‘I don’t watch movies, they are a waste of time...’
The problem with a film like Now You See Me, or one of the lesser Ocean’s sequels, is that if you have too many twists and turns, they begin to lose all meaning. Sharper, the feature debut from lauded TV director Benjamin Caron (The Crown, Andor), falls into this trap too, which is a shame because there is so much good stuff here also…
Split into five parts, Sharper presents us with Tom (Justice Smith), a lonely bookstore owner; his potential love interest, Sandy (Brian Middleton), and a scheming couple (Julianne Moore and Sebastian Stan). Each segment focuses on a different character (with one character featured twice under different aliases) with differing results.
The first two thirds of Sharper are genuinely excellent. Compelling. Captivating. Sebastian Stan is once again on absolutely top form. The plot is labyrinthine without being overly complicated. But any impact the film could have had is diminished with every double cross, every insipid reveal. In the end, the film feels more interested in fooling the audience than actually being entertaining. It’s a shame because beneath the smug posturing there is a great film somewhere within this mess trying to get out.
Sharper wears its influences on its sleeve, and this is unfortunate as it just made me wish I was watching one of those movies instead.
