Focus Blu-Ray review: “Inventive and both Smith and Robbie give it everything they’ve got right, up to an exciting conclusion.”
Directors: Glenn Ficarra, John Requa
Cast: Will Smith, Margot Robbie, Adrian Martinez, B.D. Wong, Rodrigo Santoro.
Certificate: 15.
Special Features: Masters of Misdirection – The Players in a Con / Will Smith – Gentleman Thief / Margot Robbie – Stealing Hearts / Deleted Scenes / Alternate Opening.
Focus is a slick and smooth con-artist drama that peaks at the right moments and achieves it with clever style that both excites and impresses. Although sold as your classic crime-drama, there’s a lot of striking psychology at play that delves into the practical and business-like persona of the con – and their methods – alongside a deeper insight into that world.
Starring Will Smith as experienced and somewhat hardened hustler Nicky, his skills in misdirection are tested early on by Margot Robbie’s Jess but it turns out she’s just a novice and he catches her out because it’s obvious he doesn’t know what she’s doing. Although Nicky has made her look like a bit of a fool, she perks his interest and you genuinely feel a spark between their two characters as he follows her and offers a tip or two for Jess to improve.
Smith and Robbie’s chemistry is natural and Smith goes into that deeper, serious voice we hear these days when he’s in this style of movie, which gives him an equally distant and alluring character with various revealing secrets we’ll learn as it progresses. The last time I saw Robbie was in The Wolf of Wall Street and she’s an instant hit once again. Margot is an exciting and beautiful screen presence but, very importantly, she has a very distinct class that grows with her character.
It isn’t all rosy for their on-screen relationship though, as after they pull off a huge heist, which gives us another awesome cameo for B.D. Wong as a rich businessman who loves a gamble, Nicky dumps Jess for reasons you’ll see revealed. Jumping forwards and broken apart, we reconvene three years later as they both, unexpectedly, meet up again but Nicky seems a different man and Jess has supposedly learned a whole lot more but her presence and his feelings misplaces his ‘focus’ for the game.
I don’t need to giveaway too much of proceedings because, quite frankly, it would kill the whole progression of a stylish and clever heist thriller from writers/directors Glenn Ficarra and John Requa – who you’ll know for the excellently refreshing Crazy, Stupid, Love – The hustle is on, the entertainment in Focus is inventive and both Smith and Robbie give it everything they’ve got right up to an exciting conclusion.
Focus is out on Blu-ray and DVD today.
Focus Blu-Ray review
Focus Blu-Ray review by Dan Bullock, July 2015.
