FOCUS DVD (2015)




SYNOPSIS: Nicky is a seasoned master of misdirection who becomes involved with novice con artist Jess. As he’s teaching her the tricks of the trade, she gets too close for comfort and he breaks it off. Three years later, Jess - now an accomplished femme fatale—shows up in Buenos Aires during the high-stakes race-car circuit throwing Nicky off his game in the middle of his latest dangerous scheme. 

MOVIE REVIEW:

It’s always nice to see Will Smith back on the screen again. For some reason or other, he is just not as active on the screen in recent times after the failure of his dramedy, Seven Pounds.

But hey, the Fresh Prince is back in his usual confident, smooth criminal persona and this time, he is playing a seasoned con man named Nicky. His job it seems is to run a syndicate that specialized in pickpocketing, thieving and swindling. He is mostly cool, detached until he met a beautiful woman, Jess (Margot Robbie) and falls head over heels for her. Sensing he is quickly losing his focus, Nicky unceremoniously dumped her until three years later, he met Jess again in the midst of a major con job.

Because Nicky is setup as a con man right from the start, you never know when the guy is telling the truth even to Jess or his trusted ally, Farhad (Adrian Martinez).  The script by directors Glenn Ficarra and John Requa keeps things on the edge but mostly, it’s slick and fluffy. Perhaps it’s the casting of the very hot Margot Robbie that gives off such a sexy vibe or Smith’s charisma that had us believing this is more of a rom-com than a heist movie.  

Alongside Smith and Robbie, we have Brazilian actor Rodrigo Santoro (300: Rise of An Empire) who plays a billionaire motorsport team owner who hire Nicky to trick a fellow competitor. The problem is Santoro is not given much screentime for his character and he ends up being in the role of the obligatory villain. Meh.

Nevertheless, those expecting Focus to be in the league of Ocean’s Eleven will sorely be disappointed. It does have its fair share of surprises and a couple of crude jokes courtesy of Martinez’ character but Ficarra and Requa pulled off one twists too many and you just doesn’t buy how they conveniently manage to pull off the con job in the end. It’s not exactly smart writing but Smith and Robbie’s sizzling chemistry certainly helps to distract the focus. Just sit back and enjoy the game.   

SPECIAL FEATURES:

8 minutes of Deleted and Extended scenes make up the sole extra feature in the DVD.

AUDIO/VISUAL:

Visual presentation is solid with beautiful black levels and a saturated color palette. Dialogue is clear for a talky movie though there are occasional flashy sound and ambient effects. 

MOVIE RATING:


DVD RATING :

Review by Linus Tee



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 ABOUT THE MOVIE

Genre: Drama/Romance
Starring: Will Smith, Margot Robbie, Rodrigo Santoro, BD Wong, Robert Taylor, Adrian Martinez
Director: Glenn Ficarra, John Requa
Rating: M18 (Sexual Scene and Coarse Language)
Year Made: 2015

 SPECIAL FEATURES

- Deleted Scenes

 TECHNICAL SPECIFICATIONS

Languages: English/Thai
Subtitles: English/Mandarin/Cantonese/Korean/Bahasa Indonesia/
Bahasa Malay/
Thai
Aspect Ratio: 2.35:1
Sound: Dolby Digital 5.1
Running Time: 1 hr 44 mins
Region Code: 3
Distributor: HVN Entertainment Singapore