The Forger (2015)

Brilliant and touching

All of these films share one commonality, that being a kind of emotional center that humanizes a cast of monsters.

The tone of this movie is interesting -- the stakes are both dramatic and high, but it's balanced with a lot of fun, tongue and cheek dialogue.

The storyline feels a little thin and moth-eaten in parts but this sequel is plenty of fun.

This is a quiet film, a relationship drama with a low-key crime caper helping to propel the plot. It's a movie fundamentally reflecting on both family relationships and criminal relationships.I won't bother to rehash the plot but will say that this movie is greatly under-rated; the acting and cinematography are excellent. The story is decent enough, dialogue is believable and the plot moves steadily onward, although as others have pointed out, there are no car chase scenes or the usual action fodder if that's what you are expecting. This is NOT an action film, though there are suspenseful moments--and it is understandable if that is what you thought you were getting. At it's heart the story is all about family ties, expectations, honor and survival, life changing choices...and impending family tragedy. Motives are logical and clearly understandable while the film manages to avoid maudlin sentiment or cheap thrills. while the plot moves steadily forward--even the twists work without being overly complicated. This one is not going to play tricks on you or over-work your brain, it's just good story-telling.Overall a very good film, and one that is well-worth watching if you accept it as a heightened family drama and not an action/thriller or even (really) a suspense film. Travolta and most of the cast were at their best without being too subtle or over-wrought. The 3 main characters were the best and easily carried the film. Very much recommended.

This was actually a decent film to watch. Don't be mistaken it is not an action movie about a heist job. This is a film about the length that a father will go to be there for his sick child.John Travolta plays a forger who has 10 month left on his sentence, but decided to do a dirty deal with a gangster to get him out earlier. While this comes as a surprise to most other characters, it is later revealed that he had to do it. Keegan played Anson Mount, is the guy that got him out and is now asking John to forge a masterpiece in exchange for his services. This is where the plot thickness (LOL) John meets and realizes that Abigail Spenceris who plays agent Paisley is a cop, this intrigues her and she starts to follow him. Without going into to much detail of the film, John's character Raymond is only trying to be a good father. He is doing everything he can to help his son while his own life is getting more and more dangerous.The acting in this film was for most part great. John Travolta does a great job, Raymond has some very unique trait marks that are very different to all other characters that John has played over his great career. Anson at first seemed like the wrong guy, but by the middle of the film when the plot gets revealed you realize that his character is suppose to be like that. Abigail was a bit of a waste in this film, she does a good job as the DEA agent, but can't say that she was great, every one else did what they were paid to do.The negative of the film, is that you can see that this wasn't a big budget film and that locations were pretty terrible. They used a school as a prison. hahaha.... and some acting was below average, i just don't want to write names.The story was interesting, had a lot of meaning, and the main character is some-one we all can relate in one sense or another.

A curious mix of family drama and crime thriller that never even begins to threaten to become a good cohesive mix, Philip Martin's The Forger is one of countless other films in years past that has potential yet fails to realise it due to lacklustre acting, scripting and some quite dire direction.Starring the now long time mojo-less John Travolta, The Forger gives the near unrecognisable 70's/80's icon a chance to shine as art loving forger (and proud goatee sporting) Raymond Cutter who just wants to spend some quality time with his dying son Will played by Tree of Life's Tye Sheridan but gets caught up with some mean old baddies who want him to do one last job but Travolta fails to bring anything to the table other than a torrid hairdo and while his interplay with Sheridan can be at times humorous and almost affecting, it doesn't work enough to make up for the Forger's shoddily handled storytelling.Every man, women, child and all those in between love a good heist movie, the tension of the set-up, the plans and the execution can make for white knuckle thrills but the Forger, to its detriment, never bothers to raise so much as a slight pulse and by the films so called finale, you'll be wondering if you've in fact been conned into "one last score" that just doesn't payoff. We could've done with double the dose of planning and making paint and far less meandering father/son relationship drama and for all the films effort to make us care for both Raymond and Will, by the end we frankly couldn't care less about their plight even though the film's final scene shows us just what could've been.Wasting a ripe story, industry vet Christopher Plummer and generally wasting our time with a movie that promises something yet delivers nothing, The Forger is a direct to DVD effort than you can stay well away from and is another nail in the increasingly shut coffin lid that now lays almost perfectly flush over the casket of John Travolta's slowly dying career.1 ½ uneven soul patches out of 5

Expert Art Forger Ray Cutter (John Travolta) gets out of prison early to spend more time with teenage son Will (Tye Sheridan), who has cancer. There is a price to pay for the early out. He must copy a Monet painting to replace the original at the museum and if not done on time, then bad guy Keegan (Anson Mount) will have Ray sent back to prison. We hope Ray finds his brushes in time. Most of the movie has Ray trying to bond with Will and this is nicely done. To help with the bonding Ray gives Will 3-wishes and true to a 15-yr old's thinking he uses them and surprises Ray with one of them. Later Ray gets his father Joe (Christopher Plummer) and Will to help with the museum break-in. Nothing says bonding all around like a family crime caper. The movie works because of the good chemistry among the three of them. Everything is low key and sensitive as we would expect. There are a few heartwarming moments and you may keep a box of Kleenex handy….just in case. FBI Agent Paisley (Abigail Spencer) is trying to get Keegan, but when Ray enters the picture, she doesn't know how Ray is involved and what he is up to. We keep hoping she doesn't upset Ray's plans.Yes, glad you asked, there is a twist near the end and it's kind of complicated, but you will get the gist of it. The details aren't important. Over all a good story and, perhaps, one of John Travolta's best performances. Oscar worthy? Hmmm…...maybe. (7/10) Violence: Yes. Sex: No. Nudity: No. Language: Yes.