The Forger

slow start but the pace does pick up , there are some nice touches and the characters do stir emotion and feeling…travolta uses his skills well to say few words bt the long silences speak volumes if ur willing to listen!….i guess he is using his own experience of loosing a son to convey the mood that would accompany such a tragic process for a parent and child ….plummer also plays his part as the long suffering yet slightly irreverent father to travolta ….tye sheridan is also well capable in his role as Will ,conveying adolescence and a heavy burden. Jennifer Ehle plays her character brilliantly as a disconnected drug addict mother reluctant to resolve her past. The film is also sensitive to the beauty of art and at the same time i guess the suffering that has accompanied some real artists whom have left us with a moment in history…The recipe of differing themes is well portrayed and nicely and sensitively edited ….as long as expectations are kept reasonable, as no mind blowing car chases occur or fantasy special effects …then this film is worth your time imo and may even stimulate a tear or two and the ending although fairly predicable is a nice conclusion and not over cooked … im sure but could be wrong that this Monet was or is in the cardiff museum in wales ?

"If you had one wish, what would you wish for?" Raymond (Travolta) is tired of being in prison and will do anything to get out. He finally finds a way, by making a deal with a criminal. If they let him out he must pull of an impossible heist in return. Backed into a corner Raymond, his father (Plummer) and his son must do the impossible or face dire consequences. This is a movie I was looking forward to. It sounded interesting and I love heist movies. I am not a huge fan of Travolta but I was still excited about this. I was disappointed. This was really just a paint by numbers movie with nothing all that new or original. You can see the end coming a mile away and that takes all the fun out of the movie. Some people may like this but I was pretty disappointed. Overall, not as good as I hoped. The Best Offer was a way better movie. I give this a C+.

So, deep in the heart of this picture, it's about a man trying to spend more time with his son. It's very touching.

John Travolta overall is good in this movie. He plays an incarcerated art forger who was release from prison early thanks to an old criminal contact who needs him to forge something for him while all the forger wants to do is make up for lost time with his son.

I really like the parts where Travolta's character is preparing for the heist to steel the painting and replace it with his forgery which is where this movie differs from other heist movies as it goes into what it's like to be an art forger.

Reminds me of the Art of steel starring Kurt Russell who like Travolta, I have not seen star in a movie in ages.

Not a bad movie to catch.

The Forger, yet pretty forgettable, is still quite an involving drama, with an excellent performance from Travolta. The Forger offers little surprises and sits between good and fair. Travolta an ex con, is released early from prison, to be with his cancer ridden son, who probably has nine months to live. There's a catch. He has to forge a painting for these bad scummy dudes. Travolta kicks arse in this too, like when he's onset by these thugs, as if to remind him to do his job, or he's back in the clink. Travolta separated from his drug addicted wife, takes hos son to see her. This scenario was very reminiscent of that one in The Fourth Wish, where the actress here was excellent, up there wit Travolta. So is Christopher Plummer as the grandad, creating a hell of a interesting old guy character character, putting his magic touch of acting to it, like Travolta does with that paintbrush. The son too, is awesome, bringing a manifold of emotions with such realism and naturalism. One surprise is near the start, when Travolta's in that club, and is made the skank woman for a cop, which I didn't. Though quite a worthwhile drama, it's one you throw away after seeing it. How Travolta screws the bad dudes with his plan was very predictable, and there are other moments too. The final scene borders on tear jerking territory, so have those tissues ready.

The review that caught my eye, before I rented "The Forger", was "Travolta's best performance in ten years...". But then, just before watching it, I searched for more reviews and saw that some critics panned it. Well, I happy to say they are wrong—it's a pretty good movie, after all.

I mean, come on, critics! I usually agree with you—but saying this is too "slow paced" and that it has "two, conflicting, story lines"? I LOVED the pace, and the acting, and, especially the story line(s).

OK, so it does have two story lines going on—the forgery and heist, and the human interest about the forger's family (his dad, his son, his ex-wife who had not seen the son in years, the female detective...). So what? It's believable (as much as any heist story or human interest story can be) to the point that plot vs. sub-plot is just not a problem.

I thought Travolta DID give a heck of a performance. His pace fit the overall pace of the film, as did that of the other actors. And Travolta, who has had his share of sorrow in real life, looked to me like a man who has been there, done that. He looks the part and is very convincing.

Everyone actually looked pretty good (or properly bad-ass) thanks to some solid lighting and overall nice cinematography. (This is not some kind of "art" film, but nevertheless consistent in it's camera work.) The sound quality was good (a pet peeve of mine in some films) including the music which seemed to fit the film nicely.

As for the VERY best performance in the film, besides Plummer, who is always fun to watch for me... it has to be young Tye Sheridan. Nicely understated, smart, believable. I'm looking forward to his next film, whatever it turns out to be.

Finally, the director certainly knows a thing or two about film making, as, even with the somewhat slow pace, everything builds mostly evenly towards a satisfying ending. Of course the screenplay had to work too, for that to happen.

Bottom line, I'm glad I rented "The Forger". I enjoyed pretty much all of it, and even replayed a few parts to study how the film was put together. Probably no Academy Awards coming for this, but all cast and crew can still stand tall.