The audience is pulled into a world of coolness, sleek styling and top-notch performances
Director: Glenn Ficarra, John Reque
Staring: Will Smith, Margot Robbie, Rodrigo Santoro, BD Wong, Gerald McRaney
Rating: 15
Running Time: 104 minutes
With MEN IN BLACK 3 and AFTER EARTH leaving audiences perplexed as to how ‘The Fresh Prince’ himself, Will Smith, had fallen into the slump of box office disappointment it, became clear that Smith had to drag his way back to top form with a comeback of brilliant proportions. In walks Glenn Ficarra and John Requa, with the ever stunning Margot Robbie in toe, still buzzing off their smooth hit CRAZY STUPID LOVE, with the answer to Smith’s career prayers; Focus. A slick and sexy crime adventure that fuels its audience with a hyper-sense of glamour, leading them down a dangerous path of wealth and greed.
Smith plays veteran con-man, Nicky, who takes on the talented but inexperienced newbie, Jess (Margot), and the two quickly find themselves caught up in feelings that just don’t belong in this heartless game. Three years later, Jess has become quite the femme fatale while Nicky’s remorse for their cold departure still effecting his game. The two suddenly cross paths again and begin to flit with one of my most dangerous cons of all.
While the beginning of Jess and Nicky’s relationship feels ever slightly rushed the effortless and genuine chemistry that sparks between Smith and Robbie is enough to convince audiences of their lust and ever-growing love. The characters are written to compliment each other perfectly, which our two protagonist’s sink their teeth into heartily, as audiences see the charming Nicky find his perfect match with the confident, sexy Jess.
Smith really did have to prove himself with this role and he couldn’t have picked a better character to do so. Nicky is enough like what the audience perceives Smith to be – cool, sexy, slick and a charmer, that one finds themselves instantly at ease with his company, making it perfectly enjoyable to switch off and immerse oneself in the pool of Smith’s character. Like the good old days, Smith approaches his character with the ideal blend of confidence and vulnerability and audiences are able to trust his as leading role but emphasizes when needs be. At times Nicky’s dialogue feels a little too cheesy for comfort, often one was transported to some of Smith’s older rom/com’s like HITCH, but at most it’s balanced out by the high stake con scenes that brings audiences back down to earth.
Margot Robbie as Jess is equally enjoyable and convincing. Her progression in performance gets stronger throughout the narrative and that familiar sense of humour found in other performances like in THE WOLF OF WALL STREET shine within a character like this. Margot juggles a really impressive sense of general likableness while still remaining a real knock-out presence on screen. With Smith and Robbie readying to work together again in the up and coming SUICIDE SQUAD movie, the two of them were suitable at ease with each other screen, while also acting as great competition for each other.
With them together on screen, it’s impossible to ignore the sheer, blatant attractiveness that these two posses and this is clearly something Ficcara and Requia ran with. While the entire film was aesthetically pleasing- with its beautiful locations, polished shots of palm tree’s, expensive cars, beautiful women and lavish parties, it often ran the risk of looking a little too like a series of ad campaigns. At times this broke many of the core messages about delving into the inner meaning behind all the glitz and glam, it solidified much of the story to be as shallow as its characters first appear, which then contradicts what Ficarra and Requia attempt to rectify.
The film runs at a relatively on point pace, one scene in particular, co-staring the hilariously nuts BD Wong, fairly on in the narrative really does set a brilliant tone for the entire film. This only falters towards the very end in the final act. Ficcara and Requia push their luck just one con too far and the narrative briefly switches from entertainingly expansive to slightly far-fetched. Luckily, this doesn’t take away from the overall enjoyable flow of the movie. Alongside this, there’s an unexpected sense of gross-out humor that works surprisingly well thanks to the outrageous Adrian Martinez.
While at times the script and pacing of Focus loses just that, it cleverly manages to pull audiences back into a world of excesses coolness, sleek styling and top-notch performances. With Smith and Robbie at its core, Ficcara and Requa create a bubble of drama, sexiness and thrills that can leave the most timid of audience members looking towards a life of crime.
Verdict
