Yesterday brought the final trailer for Warner Bros. Birds of Prey. The film hits cinemas in just under a month and today we’re taking a look at several key moments from the latest trailer to see what hints they might give about the final film.
A reliable storyteller?
The trailer opens with an extended look at a scene from the previous trailer. Harley (Margot Robbie) enters a GCPD station and tells the cop on the desk that she’s there to report a crime, when he asks her what crime she pulls out a gun and fires. The scene freezes and Harley, now in narration, tells us she got the story wrong and starts again.
We know from the film’s synopsis that Harley will be the one in charge of telling the story of Birds of Prey. But how much can we trust what she tells us? Could much of the story be exaggerated because it comes from Harley’s POV? Is she really working with Huntress (Mary Elizabeth Winstead), Black Canary (Jurnee Smollett-Bell) and Montoya (Rosie Perez)?
We wouldn’t be surprised if in the film’s final act it is revealed that Harley’s tale isn’t quite the truth of events!
Return to ACE Chemicals
Before beginning her emancipation, Harley makes one huge gesture after her breakup with Joker. She returns to ACE Chemicals, the place where she was dumped in to a vat of acid, to blow the joint up.
It’s a symbolic moment for Harley as she closes the book on her time with Joker and her transformation and looks forward to her future. It echoes a similar moment in the animated series Harley Quinn when she learns that she jumped in to the acid rather than being pushed by Joker.
Revenge mission…
A the trailer progresses we learn more about just why Harley joins up with the rest of the gang and why they are taking a stand against Black Mask (Ewan McGregor). Each of the main cast has, for some reason, annoyed the crime boss and now he’s building an army to take them down.
Cass (Ella Jay Basco) stole a diamond from Mask’s henchman Victor Zsasz (Chris Messina) before she meets up with Harley. Huntress killed one of his best guards. Canary, once a singer in his club, sold him out, most likely to the GCPD. Finally, Montoya was brave enough to go against the corruption in the police force to build a case against him.
Alone they can’t stand against his arm of masks, but together they can make a stand!
Raising an army…
Though we don’t know his whole plan, it seems that Black Mask is building an army in his mission to take revenge on each of the Birds. We see several shots throughout the trailer where he is surrounded by goons also wearing intricate masks.
It seems this version of the character has some quirkier personality traits including a penchant for disguising his and his henchmen’s faces.
But the question remains: when the movie ends and credits roll, will the mask be burned on to his face? Or will Roman Sionis remain intact underneath his garish disguise?
Personality traits…
In 2016’s Suicide Squad we got to to see Dr. Harleen Quinzel’s transformation in to Harley Quinn. Following her transformation we saw Harley making use of her skills as a psychologist to try and manipulate her squad team mates.
In this scene it seems like she’s up to her old tricks as she goes all analytic on Huntress. It might seem like a comedy moment at first but it also emphasises that despite all of her craziness, Harley still retains all of the intelligence she had before her breakdown.
Could the Clown Princess of Crime talk her way out of a hot spot or two purely but using her old mental prowess?
A scar for the ages…
We’ve seen very little of Victor Zsasz in the trailers so far. But this scene makes it clear that he will, to some degree, show off his trademark scars.
In the comics Zsasz permanently marks himself for each of his kills. The lack of visible scaring here could indicate that he’s early in his career or has only recently taken up the practice of scarification.
Either way we’re excited to his relationship with Black Mask as they are played as a bit of an odd couple in the trailer and it looks like a unique take of both of this classic comic book characters.
Roller Derby Harley
It would be remiss not to mention the flash of footage from the roller derby scene in the trailer. Though we have no context for how and why this scene takes place it looks set to be a classic Harley Quinn moment and one we cannot wait to see in action!
Canary Cry!
From the beginning fans have been worried about the comic book accuracy of Birds of Prey. The lack of Batgirl is a fairly major departure from the comics but up until now we’ve also yet to see Black Canary using her iconic Canary Cry.
We always knew it would be in there but until now we didn’t know what form it would take. This trailer finally shows, but doesn’t let us hear, exactly how the cry will work in action. As Dinah projects her voice forwards it throws a crowd of nearby goons flying.
The visual effect makes it look like Dinah is being seen underwater. It looks like very cool ripples or waves of sonic energy being blasted towards her victims. We cannot wait to hear what it sounds like!
A nod to The Dark Knight
In the final shot of the trailer finally introduces us to one of Harley’s trademark hyenas. It seems she may only have one rather than the traditional two but this is still a scene not to be missed.
As Cass is bemused by a hyena sitting in a bathtub, Harley proudly tells her that she named the animal Bruce after none other than Bruce Wayne who she refers to as cute. If only Harley knew that she had kissed him through his cowl eh!?
Birds of Prey (And The Fantabulous Emancipation of One Harley Quinn) stars Margot Robbie as Harley Quinn, Mary Elizabeth Winstead as Huntress, Jurnee Smollett-Bell as Black Canary and Rosie Perez as Renee Montoya. The movie will be directed by Cathy Yan and arrives in cinemas on February 7, 2020.
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