literally) and hands her a hair tie. Canary then precedes, in one motion, to tie up her hair while fighting off multiple men.

It’s a small moment, but an authentic one that showcases female friendship. And suffice it to say, the fans are loving it.

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Jurnee Smollett-Bell, who plays Canary, spoke about this particular moment to Digital Spy and how it was necessary to add some realism to an otherwise over-the-top fight scene.

“It’s fun ’cause it’s kind of silly that Black Canary’s like, you know, she’s fighting and – it’s also a commentary on all of them [and] trying to keep the film grounded and more scrappy,” Smollett-Bell explained. “I do think that comes from all of us just having conversations of like, ‘Yeah, you know [when] you go to the gym, you’re going to tie your hair back’. So it’s literally just [a matter of], ‘Well, what’s practical?'”

Robbie, who also acts as a producer on the film, thought it was necessary to showcase a group of women kicking ass because women also like action movies and she felt there wasn’t enough of a female perspective in the genre.

“I pitched the idea of an R-rated girl gang film including Harley, because I was like, ‘Harley needs friends.’ Harley loves interacting with people, so don’t ever make her do a standalone film,” Robbie said to Collider in 2018. “She’s got to be with other people, it should be a girl gang. I wasn’t seeing enough girl gangs on screen, especially in the action space. So that was always a big part of it.”

She also mentioned director Cathy Yan’s involvement and how it’s important to give young filmmakers, particularly female filmmakers, an opportunity to see what they can do if given the chance.

“And then, of course, having a female director to tell that story. And giving a female director the chance to do big budget stuff,” Robbie added. “They always get ‘Here’s the tiny little film’… I was like, ‘I love action. I love action films. I’m a girl. What, are we meant to only like a specific thing’? So it was a hugely important to find a female director for this, if possible. But at the end of the day — male, female — the best director gets the job and Cathy was the best director.”

You would never know this was Yan’s first big-budget movie. She handles every action sequence with flair and energy and the fight scenes in particular are shot with wide angles and feature great choreography. She certainly has a bright future in the industry and we’re very pleased with what she delivered in Birds of Prey.