Entertainment
Margot Robbie’s Sexy Netflix Crime Thriller Is One Ridiculous Twist After Another
By Jonathan Klotz
| Published
Margot Robbie exploded onto the scene with 2013’s The Wolf of Wall Street and held her own on screen with Leonardo DiCaprio. It could have been a thankless role as a trophy wife, but Robbie’s charm and talent made it memorable beyond her stunning looks. For a follow-up, Robbie went up against another award-winning A-list star, Will Smith, in 2015’s Focus, now available on Netflix, a twisty heist thriller that overcomes a thin plot thanks to the effortless charm of its two leads.
Margot Robbie And Will Smith Sizzle On Screen
Will Smith plays Nicky, a con artist, when he winds up in bed with Margot Robbie’s Jess, and then can’t help but laugh at her partner’s inept attempt at the “jealous boyfriend con.” Impressed by her part in it, he uses her for a con at the Super Bowl that stretches the limits of believability only 20 minutes into the film. Focus picks up again three years later, when they cross paths in Buenos Aires while both targeting the same mark: Rafeal, a billionaire F-1 team owner.
Working against each other, then with each other, and then against each other again, Nicky and Jess spend the rest of Focus’s run time betraying everyone in sight. As with all great heist films, it’s leading up to a reveal at the end with one final twist, but by that point, it doesn’t really matter. In fact, the plot of the film is largely inconsequential as an excuse to have Smith and Robbie share the screen in a wealthy, tropical location, and there’s nothing wrong with that.
An Old-School Con
Like any good con artist, Focus won’t stick in your memory for weeks after seeing it. You’ll have the hazy recollection of a film that was a fun watch, but if you can’t remember where Jess was standing when she slipped a watch, or how Nicky planted numbers in the mind of a mark, it’s alright, because in the moment, it was fun. After clearing $158 million at the box office, but stumbling with critics (55 percent on Rotten Tomatoes) and the general public (53 percent audience rating), it’s clear that your enjoyment of the film will rest entirely on how you like your escapism.
The current generation of heist films is still being influenced by either Ocean’s 11 or Fast Five, but Focus is more of a direct throwback to one of the best crime movies of the 70s, The Sting. How the small cast reacts to each other as the situation around them devolves gets the focus instead of Ocean’s expansive team or Fast Five’s action sequences, resulting in a slower-paced, character-driven story than most modern movies.
Focus isn’t the best heist movie, but it’s also not the worst. What it is is another showpiece performance from Margot Robbie in only her second major movie role. Going from Leonardo DiCaprio to Will Smith in her first two films is a testament to her talent. After watching the two try to outdo each other in Buenos Aires, it’s especially fun to rewatch their second pairing, Suicide Squad, which lacks all of the charm and spark they brought to Focus.