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@foxredfilmreviews
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Catch me if you Can is a film which has interested me for a long time for some reason, so I finally decided to check it out. And boy it did not disappoint.
It follows the story of real-life con artist Frank Abignale Jr and his many travels as a teenager while evading the pursuit of an FBI team led by Carl Hanratty. This is the most unique true-crime film I think I have ever seen. In my experience, most are brought down by muddy aesthetic, inconsistent pacing and bland characters. None of these apply to Catch me if you Can, it is a fantastic all-round film. On the exterior, it is pure escapism. The nature of the story allow for varied locations and generally desirable situations we see our lead protagonist in and it is all captured brilliantly by Spielberg. However, underneath is a twisting and turning crime story to fuel the entertainment. It is very well structured and paced too, put together with memorable dialogue with plenty of well-suited humour. The writing here is fantastic and among the best I've seen from any crime drama I've ever seen.
I'll say it, this is Dicaprio's most underrated performance. As he plays many roles here (being a con artist), we essentially get many mini performances, all varied and memorable. I loved watching this character. The only major flaw of the whole film is, to me, the other man on the poster, Hanks. It's a fine performance but nothing we haven't seen from him before. The problems mainly lie with his character. We don't get to know him on any level similar to Abignale Jr despite being the secondary lead here. It's not a huge problem, but he just isn't as interesting to watch as Dicaprio.
Overall, while taking on a slightly long runtime, it's still a hugely entertaining and fast-paced adventure with great directing and hugely impressive writing and performances (Christopher Walken is the scene stealer of the century). I highly recommend it to anyone wanting a different take on true crime.
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