By: Lana K. Wilson-Combs
Margot Robbie sure has been putting in some work lately. The 30-year-old actress is sprinkling her movie magic all over the big screen. She stars in the Oscar nominated movies, ?Once Upon a Time in Hollywood? and ?Bombshell.? Plus, she?ll be the voice of Flopsy Rabbit in the upcoming kiddie pic ?Peter Rabbit 2: The Runaway.?
Robbie?s latest film
?Birds of Prey?--which she co-produced--is expected to take flight at the box office this weekend.
?Birds of Prey,? from director Cathy Yan (?Dead Pigs?), is the DC Comics superhero movie follow-up to 2016?s hit ?Suicide Squad? which starred Jared Leto as Joker and Robbie as the maniacal, wild woman Harley Quinn.
The movie?s complete title is actually ?Birds of Prey (And the Fantabulous Emancipation of One Harley Quinn),? but no one has time for all that.
Really, all you need to know is that Robbie offers up ?fantabulous? and outrageous fun in ?Birds of Prey? alongside her bizarro supporting cast.
Quinn (Robbie) is still bad-to-the-bone, but she?s also reeling from breaking up with her boyfriend ?Puddin,? aka the Joker (Leto). He?s nowhere to be seen this time around.
When word gets out among Gotham?s underworld that Quinn is Joker-less, all her enemies are chomping at the bit to get some payback for her doing them wrong over the years.
Quinn hates making a deal with deranged crime lord Roman Sionis (a fantastic Ewan McGregor, ?Dr. Sleep?) also known as Black Mask. His partner in crime Victor Zsasz (Chris Messina, TV?s ?Robot Chicken?) is a sadistic, scar-face killer.
For Quinn it?s all about self-preservation, her adopted pet hyena and staying two or three steps ahead of Gotham City police detective Renee Montoya (Rosie Perez, TV?s ?She?s Gotta Have It?). She?s itching to bring down Sionis.
Then there?s Cassandra Cain (Ella Jay Basco, TV?s ?Veep?) who is on the run from Sionis because she stole one of his huge diamonds. Oh, and some mobsters are getting whacked by crossbows that appear to be the work of the Huntress (Mary Elizabeth Winstead, ?Gemini Man? and ?The Parts You Lose?).
And Dinah Lance/Black Canary (An impressive Jurnee Smollett-Bell, TV?s ?Underground?) works as a singer at Sionis? nightclub. Don?t be fooled. This chick can floor you with her beautiful voice and a vicious round house kick too if you cross her. Quinn discovers Black Canary is good friend to have around when the going gets tough. Yeah, even someone as hard as Quinn needs reinforcement.
Still, there?s a method to Quinn?s sparkly, color crazed madness. When you simply surrender to it and all the wacky, kick ass, girl powered action that it brings, ?Birds of Prey? soars.
Editor's Note: Be sure to catch my N2Entertainment.net movie talk segment on the Kitty O'Neal Show Fridays now at 6:20 p.m. on radio station KFBK 1530 AM and 93.1 FM.
Watch This Trailer For
"BIRDS OF PREY"
Lana K. Wilson-Combs is a member of The Broadcast Film Critics? Association (BFCA), The Black Film Critics Circle (BFCC), The Alliance Of Women Film Journalists (AWFJ) and a Nominating Committee Voting Member for the NAACP Image Awards.
