In 2002 Spielberg released a second pair of films. For the summer blockbuster season he released Minority Report a thrilling sci-fi crime story starring Tom Cruise. I watched Minority Report in April of last year so I am skipping it pat it in my Spielberg retrospective. Maybe I will revisit it and review it at a later date.
The other film in 2002 was Catch Me If You Can. The true story of Frank Abagnale (Leonardo DiCaprio) the youngest forger in the history of the FBI and agent Hanratty (Tom Hanks) whose relentless pursuit brought Frank to justice.
Catch Me If You Can was quite a change of pace for Spielberg after the epics of Schindler's List, Amistad and Saving private Ryan and the special effects laden films of Jurassic park, A.I., and Minority Report. While still a drama the movie is quite funny and that seems to be the tone Spielberg was going for. From the beginning we admire this 16 year old kid who impersonates a teacher, brazenly kites checks and soon moves on to impersonating airline pilots. But we also feel for him as he struggles with a disintegrating family life and the discovery that his dad is not the man he thought he was, yet still tries to live up to the ideal of him.
his type of role is perfect for DiCaprio. It doesn't require the gravitas needed of the characters he portrayed in Inception or Aviator. And Hanks has matured perfectly into the role of a frustrated, overworked FBI agent.
The film has crisp opening credits with a new jazzy score by John Williams. Spielberg's other collaborators, Micheal Khan on editing and Janus Kaminski as cinematographer are both present and turning in beautiful work. Once again the attention to detail is exquisite and Spielberg brings to life the "jet-set" age when flying was still filled with mystique.
At the Movie House rating ***1/2 stars.
No comments:
Post a Comment