Nicky, an accomplished con artist, gets romantically involved with his disciple Jess but later ends their relationship. Years later, she returns as a femme fatale to spoil his plans.
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Reviews
Best movie of this year hands down!
Very disappointing...
I cannot think of one single thing that I would change about this film. The acting is incomparable, the directing deft, and the writing poignantly brilliant.
It was OK. I don't see why everyone loves it so much. It wasn't very smart or deep or well-directed.
This was pretty good but not great, honestly pretty forgettable. A few funny bits mostly thanks to Adrian Martinez but I wouldn't call this a comedy as its labelled. Will Smith plays a con artist who takes on Margot Robbie as an inexperienced apprentice and then struggles to keep his eye on the prize after he develops romantic feelings for her. I liked Will Smith in this, he down plays his over the top Will Smithyness taking a more serious approach to his charcter. His chemistry with Margot Robbie is mediocre even though I felt like they were trying to set up a George Clooney/J-Lo sort of thing like in Out Of Sight but missing the fireworks. The locations added significantly to this and you're never really sure who is playing who. The scams are big and over complicated though -honestly that one at the football game with BD Wong had way too many variables to work. Decent back up cast especially with Martinez and Wong and a surprise appearance from Robert Taylor of Longmire who keeps his Aussie accent. Nice.
Starts well, but the movie, as previous reviewers have commented, is both too long and its plot seemingly too convoluted to maintain audience interest. An expert job of scissoring would have saved the day, but this does not occur. The movie goes on and on and on along a familiar track that yields only one or two mild surprises. Fortunately, Margot Robbie is not only super-beautiful but turns in an excellent performance. Unfortunately, the same could not be said of Will Smith who way out-stays his welcome.
Focus What a shame. The first half of this flick is actually entertaining and fun. The mid-movie climax should have been the final climax. Or they should have just built the film around taking down the big mid-flick mark. Whatever, the only thing that matters is that the film is entertaining, which it is. But like I said before, the second half of the film does disappoint and fall flat, just to set up some stupid twist that nobody cares about. 6/10
Okay, I'll admit one of my main reasons for watching 'Focus' is because I saw Will Smith and Margot Robbie in 'Suicide Squad' and thought they were the best part about it. It was only then that I found out they'd already starred together in a crime-caper and, based on their super-villain chemistry, thought it would probably be worth a watch. And I was pleasantly surprised to begin with.Smith plays a suave conman who stumbles on a not-so-suave conwoman, played by Robbie. However, she is endearing to him enough for him to feel like he needs to take her under his wing and teach her to refine her scamming ways in order to keep her out from the law's reach just that little bit longer. Luckily for him (and the speed of the narrative!) she takes to it pretty quickly and in a matter of seconds (well, 'screen-time' seconds anyway!) she's as much of a pro as he is. And so, he inducts her into his gang and off they go scamming people during a big festival-type event.And I was quite enjoying this. Yes, you do kind of have to leave the fact that, despite their charming exteriors and witty quips, these are criminals and although it's quite fun and cool to watch them 'work' we'd most likely be a little less tolerant if one of them lifted our camera while they pretended to ask for directions in a crowded public place. Anyway, it was fun seeing them scam – even if it does serve as a warning to watch out for these types of people and the tricks of their trade which allow them to operate.However, about a third of the way through the film everything changes. The group goes their separate ways after their major scam is complete. After this, everything sort of slows down. There's only really one storyline going on which – obviously – centres on our two attractive leads and the single scam that's now taking place. It was about this time that I stopped watching intently and enjoying the light-hearted caper and had that burning desire to check my emails on my phone. That's what happens to the plot – it sort of drifts away from you and you stop really paying attention. I think I may have checked Instagram once or twice during the second act and I'm pretty certain that I didn't miss much. It becomes the sort of film where you can quite easily nip out for a cup of tea and you won't really have missed anything vital.Overall, 'Focus' isn't a bad film. I really enjoyed the first half and the chemistry and coolness-factor of the two leads just about took me through the rest of it. I'm not sure how often I'd bother watching it again. I could probably go many years before really bothering to invest another couple of hours on this one. Definitely one of those films where you're better off watching it for free on one of the internet's 'streaming' services rather than buying the Blu-ray at full price.The first half I'd rate 7/10 and the second half just 6/10, but overall I'm feeling generous!