Film Review: Sweet Madness (A Harley Quinn story) (short film) (2015)

SYNOPSIS:

Harley Quinn sets a deadly plan in motion, the consequences of which she and she alone is prepared for.

REVIEW:

Got some short films for you, kiddies. Let’s start off with SWEET MADNESS from Dream Seekers productions and written/directed by Peter Dukes.

In the current vein of superhero films, SWEET MADNESS is a Harley Quinn story. If you don’t know, Harley Quinn is a character from the Batman series. She is a former psychiatrist at Arkham Asylum who lost her mind and is now the sidekick and moll of the legendary Joker. Everybody knows who he is, right?

But this film is about her, not him. Harley (Madeleine Wade) has taken the Mayor and his family hostage in their home. SWAT teams are outside, the hostage negotiator is on the phone, and Harley pretty much has everyone by the short hairs.

Never mess with crazy, folks. That’s the lesson here. If you are not familiar with the character of Harley Quinn, this is as good a place to start as any. Ms. Wade (Supernatural, Legally Blonde 2, General Hospital) does a great job of playing the notoriously nut-bar Harley.

The rest of the cast are only featured in passing in the story, but I will make mention of one Micah Fitzgerald. He appears about halfway through this film, and he’s definitely memorable. You can see him again in the pilot episode of FEAR THE WALKING DEAD on AMC this summer.

The music featured is a song you may have heard before. “Tick of the Clock” by The Chromatics has been used in numerous Hollywood films, including DRIVE and TAKEN 2. It has been licensed for commercial usage in ad campaigns for National Geographic, AIDS awareness, Miss America, Major League Baseball, HTC, Fox Sports, and many others.

The film is short and sweet and to the point. Sounds good, looks good, and for the true Harley fan it is absolutely the story we’ve been waiting for.

So using my special “short scale” of one to five, five being awesome, I’m giving this film 4 nut-bars…with cheese.