While The Forger is billed as a crime thriller, it’s the family drama that takes precedence in this tense yet heart-warming film.
Notorious master thief and art forger, Ray Cutter (John Travolta), uses his connections to bribe a judge so he can be released from prison early to be with his son (Tye Sheridan) who has a stage 4 brain tumour. The bribe comes at a price however, and he is given three weeks to forge and steal Monet’s famous Woman with Parasol painting.
With his son’s dying wishes being to meet his mum, have sex, and be in on a swindle with his dad and grandad, what threatens to send Ray back to jail ends up uniting his family, with his son and father (Christopher Plummer) orchestrate the daring heist together.
Travolta is stellar, giving one of the most deeply emotional performances of his career. His ability to express such profound feelings with a twitch, a glance or a breath is truly remarkable. He carries this film almost entirely despite all the cast pulling their weight.
Richard D’Ovidio’s script isn’t entirely original (or plausible, for that matter), with a few odd scenes coming across as a little too unbelievable, but the cast pull it off with enough believability to keep you engrossed in the story.
Director Philip Martin creates a nice balance between heist and humanity, building the initially slow pace to tell an exciting tale while never stealing from the underlying sadness of the central characters’ lives. It’s a fine balancing act which Martin achieves with ease.
This film should appeal to lovers of both crime thrillers and family dramas.
Reviewed by Rod Lewis
Twitter: @StrtegicRetweet
Rating out of 10: 7
The Forger is out now on Blu-ray, DVD and Digital Download.
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