Will Smith; a much loved actor who has appeared in several great films but in recent times has seen hits like After Earth damage a stellar career. Fortunately, Focus is actually an escape from his recent, more serious performances. From film-makers Glenn Ficarra and John Requa (Crazy, Stupid, Love. & Bad Santa) comes a film that tells the story of con-man Nicky (Smith) and how he comes to meet and show the ropes to the ambitious Jess (Margot Robbie- The Wolf of Wall Street). Despite the films rather serious theme, Focus certainly brings humour and that classic Will Smith charm to the table, making for an entertaining watch.
The first time we are introduced to Nicky’s talents is at the very beginning, claiming to be a famous chef in order to reserve a table at a popular restaurant that is supposedly fully booked for a month. This is where he meets a young girl called Jess. What follows is the beginning of a short yet fruitful partnership, after Nicky’s original decision to not take Jess under his wing. She quickly catches on and becomes an excellent con-artist, much to Nicky’s surprise, and their partnership blooms into a relationship. There’s excellent on-screen chemistry between Smith and Robbie, when it comes to the charming, witty episodes of the film. When the film becomes more serious however and delves into the darker nature of the world of being a con-artist, their chemistry became less believable and fails to keep up. Not to say it’s bad acting, just it felt like it was acting rather than a real relationship, but it does not take away from their original chemistry which proved key to keeping the film rather light-hearted.
“Never drop the con.” – Nicky
There are definitely many likeable elements about Focus, the charm, the humour, the kind of Fast and Furious cleverness when pulling off a con and definitely the great on-screen chemistry between Will Smith and Margot Robbie at times. However, there are definitely a lot of things that are lacking from this film. At times it seemed as if the acting just didn’t fit, when things become serious for the duo and they find themselves in a tight spot, the emotion we see from the characters is not translated from the film to the viewer, and it is increasingly hard to have any kind of emotional ties with the characters. As well as this, in some sections of the film everything seemed to move too quickly, with very little explanation as to what is happening, feeling rushed. If they had slowed things down and perhaps explained situations more, it would have felt less like a film where the story at times seemed totally unrelated. What saves the film is it’s entertainment value, with the large amount of comedy injected into the film that actually enables the viewer to enjoy the film and rescue it from becoming to essentially too cliché.
As mentioned before, Focus certainly had that element of Fast and Furious about it, and not necessarily in a bad way. The complex plans that Nicky and his team of con-artists exact have that element of entertaining genius about them, which keeps the viewer focused and entertained, trying to spot the hidden part of the plan. This in conjunction with the comedy really helped rescue the film from the potential hour and 3/4 bore fest it could have been, and certainly drew attention away from the obvious plot holes present during most of the film. There was also noticeably a lot of music throughout, which was at some points refreshing, there’s certainly a feeling that this film is well scored. The visual effects were certainly intelligent but again could seem to be a distraction, from some of the stand-out problems the film had, drawing the viewers attention quite intelligently. Certainly a clever ending that actually rounded off the film well, despite the obvious clichés.
Despite the glaring problems with it, Focus is actually a rather entertaining, sharp and witty film. A solid performance from an almost vintage Will Smith, and generally a film that if you have a chance to watch then you should; as long as you ignore it’s faults, it will be an entertaining viewing.
Words by Elliott Jones