A year before the disastrous Suicide Squad, Will Smith and Margot Robbie played crime-partners-turned-lovers in this film, Focus. This movie has some very good parts, including an interesting story and awesome performances from the two mega-stars. While it was much better than many of the mediocre crime stories that have been released, this film just doesn't hit the mark with a few aspects, including pacing and the countless twist endings.
The best parts about this film were definitely its performances and story. Will Smith and Margot Robbie portrayed Nicky and Jess, a professional conman and his apprentice who is learning the tools of the trade, respectively. It is apparent throughout the plot of the entire movie, whether they are together or not, that Smith and Robbie have fantastic chemistry. I feel that this film was more of a screen-test for their work together in Suicide Squad, in which their two characters were undeniably the only decent parts of that movie. These two artists work very well together, and this definitely shone through. I also appreciated the diversity in the film, not just in Will Smith, but in his father, the antagonists, and many of the supporting cast members. The cities in the film were lined with people from the correct heritage and not just extras that were casted. The main cast was full of varied people of color, and was not focused on appealing to one race, which was fantastic. The writing of this film was great as well, as it had a story that was original, for the most part. While it did not add anything extraordinary to the crime drama genre, it was a good addition. The final piece of this film that really stood out to me was the initial gambling scene at the Super Bowl. B.D. Wong played a professional gambler who tempted Nicky back into his old habits. Seeing Nicky's transition from calm and collected to frantic and desperate was an awesome thing that really showed off both Smith's ability and the writing's ability to catch an audience. This scene was the highlight of the movie, and stressed me out just as much as it did get me excited.
The biggest issues with Focus, however, were its pacing, blandness, and twist endings. The movie began very abruptly, and while that can be a great technique for some films, it wasn't for this one. The blunt introduction to the world and its characters had no context or explanation, and I was very lost for quite some time. Because of this strange pacing, it took me a while to figure out what was going on with Robbie's character. This lack of background is only utilized well with certain filmmakers who are known for it (like Tarantino) but it simply did not fit the tone of this film. Once I got further along into the film, however, it began to pick up and the pieces were put together. Lack of coherence makes a movie seem like an assorted collection of test footage, and that is exactly how this film suffered. Along with the confusing beginning, the tone was very bland throughout the entire story. This film did not attempt to do anything new in the genre of crime drama, and because of that, it drew away my interest during a lot of the movie. The last problem that I had with the story was that the twist endings and surprises in the final scene seemed like way too much. The writing though the movie was cohesive and understandable, but the last scene appeared to factor in a lot of subplots that were never there to begin with. There were too many twists and realizations in the last ten minutes that did not seem necessary. Instead of making me go "ohhh! So he's the one that blah blah blah", I just sat there trying to piece together everything. It almost seemed like the writers had a lot of different endings built up and couldn't decide which one to use, so they incorporated all of them.
Focus is a fun, sexy drama that is very generic and confusing at times, but hits the general mark nonetheless. It does not provide any groundbreaking writing of any kind, but is entertaining, which is more than can be said for most films. Smith and Robbie are fantastic actors that work extremely well together, but I feel that a more riveting story wouldn't have done them as dirty.
My Rating: ★★★
No comments:
Post a Comment