The Will Smith redemption movie, Focus, was a bit of a step up from After Earth. He could honestly only go up following After Earth.
Focus is a better movie than I anticipated, actually that's a lie. Despite the cast my expectations were low, so I was pleasantly surprised that it wasn't much of a stinker. The movie is entertaining, the story is somewhat interesting, but - of course there is a but - it could have been much better.
My main problem with Focus is that I wasn't engaged in the story, it wasn't because it's poorly written, it's not. I walked into the movie theater knowing that it was about con-artists - the marketing never hid it, if you've seen the trailer you know this. Anyway, knowing that it was about con artists and the tag-line is "Never loose Focus" I never really let my guard down and I didn't let myself believe what I was seeing. I was busy trying to figure out what the con was before it happened and that's where the movie kind of disappoint.
They did not play on the fact that the audience may be looking for clues as to what is going on. There are no real clues for the audience to find, there are very little things for you to think back on and say "That's right I saw that." They either show how it or explain it once it already happened. So if you're like me, looking for bread crumbs for you to figure out the con Focus hardly leaves any. I only got sucked into one scene and totally believed what they fed me for a little while. But much later when the big twist came I wasn't shock or surprised.
I probably would have had a better experience of the film if there were hidden clues leading up to the cons or if there was one character, who wasn't a con artist, that I could have trusted allowing me to let my guard down and get conned.
The leads, Will Smith and Margot Robbie, work well on screen. Will Smith is not his usual happy, upbeat, self in this movie but it suits the character. As for Margot Robbie, she plays the sex symbol cliché well without letting herself get trapped by it. She's more than a dumb, interchangeable pin up, she showed it in The Wolf Of Wall Street and also in interviews you quickly get that she knows how and when to wield the power than she has. She's talented and it shows in the movie.
Focus is a decent movie, it lacks refinement but it's entertaining, Smith is slowly getting back on top after the stinker that After Earth was.
