Focus (2015)
Certified: 15
Duration: 104 minutes
Directed by: Glenn Ficara, John Requa
Starring: Will Smith, Margot Robbie, Rodrigo Santoro, Gerald McRaney, B.D. Wong, Robert Taylor, Dominic Fumusa, Brennan Brown, Adrian Martinez
KRS Releasing Ltd
Will Smith is Nicky Spurgeon, a con man who is very good at what he does. He can carry out a complicated solo job as easily as he does with a team made up of Farhad and Horst (Adrian Martinez and Brennan Brown).
At one point he meets Jess (Margot Robbie), a young, beautiful woman who seduces him into her bed. It’s a con which will see him getting robbed, but he is immediately aware of it and plays along. He gives her some advice and then moves on as he proceeds to his next target.
However, Jess follows him and shows him that she has what it takes to be part of his team and eventually she does. Then the unexpected occurs: while betting on the Super Bowl with Liyuan (B.D. Wong), a gambler with no limits, Nicky goes crazy. He had started a relationship with Jess but things between them end after this episode.
Three years later, Nicky is brought into a con by Rafael Garriga (Rodrigo Santoro), a wealthy Spaniard who owns a car racing team. He wants to pull the carpet in an elaborate heist on his rival McEwean (Robert Taylor). Owens (Gerald McRaney), Garriga’s main man, is not happy with this. As the plan starts to unfold, Jess enters the scene and she is seemingly involved with Rafael.
That is when Nick starts to doubt everyone, everything and even himself as the stakes, both financial and emotional, start to rise.
Focus is like Smith’s Ocean’s Eleven but revolves around his and Robbie’s characters instead of a larger cast. The resulting film is sleek, shiny and all glittery that flies and soars on the star power and the screen presence of its two main protagonists.
Smith and Robbie provide enough appeal to make Focus an interesting foray. The film looks clever, provides the necessary tripwires for its audience but does not outdo its hand and go over the top.
Smith here is given the chance to be suave and charming, to play a character without the need for too much of back story. The result is a mature sort of Fresh Prince of Bel-Air.
Meanwhile, Robbie, who was last seen in The Wolf of Wall Street, is here given the chance to shine in a classic screen goddess type of role. She has a natural beauty to her that entrenches her on screen but she shows that she is not just about looks. There is a well-honed synchronicity between her and Smith and the two seem to have genuinely hit it off.
The script evokes the Hitchcock films starring Cary Grant, especially To Catch a Thief (1955). This is because the film exudes a touch of class and a sense of intrigue and suspense that is left to simmer quietly.