Focus Review
R: Language, A Scene of Graphic Violence and Brief Sexuality
Warner Bros Pictures, Ratpac Entertainment
1 hr and 46 Minutes
Cast: Will Smith, Margot Robbie, Rodrigo Santoro, BD Wong, Gerald McRaney, with Robert Taylor, and Adrian Martinez
Editor’s Note: This review was originally published during my adolescence. Outdated language might be seen in these old posts. Since then, my thoughts and values have grown. This review is being presented as they were originally written, grammatical errors and typos and all. Because to do otherwise would be that same as claiming these flaws has never existed.
BACKSTORY: Tuesday February 17th, I go to a screening of Focus in Manhattan. I was late but luckily I had connections. So when I got in the theater I saw a small poster in front of the screen with a spotlight on it. When that happens a celebrity comes to introduce the movie, but this time it's WILL SMITH! So when I got there, there were available seats all around, which gave me time to figure if I should sit in the front or the second row. I didn't want to have my neck up through the whole film after Will Smith leaves, so I sat in the second row to still have a good view of both the screen and Will. Unfortunately when he came he started hugging people and shaking hands ONLY in the front row so I'm just in the second row saying to myself "fuck I should've sat in the front"
STORYLINE: Nicky Spurgeon is an extremely accomplished con man who takes an amateur con artist, Jess, under his wing. Nicky and Jess become romantically involved, and with Nicky's profession of being a liar and a cheater for a living, he realizes that deception and love are things that don't go together. They split, only to see each other three years later... And things get messy.
REVIEW: 2 years after the brutal After Earth, Will Smith needed a comeback film to show his enthusiasm and his charismatic charm. Thankfully this role is the one to prove to the audience that he still has coolness up his sleeve. Having him romantically team up with Margot Robbie who is also charismatic on screen makes the film thoroughly entertaining. So most of the movie you're laughing at most of the jokes being told on screen. With Focus being a literal 3 act structure is a bit clever on one hand, but tiring on the other. Another thing about Focus is that it has beautiful scenery that Robbie and Smith run around in. They don't exploit the setting they're in, but instead the filmmakers take their advantage on every set they're in. The biggest flaw about this film is the number of plot twists that happens within the last 20 minutes where the film just ends leaving me to have a bad taste in my mouth. Sometimes a plot twist in a movie can be a surprising thing, but when you just beat us over the head with 4 plot twist in one scene, you're just destroying everything you built up. A good example with this is Now You See Me, a movie that had a bad plot twist and left the film finishing with a dud. But this manages to outshit the shitty plot twist than that film.
LAST STATEMENT: As funny and entertaining the film is thanks to it's charismatic leads, Focus' amount of plot twists destroys all amount of enjoyment that it builds.
Rating: 3/5 | 63%
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